Winlator 8 lets you play Windows PC games on your Android phone for free -- download it now!
Running Android games on a PC is straightforward with emulators like Bluestacks or NoxPlayer. If you want to play popular AAA Windows PC games on an Android device, things get a bit trickier.
This is where Winlator comes in. Winlator is a free Android app that allows users to run Windows (x86_64) games using Wine 9.2 (custom) and Box64 (0.3.0), and it has just received an update to version 8.0 which includes a lot of new features and improvements.
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This is what’s changed in Winlator 8:
- Improved UI (User Interface)
- Added File Manager to Container
- Added Screen Effect (Color Adjustment, FXAA and CRT Shader)
- Fixed Container startup on Android 14 (SD Gen 3)
- Added option to select preferred input API: DirectInput or XInput (useful for Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen, Street Fighter IV and others)
- Added option to disable mouse input (useful for Virtual Gamepad)
- Added option to move cursor to touchpoint
- Improved Input Controls
- Improved ALSA audio driver
- Improved DirectInput
- Improved Drives on Container
- Updated DXVK (v2.4 release)
- Updated Box64 (v0.3.0 release)
- Updated Mesa Turnip (v24.2.0 release)
- Added workarounds for some games:
Starbound, Venetica, FATE, Gex, Drakensang, Medal of Honor Allied Assault, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, FF XII The Zodiac Age, Deus Ex Mankind Divided, MGS Ground Zeroes, Far Cry 4, Assassin's Creed Revelations and others - Performance improvements and other fixes
Winlator used to require users to download an OBB file and put it into a directory on their phone, but that changed in version 6.0 and now it’s just a case of installing the latest apk.
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. The app defaults to the Downloads folder, so just drop some games into there.
While Winlator can run many Windows titles, performance varies depending on the game, and some may need adjustments to resolution or settings. Notable games that run well include Far Cry 4, Skyrim, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, Psychonauts, Turok Evolution, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
For a closer look, check out the new video of Skyrim Special Edition (GOG version) running on Winlator in the video below.