Just want to drop a comment with an update for this game, this game still won't start. For me it gives the error message at launch saying:

Tried all available launch options for Proton and got the same result each time.

PC specs:
Proton:4.11-1
Distro:Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa
Kernel:4.18.0-25-generic
RAM:32 GB
GPU Driver:NVIDIA 430.40
GPU:NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
CPU:Intel Core i7-4790K @ 4.00GHz

Log
steam-12170.log

The settings application requires mfc42. Installing it via Winetricks fixes that part.

A bigger problem is that the game binary can't find the data files because it expects the working directory to be it's own. I added complicated line to the launch options so it changes to that directory first and it works.

command=$(echo %command%) && s="waitforexitandrun " && path=${command#*$s} && path="$(dirname "$path")" && cd "$path" && PROTON_USE_D9VK=1 %command%

I dare say the working directory problem will surface again with other games of that era.

D9vk is also required to get in the game itself.

Still errors with proton 5.0-2.

A slightly tweaked version of aukond's command for more recent versions of proton (it seems like the waitforexitandrun string is mentioned twice in newer scripts):

command=$(echo "%command%") && s="/proton waitforexitandrun '" && path="${command#*$s}" && path="$(dirname "$path")" && cd "$path" && PROTON_USE_D9VK=1 %command%

In my case I didn't need to have PROTON_USE_D9VK=1 in there, but I left it in just in case. I was also not successful to get the game to fully launch in-game without using GloriousEggroll's proton variant.

Note that you still need to manually install mfc42. If you have protontricks installed: protontricks 12170 mfc42 will do the trick.

Lastly, as this is an older title, in case you want to use gamescope for compatibility or display preferences, you can do this too. Here's an example of that, adjust to your needs:

command=$(echo "%command%") && s="/proton waitforexitandrun '" && path="${command#*$s}" && path="$(dirname "$path")" && cd "$path" && gamemoderun gamescope -w 1280 -h 1024 -W 1280 -H 1024 -f -- %command%