Dead Cells is a roguelike video game inspired by Metroid and Castlevania. It was developed and published by Motion Twin. Here’s how you can play Dead Cells on your Linux PC.
Dead Cells is a native Linux video game. That said, it can only be played on your Linux system via Steam. So if you’d like to get this game working on your Linux computer, you’ll need to get the Linux system of Steam working.
Install Steam
To start the installation process on Linux, you’ll need a terminal window. You can open up a terminal window on the Linux desktop by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or, search for “Terminal” in the app menu and launch it that way.
With the terminal window open and ready to use, the installation can begin. Using the instructions down below, get the latest version of Steam working on your computer.
Ubuntu
On Ubuntu, the Steam app is installable via the apt install command down below.
sudo apt install steam
Debian
Those on Debian Linux who want to get Steam working will need to download the Steam DEB package and install it manually. To get your hands on the latest Steam DEB package, make use of the wget download command.
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb
After downloading the Steam DEB package to your computer, you’ll be able to install it using the dpkg command.
sudo dpkg -i steam.deb
Once the Steam DEB package is set up on your computer, you will need to correct the dependency errors during the installation process. To do that, run the following apt-get install -f command.
Arch Linux
If you’re on Arch Linux and need to install Steam, you’ll have to enable the “multilib” software repository. To enable this software repository, open up the /etc/pacman.conf file in your favorite text editor (as root).
Once the file is open in the text editor, locate the “multilib” line and remove the # symbol from in front. Then, remove the # symbol from the lines directly below. Save your edits when done.
After editing, run the pacman -Syy command to re-sync Arch with the official software servers.
sudo pacman -Syy
Finally, install the latest release of Steam onto your computer.
sudo pacman -S steam
Fedora/OpenSUSE
If you use Fedora or OpenSUSE Linux, getting the Steam app working through software repositories included out of the box is possible. That said, the Flatpak release of Steam works much better on these OSes, and we suggest those instructions instead.
Flatpak
The Steam version of Flatpak can only be installed so long as the Flatpak runtime is set up. To set up the Flatpak runtime on your computer, follow our guide. After setting it up, install Steam on your computer with the two commands below.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
Install Dead Cells on Linux
After installing Steam on Linux, open it up on the desktop. Once it is open, sign in and follow the step-by-step instructions below to get Dead Cells working on Linux.
Step 1: Find the “Store” button inside of the Steam app and click on it with the mouse. Once you’ve selected the “Store” button, you’ll be brought to the Steam storefront.
On the Steam storefront, locate the search box and click on it with the mouse. When you select the search box, type in “Dead Cells.” Then, press the Enter key to view the search results.
Step 2: Look through the Steam store search results for “Dead Cells.” Once you’ve located the game in the search results, click on it with the mouse. When you click on the game in the search results, Steam will load up the Dead Cells Steam store page.
On the Dead Cells Steam store page, look for the green “Add to cart” button, and click on it with the mouse. Upon clicking on this button, you’ll add Dead Cells to your shopping cart.
Click on the shopping cart icon in the Steam app to access your cart. Then, go through the process of purchasing Dead Cells for your Steam account.
Step 3: Find the “Library” button in the Steam app and click on it with the mouse. When the “Library” button is selected, Steam will load up your games collection.
Locate the search box inside of the Steam library area and click on it with the mouse. Then, type in “Dead Cells.” Your game should come up.
Step 4: Click on “Dead Cells” in the Steam library search results to access the game’s Steam library page. Then, find the blue “INSTALL” button, and click on it with the mouse.
Upon clicking the blue “INSTALL” button, Steam will begin downloading and installing Dead Cells to your Linux PC. This installation shouldn’t take too long to complete.
Step 5: When the installation process is complete, the blue “INSTALL” button will become a green “PLAY” button. Select it to start up the game on your Linux system.
