Winlator, the app that lets you play Windows PC games on your Android phone, gets a big update
Playing Android games on your PC is easy enough. You have the option of using third-party emulators such as Bluestacks or NoxPlayer, or you can take advantage of the built-in Windows Subsystem for Android, available on Windows 11.
However, if you wish to flip the script and play Windows games on your Android device, the process is somewhat more complex, but not impossible. To do this, you’ll need Winlator, which has just been updated to version 5, improving compatibility and performance, and resolving various issues.
SEE ALSO: This free Windows 11 clone, with Copilot AI, has been updated -- download it now!
Winlator is an Android app that lets you to run Windows (x86_64) games with Wine and Box86/Box64.
This is what's new in Winlator 5.0:
- Improved performance
- Improved Task Manager
- Added option to change desktop theme
- Improved XInput compatibility (Batman Arkham City, Sleeping Dogs and others)
- Fixed keyboard slowdown (GTA V and others)
- Other bug fixes and improvements
To use Winlator, follow these steps:
- Download and install the Winlator_5.0.apk from GitHub Releases
- Download the OBB file (main.3.com.winlator.obb) and put it into the directory /storage/emulated/0/Android/obb/com.winlator (create it if it doesn't exist)
- Launch the app and wait for the installation process to finish
The app itself is easy to set up although you will need to own the games you want to play as it doesn't come with any included. The app defaults to the Downloads folder, so just drop the games you want to play into there.
Winlator works well, although as you might expect, some games fail to run and others require tweaks to the resolution. There are plenty of settings you can play around with though to hopefully get problematic games running.
Games that are known to run well include Quake 4, Metro 2033 Redux, Dark Souls II Scholar of the First Sin, Warlords Battlecry 3, Call of Juarez Gunslinger, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Mass Effect 2, and Oblivion. You can watch The Surge, running on Winlator in the video below.