GameNative plays Steam games on Android, no streaming required

Windows emulation on Android has made some progress lately, but it’s nowhere near as user-friendly as most retro game emulators. A new app called GameNative attempts to change that by making your Steam library playable with minimal setup and tinkering.

Based on Pluvia, the open-source app creates a front end for Steam games and uses Winlator as a backend for emulation. You simply log into your Steam account, select games you want to install locally on your Android device, and tap play to start emulation. It’s as close as we’ve seen to plug-and-play Windows emulation.

GameNative adds a few new features to Pluvia, including support for titles with DRM. This alone vastly expands the library of playable games, although performance will also depend on your device’s specs. You don’t need a high-powered gaming phone to play lightweight games, but more power and RAM will go a long way.

There are a few other improvements, including both performance and graphical enhancements. There’s also an on-screen keyboard and controller overlay for seamless play on mobile. That said, it’s still a work in progress, so expect some bugs and crashes along the way.

Cloud saves are also supported, although online features do not currently work. Games that require an external launcher (such as GTA V) are also incompatible. For those games, you will need to use streaming apps like Steam Link or Moonlight.

Although the app is open-source, you should still take care when entering your Steam credentials. You can mitigate this by logging in via scanning a QR code in the Steam mobile app.