The itch app now sends Windows games to Steam through Proton, and eyes low-powered retro handhelds

itch app v26.22.0 adds collection editing and Proton-backed Steam shortcuts for Linux and Steam Deck. itch.io also previewed the itch donk, a build for cheap Linux retro handhelds.

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itch.io shipped version 26.22.0 of its desktop app on 6 October, and the change that matters most to handheld owners is a small one in the notes: Windows-only games installed through itch on Linux can now be added to Steam as shortcuts that run through Proton.

"The end-to-end experience is now fully functional: you can install Windows games on Linux via itch, and then add them to Steam to be launched with Proton," the announcement says. "Perfect for those who are using a Steam Deck and may have picked up a few bundles over the years."

What changed

Steam shortcuts arrived in the previous release a month ago. According to the release notes, shortcuts now default to Proton Experimental, and you can pick another compatibility tool in the shortcut's properties in Steam. The update also fixes the dialog failing with "Could not determine which Steam user to add shortcuts for" on machines where more than one Steam account has signed in. You can now choose the account, and the app remembers it.

Collections can be managed in the app itself rather than through its built-in browser. Right-click a cover and pick "Add or edit collections..." to put a game in several at once, and a reorder dialog handles bulk sorting and removal.

The app now needs butler 15.32.0, itch's command-line tool, which is better at guessing what to launch. Arm64 builds are no longer mistaken for amd64, crash handlers and installers stop appearing as launch options, and it recognises more engines, including Godot, PICO-8, Ren'Py and RPG Maker. A Linux install will no longer be offered a Windows-only update just because Wine is present.

The itch donk

The post ends with a sneak peek. "Low-powered Linux retro game handhelds are very available these days," it reads. "We thought, well, why not put the itch app on one of those?" itch.io points out that it hosts "thousands (if not tens of thousands)" of ROMs made for old consoles, homebrew Game Boy Advance and NES games among them, and says native Linux ARM builds and engines such as LÖVE "work surprisingly well".

The photo shows the app on an RG40XXH with a Playable here filter. To make that filter work, itch.io says it is scanning every uploaded file to tag which platforms or runtimes it runs on. There is no date or download yet: "We still have quite a bit of work to do."

Sources

Image: itch.io