Good Way To Game On Mac

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This may seem like a pretty subjective category, and I'd like to preface this list by saying that it most definitely is. That being said, there are some games that are just empirically good — great graphics, fun to play, great story, whatever. And though some folks might have you believe that Macs aren't meant for gaming, there are actually a ton of awesome titles to choose from.

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I'll try and leave out games that you can play on iPhone and iPad unless the Mac is the best place to play 'em.

Here are the best games for Mac!

Note: Make sure you double-check the system requirements for each game before you make a purchase.

Firewatch

Firewatch, at its core, is a mystery game set in the Wyoming wilderness. You play as Henry, a man who decided to give the simpler life a try by joining a fire lookout team. Set in 1989, you watch for smoke during an especially hot, dry summer, aided via radio by your supervisor, Delilah. However, something draws you out of your tower and into the woods, where you must explore the unknown wild, making choices that could make or break your relationship with Delilah.

This is a gorgeous game, with a beautifully crafted open world, true-to-life characters, and a story that changes, depending on the choices you make throughout your story. Cissy Jones from the first season of The Walking Dead plays Delilah, and Henry is portrayed by Rich Sommer of Mad Men fame.

If you're looking for more than just a game — an experience — then Firewatch should be at the top of your to-play list. What starts as a simple game of watching for forest fires becomes a strange, twisty-turny, mystery-filled rabbit hole with new discoveries at every turn. It's like a book you just can't put down.

  • $19.99 - Download now

XCOM 2

Set 20 years after XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM 2 continues the turn-based tactics franchise in style, with much of the same gameplay that you love from the first one.

You'll once again play as the Commander, who, until the beginning of the game, was in alien stasis following Earth's surrender to the aliens. Once rescued by Central Officer Bradford, you'll resurrect XCOM and go to town reclaiming Earth from the aliens, one turn at a time.

If you love a good turn-based tactics game and you also love games like Halo or Mass Effect or even the first XCOM game for Mac, definitely check this one out.

  • $49.99 - Download now

Life is Strange

Life is Strange is an episodic mystery game of sorts that has you playing as Max Caulfield, a photography students who randomly discovers that she has the ability to rewind time (saves her best friend's life). The pair end up investigating the disappearance of a fellow student, while Max struggles with the realization that altering the past can have consequences in the future.

Essentially, you go through the entire game making choices, and the choices you make can screw things up for you down the road or make life much easier (think Until Dawn). With well-crafted characters and a moving story, Life is Strange is for the folks who like a cinematic experience fraught with emotion (á la Heavy Rain). The first episode is $5 and you can buy subsequent episodes via in-app purchases.

  • $4.99, with in-app purchases - Download now

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

This game may be a little old (like first generation Xbox old), but it's a classic and the fact that it's on the Mac is just wonderful. It's 4,000 years before the Galactic Empire and the Sith are just wiping out Jedi left right and central. So, of course, you're the last hope of the Jedi and you have to lead your brothers and sisters in arms in a last stand of sorts against the ultimate evil.

The cool part is you actually get to ultimately choose which side you want to be on, opting to conquer or save your fellow Jedi, using Force powers and sweet lightsaber moves all the way through. You get to customize your character and they change as the game goes on, depending on the choices you make and your style of play (kinda like the Fable series).

If you love an action-packed romp around the cosmos and, of course, Star Wars, then definitely download this right now. Keep in mind that it is an older game, but if you grew up with it like I did, it'll be a nostalgia-filled journey.

  • $9.99 - Download now

Limbo

In Limbo, you play as a nameless boy who's unsure of what happened to his sister, so you enter Limbo looking for her, A.K.A. the 'edge of hell'. As the boy, you must journey through Limbo, as you encounter only a few other human characters who either attack you, run away, or are dead. You have to puzzle and platform your way to the end, and I'll be honest: It's rather unsettling.

Like, really unsettling.

There isn't much for a soundtrack, aside from nature sounds and physical sounds of running, jumping, and hits and such. If you're like a dark, creepy game, with a very open ending that's been hotly debated, then definitely check out Limbo. It's unlike anything you've ever played and the lack of a real narrative really gives it its atmosphere. (Watch out for that damn spider… BLECH).

  • $9.99 - Download now

Braid

Braid is very similar to one of the most popular games of all time. Get into the actual gameplay, and you'll be like, 'THIS IS JUST SUPER MARIO', but then you'll sit back, listen to the AMAZING soundtrack, notice the little detail in Tim's hair while it flows in the wind when he runs, enjoy the beautiful scenery and interesting-looking enemies, and you'll be like, 'SUPER WHO?'.

In all seriousness, Braid is a lovely little game and it really emphasizes Tim's motives for rescuing the princess without ever saying exactly what they are or what exactly his 'mistake' was. Gameplay is quite simple; it's a Mario-style platformer, and you have to collect puzzle pieces along the way and slowly build a large puzzle in each world.

If you like platformers and love games with out-of-this-world soundtracks, then check out Braid.

  • $9.99 - Download now

Thomas Was Alone

Believe it or not, playing a platformer as a faceless rectangle can actually be pretty fun. Of course, the right elements have to be there, like a killer soundtrack and, simply put, absolutely lovely narration by British radio a TV presenter Danny Wallace.

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He tells the story of Thomas, a rectangle who is, you guessed it, alone. Thomas has to jump and slide his way through each level, entering a portal each time. Basically, all you can do is move right, left, and jump as you platform along, solving puzzles, and don't forget — the game's called Thomas Was Alone. This get significantly more interesting than you might think at the beginning. Get ready to feel stuff … for shapes. Not even kidding.

  • $8.99 - Download now

Doom 3

What's there to be said? It's Doom — on the Mac. You're part of an elite marine division, sent to protect a Martian teleportation facility, and things are hunky dory until you're invaded by 100% evil aliens. So, you're going to have to walk down hallway after hallway, mowing down demonic aliens that can only be described as 'WTF'.

Doom is the classic first-person shooter and this 3D adventure only ups the ante, bringing you further into the world of monsters and insane weaponry. There's an online multiplayer element to this iteration, so replayability is definitely there.

If you're into classic first-person shooters where gore and horror abound, then Doom 3 is your bag, baby.

  • $9.99 - Download now

Gone Home

Gone Home is a story exploration game where you examine objects and open drawers and doors to discover clues. You've been away for a year and come home thinking your family will be there to greet you, only to discover that the house is empty and you have no idea why.

Things may seem kind of creepy at first, and you'll uncover your sister's journal, complete with narration, as well as other objects from your childhood and things left behind. You likely won't expect the ending and you'll definitely feel all the feels throughout your journey, so be prepared for a lot of reading and an almost cinematic experience.

Gameplay is simple and barebones, but you like a good story exploration game, definitely check this one out, since it's pretty heavy on story.

  • $19.99 - Download now

Sleeping Dogs

Crime never pays. I mean it does in terms of the money that gangs make from drugs and what have you, but it all comes back to bite them in the ass sooner or later. In Sleeping Dogs, you get to do the biting, playing as Hong Kong cop, Wei Shen, who's a streetwise badass martial artist, straddling the law and playing both sides to take down the city's biggest Triad gang.

If you enjoy open world games and have any love for the badassery of classic Hong Kong action movies, then Sleeping Dogs is right up your alley. You basically just get to go around kicking the crap out of criminals, while also playing the bad boy in some heavy undercover activity.

You'll have to live and learn as the game goes on, while honing your skills to survive twists and turns that are matters of life and death.

If you're up for an exciting action/adventure full of violence and intrigue, you got it.

  • $29.99 - Download now

Darkest Dungeon

Darkest Dungeon is a very involved roguelike dungeon crawl with fantastic art, and an interesting twist on the genre, centering on the stress of adventuring. If your characters' stress levels get too high, you're gonna have a bad time.

You'll fight wave after wave of all sorts of ghouls in turn-based combat, simply trying to keep your party alive and calm. This game isn't just about defeating monsters, but about defeating your party's personal demons as well. You'll have to chill out at taverns to keep everyone's stress in check, camp to deliver pep talks, and save the characters you love from all-too meaningful permadeath.

Fans of Lovecraft will adore Darkest Dungeon for it's great horror and awesome hand-drawn art style that gives everything a gritty, visceral feel. If you like scary-ass RPGs, then check it out.

  • $24.99 - Download now

Heroes of the Storm

Heroes of the Storm is a MOBA game in teams of five fantasy characters battle against one another for supremacy in a series of different game modes. You'll have to destroy opposing team members, as well as their structures to gain points for your team and ultimately win the match. Many MOBA-style games have the same problem: one person can be a hero and win the game on their own, while screwing over the rest of their team. Not the case in Heroes of the Storm, where if one team member isn't up to snuff, the rest of the team feels it.

One team, one dream!

Made by Blizzard, this is one of the best ARTS games around, with awesome characters, solid voice acting, great graphics, and necessary teamwork that doesn't make you want to drive your Magic Mouse through your 5K iMac screen.

HotS is free to play, but you'll be stuck with the playable characters offered to you, which rotate every week. You can earn gold in the game, but to get anything decent will take a looooong time. Therefore, you can buy heroes, skins, and mounts in the game with USD. Otherwise, play for free and just enjoy.

  • Free, with in-app purchases - Download now

Portal 2

It doesn't matter which platform you're playing on, Portal 2 is hands-down one of the greatest video games of all time. It builds on the fun and weirdness of Portal from the Orange Box and throws you into a more fascinating story, with puzzles that never really feel like puzzles, since you're out of the testing chambers just trying to escape.

You once again play as Chell (the voiceless captive with the sweet boots and 'stubborn will to live') who is once again trying to escape the Facility, which she totally ruined years earlier. Wheatley, a personality core voiced by Stephen Merchant, revives Chell to escape the Facility with him, but all is not as it seems.

This game is incredibly atmospheric, often creepy and weird, as well as gut-bustingly hilarious. You'll learn about the history of the ruined Facility, mainly from GLaDOS (in an unusual form) and voice recordings from Aperture Science founder Cave Johnson, voiced by the legend J.K. Simmons (the funniest part of the game).

Portal 2 also has a sweet multiplayer mode where you play as testing robots Peabody and Atlas, working with a partner to frustratingly solve testing chambers (you might lose friends over some of the more difficult levels).

If you're at all into physics puzzles and hilarious, quirky games, then Portal 2 is not to be missed. Hell, even if you don't like puzzle games, play it. You'll be a better person for it. You can even download the stellar soundtrack for free

  • $19.99 - Download now

Rocket League

It's soccer. With cars. There really isn't much more to say except that's it's freakin' awesome. Think of a physics-based FIFA with wild and crazy vehicles and full-frontal multiplayer mayhem. And if those aren't enough hype buzzwords then imagine yourself as a small child, forced to play soccer in order to 'build character'. Now imagine that you're a child driving a monster truck around a massive enclosed arena, smacking giant balls around and flying and flipping around because physics.

Yeah.

If you're kind of into multiplayer sports games, but prefer them with a side of absolutely wacky, then Rocket League is totally for you.

  • $19.99 - Download now

Undertale

Undertale is for those of you who are just sick and tired of having to murder innocent, repulsive monsters. If you've ever thought 'why can't I just talk to the monster instead', then you should play Undertale.

In this indie RPG, you play as a child who has fallen into the Underground, which is a large, isolated region beneath the Earth's surface, separated by a magical barrier. Along the way, you'll meet monsters and have to face them in mini bullet hell combat, where you can choose to spare them instead of killing them. The choices you make affect the outcome of the game, including the story, dialogue, and the characters you meet, as you try and make your way back to the surface.

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Undertale was released to excellent critical praise, garnering Game of the Year nods from multiple gaming publications. If you love a good top-down RPG, with fantasy elements and the ability to be a pacifist, then Undertale is great for feeling the feels or kicking some serious hiney.

  • $9.99 - Download now

Civilization V

I have Civ V on this list instead of VI, but might add VI when the bugs are ironed out. Sid Meier's Civilization V has you ruling the world from the dawn of man all the way into the space age, where you will wage wars and conquer nations in the pursuit of progress and total domination.

You'll also discover new technologies, strike treaties, and all that other diplomatic stuff that world leaders do.

There is a multiplayer mode, though it is restricted to a LAN.

If you're into amazing turn-based strategy games and love a good game of Risk, then Civ V is calling to you. Answer it.

  • $29.99 - Download now

Myst

Originally released in 1993, Myst was recently revamped for the Mac, so that you can explore the open world of Myst Island and its Ages in a gloriously rebuilt environment. The world is completely interactive and you'll have to discover and solve puzzles in order to find books containing access to all of the Ages.

The ending of the game changes depending on the choices you make, and you'll be torn between helping one of two brothers or their father, with your own fate entirely unknown until it's too late. Myst is an absolute classic and the graphics update puts a modern spin on it, bringing the Myst you grew up with into the 21st Century.

If you love a classic puzzle game, a story filled with intrigue and twists, and open-world exploration games, then totally check out Myst.

  • $17.99 - Download now

What do you play?

What's your favorite game for the Mac? Any absolute essentials I may have missed? Let me know in the comments below!

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You can connect yours to a Mac using a RetroBit Retro Adapter, which provides one NES port (so you might want to buy two adapters for two-player games). NES USB controller adapter To run the games, you have a few options. Play snes games on switch.

Fishing time

C.J.'s next Fishing Tourney will be in July

There are four Fishing Tourneys each year in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Here's when they are and what the rules are for participating.

Before digital downloads, finding the best Mac games wasn’t always easy.

They were out there, but the Mac section of the computer game stores (they used to have those) seemed to stock nothing but “Mario Teaches Typing,” and the games that included Mac and Windows versions would inevitably be scattered around the “PC” sections of the store.

As such, compiling a list of the best classic Mac games is pretty tough.

That didn’t stop us from doing it. And because we want you to actually play these games, we made sure you can still buy them all in either their original form or as enhanced editions (not remakes). It also means some of our favorite old Mac games—such as Myth, Red Baron, and Fallout—didn’t make the list.

By the way, if you want to stay on top of all the latest Mac games updates, retro or modern, make sure you check out Pure Mac.

The 10 Best old games for Mac: Revisiting the classics

For the record, old-school classics are not exclusive to older gamers. These classics are famous and still supported for a reason. You’ll be surprised how much fun these games can even after all these years.
When this turn-based fantasy RPG from Spiderweb Software arrived in 2000 it already looked and played like throwbacks to RPGs of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. But it did so in the best ways possible.

Avernum is an underground prison, and of course, your adventure begins when you’re exiled there from the surface world, known as the Empire. But Avernum isn’t simply a prison; an entire culture exists in this subterranean world, presenting you with myriad options on what to do next. With numerous quests, spells, and party members to customize and control, Avernum unfolds with the freedom of pencil and paper adventures.

Avernum: The Complete Saga gives you a ridiculous amount of content and a cohesive story arc that’s tremendously satisfying. The graphics are rudimentary, but Avernum is very satisfying if you can overlook that.

Another name synonymous with Mac gaming back in the ‘90s was Ambrosia Software. You simply didn’t know a Mac user who didn’t have at least one Ambrosia game on her PowerPC.

Perhaps their most fondly remembered title is EV Nova, the third game in the Escape Velocity series. A space exploration and combat game, EV Nova is set amongst warring factions scattered throughout the Milky Way. Consider it Divergent amongst the stars, as you will select your faction then find your role in it.

Gameplay involves jumping between star systems to accept and execute missions, upgrade your ship, and wreck havoc. There are six major storylines and plenty of branching missions, and how you get involved is up to you. That leads to plenty of replay options.

It’s still easy to get overwhelmed by EV Nova despite its age, but Ambrosia offers plenty of resources at the company’s website.

Our second sci-fi first-person shooter to make the list finds you waking from cryostasis to a ship full of unknown aliens, a screwed up AI, and your now zombified companions. Fair enough. We’ve been through this before, so pick up the weapons and health packs and have at it, right?

Wrong. System Shock 2 doesn’t give you a lot of weapons or health packs. Rather, it gives you an RPG-like system of upgrades that forces you to use strategy, stealth, and the environment to survive.

What really separates System Shock 2 from its peers is the ship itself. It’s creepy and oppressive, and you’ll be more afraid of what could be around the corner than what actually is. Story elements are revealed through logs left by the crew, limiting your knowledge of what’s going on in a manner that reinforces how alone you are.

Good Way To Game On MacAnother game produced by Peter Molyneux, Syndicate Plus is a real-time tactical action game in which you lead a team of cyborg mercenaries in the “problem-solving” department of the Syndicate.

When you hear the term “cyborg” you just know there are going to be plenty of customization options via augmentations. You will use these to create a team that moves through futuristic locations to achieve your employer’s objectives.

Although there’s plenty to address between missions, it’s the execution of those missions that is most fun. The citizens and their belongings (cars, for example) are there to suit your purposes, should you need them. Your radar tells you where you need to go, but the direct route isn’t always best. If you need some extra help you can “persuade” the people around to help get the job done.

Best of all, the music and sound effects were incredibly effective for the time. The music that suddenly kicks in when you’re spotted will follow me for the rest of my life.

I gave up on the Star Wars movies about 25 minutes into Return of the Jedi, and I’ve never been able to get back into it. I still quite enjoy the games, however, and my all time favorite is 1994’s TIE Fighter from LucasArts.

This is because of the excellent story that drives the mission-based flight-sim combat, because of the smooth graphics, and because it was the first time I got to serve the Empire. The missions are what you’d expect from any competent flight sim, asking you to engage in dogfights, take down freighters, protect your own vessels, etc. But because you’re now facing off against the whiney Rebellion, there’s a certain evil glee that goes along with it.

I’m also impressed by TIE Fighter’s staying-power. The gameplay is every bit as intense (and difficult) as it was in the mid-90s, and the space combat graphics are still very cool to view. Just make sure you play it with a joystick. Trust me on this.

There was a time when Bungie Studios was the shining light of Mac gaming. With Mac-only (or at least Mac-first) games such as Myth and Oni, they were the one company that made Windows owners jealous of Mac gamers.

But then Microsoft bought them to claim Halo, and that shining light was snuffed out forever.

Mac gamers can still see what made Bungie so special by playing the Marathon Trilogy. This revolutionary series of sci-fi themed first-person shooters introduced features such as real-time voice chat and the ability to wield two weapons at once. The multiplayer options may not do you much good today, but the action and the story are every bit as entertaining as they were in the ’90s.

Honestly, Marathon would be higher on this list were it not for the steps required to grab it. The games are free, but you’ll need to install Aleph One (the free, open source continuation of Bungie’s Marathon 2 FPS game engine) to run them.

“But what if this was set in space?” is a valid question for every video game ever made…even games that are already set in space. That’s because space makes everything so much bigger and more imaginative. And the time this worked best was when Sid Meier took Civilization interstellar with Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri.

The turn-based strategy elements all remained. You choose from seven factions, then research an unexplored planet, build new technologies and customize your units, and conquer anything hostile (or friendly, if that suits you) to claim victory.

The fun thing about Alpha Centauri is that none of the factions are bad guys. No matter which you select, you feel like you’re doing the right thing when you conquer the others.

Still, why bother playing this when there are many modern alternatives available on the Mac? Because the only thing missing in Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri are the flashy graphics. The writing, voice-acting, and depth of gameplay options are still among the best the genre has ever seen.

Good Way To Game On Mac Windows 10

For our next game, we go all the way back to the ’80s with Bullfrog’s Populous from Peter Molyneux. If it’s not the first “god” game out there, it’s the first that made god gaming so gleefully fun.

In Populous, you’re given an isometric view of your world and tasked with manipulating this world to help your “followers” wipe out the enemy. More followers lead to more mana, more mana leads to more powers, and more powers mean earthquakes, volcanos, and all kinds of fun ways to punish the non-believers.

There are many similar games available now, most of which are much more involved and rewarding. So, why bother going back to 1989 for the original Populous? Because it’s still fun. It also contains a whopping 500 levels, and the rudimentary graphics create an odd connection with your followers. It’s more like developer and programs than God and subjects.

Best Way To Game On A Mac

Those looking to relive the original adventure in this real-time fantasy RPG are in for a treat. The enhanced edition—released in April of this year—comes with the original version from 1999.

No matter which version you’ll play, you are the Nameless One. A name like that means life isn’t good, and the horrors of lives you can’t remember are coming back to haunt you. Worse, a floating skull named Morte is leading your adventure that will take you to the very depths of Hell.

The characters you can recruit in Planescape: Torment are highly non-traditional, including a crossbow-wielding cube and a haunted suit of armor. You’re free to change your class and alignment throughout the 50+ hour adventure, so you’re not stuck with one way of thinking as with most RPGs of this time.

Here’s a case where the enhanced edition of a game expertly accomplishes its goal; it reminds fans of why they loved the original while making the game accessible to modern gamers.

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Why? To start, the remastered graphics lovingly reflect the look of the original, serving mainly to make them look sharp on today’s much larger monitors. The enhanced edition also adds four new characters you can simply ignore if you want to remain faithful to the original, and it builds Shadows of Amn and Throne of Baal right into the package. There’s now a multiplayer option, too.

The reason Baldur’s Gate II is so fondly remembered is because of the excellent story and well-balanced combat. As you’d expect from a Forgotten Realms-based game, you can play through as the good guy, the bad guy, or someone in between. Your actions affect how NPCs and members of your own party see you and will open and close quests and other options.

Good RPGs create worlds you don’t just want to play through, but live in. And in that regard, Baldur’s Gate II is one of the most successful of all time.

The thing about putting together a list of the best classic Mac games is that it’s constantly changing. More games become “classic” each year, but it’s more than that. Countless games bubble just under the surface, waiting to be rediscovered or to get their “enhanced” edition to lift them back into the consciousness of Mac gamers. And with the ease of digital distribution, don’t be surprised if we’re soon talking about more of our favorites.

In the meantime, can someone remind me why the Mac versions of Fallout and Fallout 2 disappeared again?

Disclaimer: Some of the links above are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission (this is how we pay the bills). This commission comes at no additional cost to you.

Please understand that I only mention games because I believe they’re interesting, good, and/or fun. Never because I received a free copy or to earn a small commission.