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The Heroic Games Launcher is a very simple to use free and open source app to manage and download your Epic Games Store and GOG collections on Linux and Steam Deck. It's great, one of my regular apps on both my desktop and Deck and now it's in the process of getting a clean-up operation with version 2.3.0 Beta 1 now available.

If you want a stable experience, stick with the current version, as bugs are to be expected.

Some of the changes includes the integration of Winetricks, an improved language selector for games, a fix for special characters on Wine prefix folders, lots of user interface flow improvements, GOG user credentials are no longer stored in plain text (the token generated, not username / password), GOG setup improvements, an option to hide games from your library, auto-update for AppImage and various other bug fixes and small improvements.

Really great to see the continued improvements on such an essential app.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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10 comments

fearnflavio Apr 25, 2022
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One note about the 'user credentials are no longer stored in plain text':
This was related only to GOG and it's NOT the username and password, but only the token generated after login and that was used to download the games :)

Just making it clear :D
Liam Dawe Apr 25, 2022
Quoting: fearnflavioOne note about the 'user credentials are no longer stored in plain text':
This was related only to GOG and it's NOT the username and password, but only the token generated after login and that was used to download the games :)

Just making it clear :D
Ah, good to know, probably good if that was noted in the release notes ;) to prevent anyone being confused


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 25 April 2022 at 11:01 am UTC
fearnflavio Apr 25, 2022
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Quoting: Liam DaweAh, good to know, probably good if that was noted in the release notes ;) to prevent anyone being confused

True, will do that.
const Apr 25, 2022
I'm currently considering buying Cyberpunk2077 from GOG, as it's a LOT cheaper from there then from Steam. How much hassle will that be / are there any caveats other then having to install a launcher like Heroic?

Also, is heroic really only for these two services or is it possible to sideload apps from other sources? EDIT: Just saw this is a planned feature, sorry.


Last edited by const on 25 April 2022 at 11:26 am UTC
kokoko3k Apr 25, 2022
Thanks for the news.
Out of curiosity, what do you intend by "Linux" that requires you to specify "and steam deck"?


Last edited by kokoko3k on 25 April 2022 at 11:47 am UTC
const Apr 25, 2022
Quoting: kokoko3kThanks for the news.
Out of curiosity, what do you intend by "Linux" that requires you to specify "and steam deck"?
Steam Deck currently means SteamOS3, which is a superb OS for the form factor but can have some caveats, especially if not docked. I'm really glad he gives Deck specific hints.
fearnflavio Apr 25, 2022
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Quoting: constI'm currently considering buying Cyberpunk2077 from GOG, as it's a LOT cheaper from there then from Steam. How much hassle will that be / are there any caveats other then having to install a launcher like Heroic?

Also, is heroic really only for these two services or is it possible to sideload apps from other sources? EDIT: Just saw this is a planned feature, sorry.

I have finished Cyberpunk 2077 from GOG on Heroic and I used Proton Experimental. Worked perfectly with RTX and DLSS using a 3060ti.
Liam Dawe Apr 25, 2022
Quoting: kokoko3kThanks for the news.
Out of curiosity, what do you intend by "Linux" that requires you to specify "and steam deck"?
I assume this is about the title so: I want to appeal to new users of the Steam Deck, as much as normal Linux users. Steam Deck is not yet synonymous with Linux for the masses, and mentioning them both makes it clear to people. It's also good for Search Engines to pick it up.
catbox_fugue May 4, 2022
Quoting: fearnflavioOne note about the 'user credentials are no longer stored in plain text':
This was related only to GOG and it's NOT the username and password, but only the token generated after login and that was used to download the games

what on the release notes says this?
https://github.com/Heroic-Games-Launcher/HeroicGamesLauncher/releases/tag/v2.3.0-beta.1

i dont see any changes to this behavior reported here:
https://github.com/Heroic-Games-Launcher/HeroicGamesLauncher/issues/1020

i can see where the log parity [improvement] between legendary and gogdl could fix this
legendary does not report epic api tokens, gogdl does in the log output
https://github.com/Heroic-Games-Launcher/heroic-gogdl

so, its not been fixed?
fearnflavio May 4, 2022
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Quoting: catbox_fugue
Quoting: fearnflavioOne note about the 'user credentials are no longer stored in plain text':
This was related only to GOG and it's NOT the username and password, but only the token generated after login and that was used to download the games

what on the release notes says this?
https://github.com/Heroic-Games-Launcher/HeroicGamesLauncher/releases/tag/v2.3.0-beta.1

i dont see any changes to this behavior reported here:
https://github.com/Heroic-Games-Launcher/HeroicGamesLauncher/issues/1020

i can see where the log parity [improvement] between legendary and gogdl could fix this
legendary does not report epic api tokens, gogdl does in the log output
https://github.com/Heroic-Games-Launcher/heroic-gogdl

so, it's not been fixed?

I removed it from the Releases note since I removed all the Tech and Refactor stuff, focusing more on Bug fixes and improvements in UI/UX.

If you check the logs from GOGDL on Heroic for installing, anything, no token is shown so we just forgot to close that issue.

Also, the information was misleading like I told on the comment, Heroic do not receive username and password input since its all on the webview, so heroic doesn't save any credentiasl besides the token that is needed to download the games.
And the error was on OUR side on the releases note that put it in the wrong way.
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