Jailbroken PlayStation 5 consoles can now download and run Windows games from Steam locally, without any streaming, thanks to a mod called Playden for PS5. This app connects to your Steam account, and let you browse your games, and launch them via the console’s home screen, as if they were official PlayStation titles.
The new Steam game launcher is based on the macOS version of Playden. Unlike Remote Play and cloud gaming, Playden for PS5 renders games locally using a PlayStation 5’s CPU and GPU, translating Windows and DirectX commands using Wine and DXVK.
Since its appearance two weeks ago, Playden for PS5 has added support for DirectX 12 games via VKD3D-Proton, which allows modern and demanding games such as Cyberpunk 2077 to run on the console. Its latest alpha version, 0.6.0, continues the fast improvement schedule, adding FTP game imports, 120Hz refresh rate output, and a 4K resolution option.
Under the hood, Playden for PS5 uses OpenGL to draw its interface, DXVK/vkd3d-proton to turn Direct3D 8–12 into Vulkan, plus prospero-win (Wine for the PS5) to run Windows games, manage memory, and translate x86 (32-bit) instructions. As a result, all it needs to work is contained inside the package, so it doesn’t require a separate Linux installation. It also supports non-PlayStation controllers via XInput, in addition to mouse and keyboard.
According to the project’s compatibility list, 143 games are fully working, including Cyberpunk 2077, Resident Evil 4, and Hollow Knight: Silksong, 15 games are partially working, 45 games are broken, while four titles refuse to launch. A demo video from Cevap on Reddit showcased the tool working and running Portal, while another from v7dt1 on X showed the menus and game library. Understandably, games that require kernel-based anti-cheats, as well as those needing a secondary launcher, such as Ubisoft Connect, are not compatible, yet.
Despite the large game support list, Playden for PS5 is still an experimental project that has yet to leave the Alpha stage. There are still bugs to be ironed out and security features to be implemented. For instance, Steam login tokens are stored unencrypted on the console, which is a blatant security flaw. That said, all of this could be fixed in due time, and the developer is already planning to add support for other game stores.
