When I think about playing games on my phone, I don’t immediately rush to the Play Store and download everything I can. Sure, there are some exceptions, such as Balatro, Monument Valley, or Pokemon TCGP.
However, most of my mobile gaming is done via emulation, such as relaxing with Pokemon Pinball or firing up whatever Switch game tickles my fancy at the time. During those times that I wanted to play PC games, I either grabbed one of my x86 handhelds, actually sat at my desktop, or relied on a combination of Moonlight or NVIDIA GeForce Now.
That might not be the case for very much longer, as many of the best Android phones can actually be used to play games designed for computers. Much of this is made possible by Winlator, an app that basically lets you run x86_64 games right on your Android phone or tablet.
When Winlator first landed on GitHub back in 2023, there was little fanfare simply because it was still far too limited in what was possible. For instance, the biggest limitation is that you can only play DRM-free games. These games are most commonly found on GOG, but there are some that might already be found in your Steam library.
Since its release, Winlator has exploded in popularity, at least in the emulation scene. But the biggest hurdle for adoption has been the actual setup process of getting your games installed and running.
It’s not as simple as dragging and dropping files and then tapping a button, as there are quite a few different settings to change. Not to mention that just because you find the right configuration for what game, doesn’t mean that the same settings will work for another.
I bring up Winlator specifically because there are countless forks and alternative versions, some aiming to provide better performance, while others attempt to make it possible to download compatible games from Steam. And over the past couple of weeks, there are three new apps that make it possible to play Windows games on Android.
The first of which is Winplay Engine from Xiaomi, letting you download and install games from Steam onto your device. Unfortunately, this is still in beta and is currently only available if you own the Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro. Since I don’t have the Pad 6S Pro, I haven’t been able to take Winplay for a spin.
Pluvia was the next app on the list but is a bit different as it’s designed to specifically let you play DRM-free games from your personal Steam library. While I was able to get it installed and running on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the results have been very hit-or-miss.
Even lightweight titles such as Pizza Tower or Stardew Valley don’t seem to work. Meanwhile, games like UFO 50, Super Meat Boy, and Undertale work mostly fine, with the occasional audio issues or random slowdowns.
Then we have an app that I’ve been kind of keeping an eye on from afar, as I first heard about it late last year. GameSir makes many of our favorite mobile controllers, but the company is also apparently kind of getting into the emulation scene.
It’s doing so with the release of the GameHub app, which is currently only available to download directly. However, GameHub stands out from the pack in a few different ways, and not just for allowing you to play Windows games on Android. It also lets you stream games from other platforms, such as your PC, Xbox, or PlayStation.
More importantly, GameHub is basically a fancy wrapper for Winlator, taking a lot of the potential frustration out of trying to play Windows games on Android. Instead of tinkering with menus that are clearly from Windows 98, GameHub puts everything in a modern interface.
And if you install the GameHub app for your Windows desktop PC, you can sync your Steam library and stream games to your device. However, there’s also a “Game Assistant” feature that lets you import games from your computer to your phone, making it possible to play certain titles locally.
I’m still putting GameHub through its paces, but I have been able to get a few games to load. I can’t tell you how awesome it is to be able to play the original Star Wars Battlefront II on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Since the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy should be the most powerful chip to date, I’m going to also try and install some heavier titles just to see what happens.
Even with apps like GameHub providing a solution that is far easier to navigate than Winlator, I don’t expect x86 game emulation on Android to even come close to the retro gaming scene. There’s a lot of trial and error, and even installing just one game can take forever.
Even still, it’s simply incredible that it’s even possible to get ANY x86 game installed on a mobile phone. Let alone with stable frame rates and without immediately crashing.
