It seems clear that 2026 will be a great year for the Gaming on Linux. Although delays due to component prices are not ruled out, the Steam Machine will arrive alongside the Frame and a new controller in the first quarter of this yearAnd many things will change. For example, NVIDIA has already announced that it will release its GeForce NOW for Linux, and now it's known that Nexus Mods will abandon its official app to focus on... V.
The best part of all this can be read in a statement published on January 22They will offer support for "vanilla" versions of SteamOS. Vanilla is a term used to describe software in its purest form. For example, I've heard it used in JavaScript development, where "vanilla JavaScript" is the pure version without relying on frameworks like jQuery. Applied to Valve systems, the Support is coming to the official SteamOS.That is, for those who will use the Steam Deck and the Steam Machine; support is not guaranteed on other configurations.
Vortex will work on the official SteamOS, but nothing is ruled out.
Nexus Mods will develop Vortex with the SteamOS of the Steam Deck and Machine in mind, but It will be open sourceThis means that the developer community will be able to expand support to any other Linux distribution, something I'd bet will happen.
What are mods and how are they applied?
The word "mod" comes from "modification," and that's exactly what they are: modifications made to video games on supported systems, which are usually PCs. To give a couple of examples, I found these two amusing:
In the previous video, we see gameplay footage of Black Myth: Wukong featuring Goku instead of the Monkey King. For those who don't know, Dragon Ball is based on the novel "Journey to the West," the central theme of Black Myth: Wukong.
In the previous video, John Wick appears in Max Payne 3. Be careful not to be mean to puppies.
How they're applied depends on the mod. The only one I've used was to fix the cutscenes in Devil May Cry HD Collection, and all it took was putting the videos in the correct path. Other mods are applied differently, and the instructions are usually on the mod's Nexus Mods page.
Vortex solves this problem, which might deter some users from trying it. Vortex downloads and applies the mod, and it does so in a way that makes it easy to undo the changes. That's the theory behind it, and what you can expect from this great application.
It is not available at the moment, but it is expected to be available for SteamOS sometime in 2026.