Run PC games locally on Android with open-source DroidDeck

Electronics really are getting more and more expensive these days! I just can't bring myself to buy new toys anymore.

Recently I got an old Android phone that my family had retired, spent a little over a hundred yuan to get the screen fixed, and started looking for something fun to do with it.

Since I've used an iPhone as my daily driver for years, I had no idea Android could do so many fun things these days!

Take the open source project I'm recommending today, DroidDeck: it lets an Android phone run locally PC games from platforms like Steam, Epic, and GOG — and you're playing the genuine copies purchased in your own account.

Low learning curve

DroidDeck is not streaming, and not cloud gaming — it's true local execution!

The app runs Windows games through the Proton compatibility layer plus FEX instruction translation (translating x86 instructions into ARM instructions).

No Root required, and no custom ROM flashing either. It doesn't provide games itself; you need to sign in to the accounts where you've bought games and play the genuine copies in your own library (I bet everyone's Epic library is packed with games claimed for free but never actually played~).

Installing it is simple: just download the APK from GitHub Releases. As an open source project, the code is all public in the repository, so its source can be checked, which makes installing it feel a bit more reassuring. The app natively supports Chinese.

The first launch requires some setup: turn on Developer options on your phone, enable wireless debugging, then pair using ADB.

Once pairing is complete, you can keep using it long-term — no need to go through it all again.

After the initial setup is done, you can sign in to Steam, GOG, Epic, and other accounts, then download and run the games you've bought.

If you have a game controller, the experience is better — both Bluetooth and wired ones are supported. No controller? That's fine too; the app comes with on-screen virtual buttons.

Hands-on: playability is decent

Which games you can play depends on your phone's performance. My phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 768G, which barely counts as entry-level now, so I can only play smaller games.

The official recommendation is Adreno 730 or above, meaning Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or newer devices — if you want to check whether your phone can handle it, this one criterion is basically enough. If your phone is powerful enough, running Black Myth: Wukong isn't out of the question.

Tests show that a device with the Snapdragon 8 Elite runs Cyberpunk 2077 at 720p with medium settings at roughly 40 to 60 fps, with significant fluctuation. Clearly, heavy AAA titles are still affected by translation overhead, and you can't expect a full frame rate throughout.

Also, the project currently only supports devices with a Qualcomm Adreno GPU; if your phone uses a Dimensity, Exynos, or similar processor, you won't be able to play for now.

Because phone screens have unusual aspect ratios, text in some games may be too small; you can try adjusting it in the app or in the game's settings.

▲ In Bad North, the default font is very small

▲ Switching to "TV" mode makes the font larger

Final thoughts

Overall, if you have an idle Snapdragon 8 phone or an Android handheld lying around, DroidDeck is well worth trying.

It's free and open source, runs purely locally, and is easy to pick up — no need to spend much time tinkering, and no need to buy extra hardware.

Give it a download and a try; your old phone may be more capable than you think.

If you're also putting together your own tool list, most of the software at LIZHI.SHOP has clear sources and supports genuine license verification, so it's worth a look as well.

Project URL: github.com/Droid-Deck/DroidDeck

One last reflection: open source projects keep coming out of nowhere these days. Two recent ones really surprised me:

The first is an NVIDIA graphics driver for macOS (supporting GTX 16 through RTX 50 series):

Open source URL: github.com/nullmoth/nvidia-macos-driver

Could we one day run AI on a Mac with an external NVIDIA GPU?

The other calls itself "reverse Rosetta" and can run ARM apps on Intel Macs:

Open source URL: github.com/linuxkid473/maclator

True enough — many new apps no longer support Intel Macs these days…

That's everything for today. If you've come across any interesting open source projects recently, feel free to share them in the comments~