Rocket League
Hacker ApprovedRanked 8 of 78 video games by recommenders
Fun competitive car soccer that runs well on Linux via Proton, though Epic's removal of the native Linux client and botting problems draw criticism.
Fun competitive car soccer that runs well on Linux via Proton, though Epic's removal of the native Linux client and botting problems draw criticism.
33 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 24
- criticize it
- 9
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 24 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Runs well on Linux via Proton
“found it ran smoother (the random stutters I have suffered through on Windows are not there on Linux)”
Comment from 2 Apr 2026 in “Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March” “I haven't played it since the buyout either, but I'm told it works perfectly with Proton.”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “Epic Games announces Lore version control system” “It works perfectly on Steam using Proton if you have it there”
Comment from 1 Nov 2025 on Hacker News - Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “How to declutter, quiet down, and take the AI out of Windows 11 25H2”
- Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Valve is about to win the console generation”
- Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “2026 will be my year of the Linux desktop”
Match replays help review gameplay
“saving rocket league replays to watch yourself play from your opponent's perspective was super helpful in 1v1”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “Game Devs Explain the Tricks Involved with Letting You Pause a Game” “Rocket League is a relatively recent game that allows match recording. It's nice.”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “Game Devs Explain the Tricks Involved with Letting You Pause a Game” Players keep coming back
“Rocket league is one of my favourite games”
Comment from 9 Jul 2026 in “MIRA: Multiplayer Interactive World Models Trained on Rocket League” “it keeps me coming back for more”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: What game have you replayed more times than any other?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Botting hurts ranked play
“the botting issue that was so bad lately it pushed pros out of ssl and severely messed up MMR”
Comment from 22 Jun 2026 in “Beyond All Reason (Free Total Annihilation Inspired RTS)” “AI good enough to consistently beat the best players in the world is now common and wreaking havoc on the upper ranks.”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “HN is drowning in AI comments” Native Linux client removed
“Rocket league used to have a Linux build, then epic decided to kill that off entirely”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Steam Client is now faster than Epic's new vibe coded launcher” “Epic bought Psyonix and immediately removed the game clients for linux and mac os.”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “Epic Games announces Lore version control system” “Epic killed off the native Linux client and pulled Rocket League from Steam”
Comment from 24 May 2026 in “New Rocket League is using Unreal Engine 6” - Comment from 2 Nov 2025 in “Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark”
Requires Epic store and account
“I'm not subjecting myself, or my kid, to Windows and the Epic store just to get at it.”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “All Delisted Steam Games” “which is now unusable until I agree to give them my PID and create an account”
Comment from 31 Dec 2025 in “Stardew Valley developer made a $125k donation to the FOSS C# framework MonoGame” Buggy, crashes when joining games
“the "game crashes randomly when joining games" bug too”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “Game Devs Explain the Tricks Involved with Letting You Pause a Game” “I ended up with the buggy abandoned Linux version”
Comment from 2 Nov 2025 in “Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark”
Other video games people recommend
The four most recommended other video games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helldivers 2 | 50 | 34 | 60% | 10 | 1.9 yrs3 owners | — |
| GPU building game | 49 | 16 | 75% | 2 | — | — |
| Triple-A Minesweeper | 40 | 25 | 62% | 1 | — | — |
| Quake II | 33 | 8 | 80% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Rocket LeagueThis page | 24 | 9 | 73% | 9 | — | Approved |
What people said
32 of the 38 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Rocket league used to have a Linux build, then epic decided to kill that off entirely”
“Ugh, that's the most annoying part of playing RocketLeague right now.”
“Rocket League is another example.”
“Rocket league is one of my favourite games”
“the botting issue that was so bad lately it pushed pros out of ssl and severely messed up MMR”
“I'd say at least 80% of them are fun.”
“But that's not what I bought.”
“I haven't played it since the buyout either, but I'm told it works perfectly with Proton.”
“Epic bought Psyonix and immediately removed the game clients for linux and mac os.”
“Without a doubt the great esport of all time.”
“it keeps me coming back for more”
“Epic killed off the native Linux client and pulled Rocket League from Steam”
“Other multiplayer games like Rocket League and all of the Valve ones have been fine”
“the "game crashes randomly when joining games" bug too”
“Rocket League is a relatively recent game that allows match recording. It's nice.”
“saving rocket league replays to watch yourself play from your opponent's perspective was super helpful in 1v1”
“found it ran smoother (the random stutters I have suffered through on Windows are not there on Linux)”
“AI good enough to consistently beat the best players in the world is now common and wreaking havoc on the upper ranks.”
“For me, that's really just Rocket League, but that might die when EAC is added”
“That's an entirely new spin on a genre I didn't see coming.”
“Original, phenomenal games covering damm near every genre”
“Rocket League (Steam) runs fine, I'll stick with Linux.”
“which is now unusable until I agree to give them my PID and create an account”
“I'm not subjecting myself, or my kid, to Windows and the Epic store just to get at it.”
“I have been more or less hooked on competitive games since I first started playing them”
“Plenty of online games work fine.”
“Rocket League plays just fine on Linux if you use Proton”
“Testing Rocket League and Thief:TDM and worked really well”
“Rocket League is even better on Proton than native Windows”
“Rocket League is a particularly egregious example of this”
“I ended up with the buggy abandoned Linux version”
“It works perfectly on Steam using Proton if you have it there”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.