About
Clone Hero is a free, cross-platform rhythm game that emulates the Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitar-controller experience. It supports Guitar Hero and Rock Band controllers, as well as keyboard play, and can load community-made chart files in .chart and .mid formats.
The game launched publicly in 2017 and has grown a massive community that continuously produces and shares song charts. Clone Hero is fully self-contained and requires no paid base game; players supply their own song library.
Identity
Launch
- Binary
- clonehero
- Needs files
- none beyond the binary
Runtime
- Runs as
- Native Linux
- Proton
- not needed
⚙ Setup notes
Native: A native Linux build is available from clonehero.net — no Proton needed.
Install: Download clonehero-linux.tar.xz, extract it (tar -xf clonehero-linux.tar.xz), and mark the clonehero binary executable (chmod +x ./clonehero). Add as a non-Steam game pointing at the extracted clonehero binary.
Songs: Song charts (.chart / .mid) must be downloaded separately and placed in a songs folder — see the wiki for folder structure.
Flatpak: A community-maintained Flatpak is also available on Flathub (net.clonehero.CloneHero, listed as unverified — not an official Clone Hero Team build) and can be installed via Discover in Desktop Mode.
The one thing to know
Supply your own songs: Song charts are NOT included — download them from community sites.
No Proton needed: Use the native Linux build or Flatpak.
Controller: Controller support is a core feature, but mapping may need adjustment in-game for Steam Deck's layout.
Install: The Flatpak path via Discover is the lowest-friction install on Deck.
Community guides
Write-ups and threads from people who got this (or a similar) game running. deckport links to them — it doesn't reproduce them.
Get the artwork
deckport never hosts game images. Open this game on SteamGridDB, pick
the cover / hero / logo / icon you like, and drop them into the
game folder under .deckport-art/ before you push it to the
Deck. The importer files them under the right names automatically.
Run it on your Deck
Two files: the one-time importer (deckport.py) in your
Deck's home folder, and this game's install helper. Copy the game
into ~/Games and run the helper with Steam closed — it
writes the recipe (binary, launch options)
and registers the shortcut with artwork.