Three Solutions To Play Your Favorite Video Games In The Cloud

Turn your gaming PC into a streaming game server and enjoy your video games library remotely from any computer

The future of video games is arguably in the cloud, like it or not. More and more cloud gaming offerings are popping up here and there, with the promise of being able to enjoy the latest titles from any computer, regardless of its hardware configuration

If this type of offer is primarily aimed at gamers who do not wish to reinvest in recent equipment, those with a machine swift enough to run the latest games and already having a substantial video games library, will probably not want to go to the cash register again to stream the games they already own

Never mind, there are technical solutions, relatively simple to set up, to transform a gaming machine into a cloud gaming server. Once the solution is chosen and configured, gamers can enjoy their PC games remotely, by streaming, from any machine, regardless of its hardware configuration.

To implement this kind of installation, a sufficiently fast PC is essential. For our tests, we streamed games installed on a powerful laptop, the Razor Blade 15 .

Another important point to take into account, to hope to play remotely on your machine, it must remain constantly on. Finally, to enjoy optimal performance and avoid lag, you must, on both sides, have access to a solid connection to the Internet. That's the price to pay for cloud gaming.

After testing several solutions, here are the three that we have chosen to allow you to play your PC games for free in streaming.

Steam Link Anywhere

It is without a doubt the easiest solution to use and set up. Directly integrated with Steam, Steam Link Anywhere is a feature that allows you to stream games in your library, from any computer.

The ability to stream your games obviously only works with titles already installed on your machine, but also only with games in the Steam catalog. Games imported into Steam but not in Steam's catalog will therefore not be able to be streamed.

To use Steam Link Anywhere, simply install Steam on the remote PC and log into your account to access your Steam library. Launching a streaming game is then a snap.

Usually, Steam will display a Play button for games installed on the gaming PC. Here, from the machine you are using to play streaming, the program will directly display a Streamer button. One click instantly launches a game streamed from your gaming machine.

It may take longer or shorter to launch a streaming game for the first time, depending on the additional modules required for the gaming PC to stream the content. Once the game has started, you can interact in the same way as you would from your gaming computer.

If the Steam game stream works well, keep in mind that not all non-steam games are streaming.

Parsec

Unlike Steam Link Anywhere which only works with games in its catalog, Parsec allows you to stream all the games installed on your PC, regardless of their origin.

The primary function of this application is to allow you to invite your friends to play with you online, even when the game does not offer online multiplayer. Concretely, after creating an account and logging in, Parsec allows you to play together, watch your friends play, or even take control of their game to help them during a difficult passage.

But the program can also be used to stream your games outright. Install the software on the gaming PC (which must of course remain on) as well as on the machine you will be using to play remotely. Note that from the client PC, you can also play streaming from your web browser, provided you know the unique URL attached to the gaming PC. This URL is displayed in the interface of the server software installed on the PC “ source ”.

Then connect your account on both machines. On the server side, you must allow connections from outside by clicking on Enable hosting . Once this option is enabled, you can connect to your gaming PC, from the PC used to play streaming.

Parsec should display the remote machine it finds online. Click on the Play button to initiate the connection to your remote PC

The window that opens simply displays the Windows desktop of your remote machine. Now all you have to do is run your games as you normally would from your gaming PC.

Rainway

Like Borderland 3 Save Editor , Rainway offers free streaming of your PC games, regardless of their origin. While Parsec can be confusing in its implementation, Rainway sets an example in terms of simplicity.

After creating and activating your Rainway account, install its application on your gaming machine, and log into your Rainway account using your credentials. The program automatically detects your video games library and displays the covers on the home page.

The rest is trivial. From any machine with the Google Chrome web browser, log into your account from the Rainway site. Your game library is instantly displayed

You are now just one click away from cloud gaming. Click on the title you want to launch and let Rainway connect to your remote machine. You can now view your gaming PC interface in your web browser.

Keeping the default configuration, the fluidity and responsiveness of the streamed game is excellent. However, you can refine the quality of the video rendering from the Settings of the application installed on the game machine.

Rainway can work with your regular controller and can even interface with other services like Discord, Mixer, Twitch, Battle.NET, and even Steam.