Open source developers are building an emulator called felix86, which allows you to run x86-designed software on RISC-V processors, and they recently showed off some AAA games being played through their emulator using Steam. It’s a big step for the still-emerging world of RISC-V computing and gaming, specifically.
In a blog post, the felix86 devs reported that on RISC-V devices they were managing to get AAA games running, includingThe Witcher 3: Wild HuntandCrysis,which are x86 Windows-only games. The developers toldGamingOnLinuxthat they were running the Linux Steam client, “which means games that have Steam DRM can be played on RISC-V with felix86.” Steam only officially supports x86 processors on Windows and Linux, with Apple Silicon support (based on ARM) in beta on macOS. However, it does work on Windows on ARM PCs with the built-in x86 compatibility layer, andvarious x86 emulation layersexist for ARM Linux.
The developers show screenshots ofCrysisandThe Witcher 3in the blog post with a caption claiming this was happening on aMilkV Jupiter board. MilkV is a China-based technology company producing RISC-V devices, and the Jupiter is a Mini-ITX motherboard that features the SpacemiT K1 or M1 CPU, which are RISC-V processors.
While it’s good news that these games are running, your favorite game may not necessarily runwellon an RISC-V chip, at least not yet. The felix86 developers said in their blog post, “These just started working, so we haven’t had enough time to profile or optimize them yet. So don’t expect great performance yet!”
The felix86 team hostsa small database of gameson its website that gives you a current compatibility status of either “Working,” “Partially Working,” or “Not Working.” You can see some other well-known titles likeBalatroandStardew Valleylisted as “Working,” and clicking them brings you to a GitHub issue that describes how the game was tested and any performance limitations or glitches the tester noticed.
This is a win for open source fans like myself becausethe RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA)is completely open source. The two main processor designs that RISC-V is up against, ARM and Intel’s x86, are both proprietary. You might be running open source software on an open source operating system like Linux, but so long as you’re using an x86 or ARM chip, the underlying ISA is closed. The ability to play popular games on RISC-V changes that dynamic.
felix86 wasfirst announced in March 2025, so it’s still very new to the scene. That means you shouldn’t expect incredible performance and a seamless experience yet. If you’re thinking of buying an RISC-V device, you should research how well the software you rely on or you want to use will actually work. Better yet, if you have the skills, you can contribute to RISC-V projects to make it a more viable platform. I’m happy to see a project like felix86 gaining ground and bringing open source hardware closer to the parity with its closed source competitor.
