The 11 Best Games To Play On Mac

Gaming on the Mac — a niche phenomenon for a long time, as the selection of Mac-compatible games were very limited for many years. However, with the increasing popularity of macOS (the market share has tripled in the last decade) the platform is also becoming more and more interesting for game developers.

Here is a list of the 11 best Mac games. Some of them are popular titles and some of them are my own personal choice. But all of these are pretty interesting.

NOTE: The following games are named alphabetically, it is not a ranking. All of these games are from companies that I don’t own, neither I’m an affiliate and responsible for any issue. I’m suggesting and sharing my experiences with these games and other choices is up to you.

Bioshock Range

The Bioshock Game series has now almost reached iconic status and has been extremely well received by both the trade press and gamers. In the single-player shooter with horror elements, the player explores the underwater city of Rapture, which was originally built as a retreat for the rich and was supposed to offer residents all the freedom and luxury that the 1960s had to offer.

But the experiment failed and the city sank into bloody arguments. The protagonist, who discovered the city by accident after a plane crash, has to fight his way through the remains of the former metropolis in search of an escape route.

After the success of the first Bioshock, the developer 2K Games developed two more games: Bioshock 2, which is also set in Rapture, and Bioshock Infinite, whose action is set in a new setting, the flying city of Columbia.

All three parts have also been released for the Mac, and a remastered version of the first with improved graphics has also been released. Since these versions have to struggle with technical problems, also visible in the rating of the players, you might prefer to use the originals, which you can also find on Steam.

Bioshock Remastered on Steam (user rating: 76% positive)

Bioshock 2 Remastered on Steam (user rating: 63% positive)

Bioshock Infinite on Steam (user rating: 95% positive)

Factorio

The hit indie game Factorio is one of the games with the highest user ratings on Steam and has already cast a spell over millions of players with its gameplay loop of automation and expansion. With this mix of construction, strategy, and tower defense, the player, having crashed on an alien planet, has to build a factory in order to ultimately construct a rocket to return to his homeworld.

The 2D game has to a certain extent established its own genre and has inspired many other games, including the equally successful Satisfactory or also Dyson Sphere Program. The secret recipe of Factorio is that the player’s figure is actually very limited in its possibilities.

The mining of raw materials and the production of production takes a very long time by hand, but by increasingly automating these processes, the player is able to process thousands, even millions, of raw materials and products.

If you are a fan of planning and construction, and you enjoy optimizing production chains and defending your creation from evil alien beings, then this game is definitely worth a try.

Factorio on Steam (user rating: 98% positive)

Half-Life 2

The classic game Half-Life 2, developed by the Steam operator Valve, is one of those titles that don’t really need to be continued. We’ll do it anyway. Half-Life 2 is a first-person shooter from Valve, who also operates the Steam game platform.

It was released in 2004 and is, therefore, the oldest game on our list, but despite its old age, it should not be missing from our list. In order to avoid spoilers, even for those who like the predecessor Half-Life have not played yet, we will not go into the story here.

Just this much: Half-Life 2 takes place in the future metropolis City 17 and deals with the fight of an underground movement against the alien race Combine, which has occupied planet Earth. The player plays the scientist Gorden Freeman, already the main character in the predecessor Half-Life.

Half-Life 2 set new standards in the gaming scene with its history and the possibilities to interact with one’s own environment and is still playable today.

If you want to see the story from the beginning, I would recommend the unofficial remake of the first part, Black Mesa.

Half-Life 2 on Steam (user rating: 97% positive)

Black Mesa on Steam (user rating: 95% positive)

Kerbal Space Program

Kerbal Space Program ( KSP for short ) is a must for all space fans. In KSP, the player manages the space program of the fictional planet Kerbin. You build rockets, visit space and the different planets of the solar system and control the small, green, sweet inhabitants of Kerbal, the Kerbals.

The special thing about KSP is the realistic game physics that presents the player with the same challenges that real space organizations have to face. Despite the cute look, the game is very demanding and even leaving your own planet is a challenge for inexperienced players.

Fortunately, there is a large, active community and you can find the right tutorials on YouTube for all kinds of problems, including guides for beginners. Thanks to a huge mod library, variety is guaranteed even in the long term. A successor is already being developed, but it will take some time to be released.

Kerbal Space Program on Steam (user rating: 94% positive)

Minecraft

The block game Minecraft, which has become a cult, is still popular with gamers. In the open-world sandbox title, the player spends his time shaping the game world, which consists of square blocks, according to his own ideas.

There are no limits to the imagination, players have already built castles, spaceships, or even the whole earth. If you just want to start building, you can let your imagination run free in the creative mode without restrictions.

In survival mode you have to mine your resources yourself, you also have to fight the monsters that inhabit the world, satisfy their hunger, and can visit another dimension, the “Nether”. If you want to play Minecraft on a Mac, it is important to buy the Java version of the game. Microsoft Store is not compatible with Mac.

Minecraft (Java version) on Minecraft.net

Mount & Blade: Warband

Mount & Blade: Warband is a role and strategy game that takes place in an open world and does not offer a fixed story, but instead allows him to choose his own tasks and goals. In the medieval setting, the player takes on the role of a simple adventurer, who over time builds his following and his influence and can work his way up to the king.

The view changes from a world map, in which the player can move freely with a click of the mouse, to a third-person view in battles or when visiting a village or a castle. In multiplayer mode, players can also play with or against each other on the same map for the supremacy of the Calradia game world. The successor Mount & Blade: Bannerlord is already in the early access phase, but only available for Windows.

Mount & Blade: Warband on Steam (user rating: 97% positive)

Portal Series

The portal Series was also developed by the Steam operator Valve and has already achieved certain cult status. This puzzle game is about solving a series of puzzles using the portal cannon. The portal cannon can connect any point in the game world so that the player can move, but also objects, through this portal.

Valve implemented this mechanic perfectly to create a whole hodgepodge of puzzles that the player has to solve. The storyline is also special: the player is part of an experiment that was given up a long time ago.

He is trapped in a large, but now abandoned facility, and is guided through the levels by artificial intelligence that has control of the building but apparently does not want to admit that the real purpose of the facility has long been lost.

The AI’s black humor is the real highlight of the Portal series. Both portal games are a must for puzzle fans, but also highly recommended for casual players. In Portal 2 it is also possible for the first time to solve a set of puzzles specially designed for multiplayer with a friend in co-op mode.

Portal on Steam (user rating: 98% positive)

Portal 2 on Steam (user rating: 98% positive)

Rimworld

The Rimworld colony simulator is an absolute insider tip. The player takes control of a group of survivors who crashed on an alien planet. To survive and ultimately escape the planet, you’ll need to build a base, recruit more members, fend off attacks by other factions and man-hunting rabbits (you read that right), grow food, and much more.

The special thing about it is that you do not control your residents directly, but only set the priorities of the individual tasks between your characters. So your characters play themselves to a certain extent, which is what Rimworld does not only makes it a base building game, but also a storyteller.

The relationships between your characters are also decisive, as they repeatedly lead to funny and interesting incidents. It is possible that one of your residents has a binge eating and eats their food chamber empty because he is frustrated by the constant cheating by his lover. You can spend hundreds of hours in Rimworld and if at any point you want to bring a breath of fresh air, the huge mod database is just waiting to be discovered.

Rimworld on Steam (user rating 98% positive)

Sid Meier’s Civilization

n Sid Meier’s Civilization takes control of one of the numerous historical civilizations and guides you through world history. All civilizations start at the same time, regardless of their actual historical time frame.

Use a turn-based world map to navigate your empire through history and try to achieve victory. You can win through military dominance, scientific achievement, cultural superiority, or various other victory conditions.

This ensures a high replay value, as you can pursue very different tactics and use the special properties that each civilization has for the respective play style. It is thanks to the time-consuming and addicting gameplay, that the popularity of the series has not diminished since the first part in 1991. If you’re looking for a time-waster that gives you days (if not weeks) of strategy fun, this is Civilization is right for you.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI on Steam (user rating: 83% positive)

Subnautica & Subnautica Below Zero

Have you always wanted to find out the secrets of the deep sea without really having to face dangers such as high pressure, lack of oxygen, or dangerous deep-sea monsters? Then Subnautica is the game for you.

You can experience everything just described in Subnautica while sitting comfortably in your office chair. Subnautica is a survival adventure in which you crashed your spaceship on the completely water-covered planet 4546B.

In order to escape from this again, you have to use the blueprints that you were able to rescue from your destroyed ship and the resources of the planet to build underwater vehicles to dive deeper and deeper into the underwater world of the planet.

You can also build a base from which you plan your ventures and process the collected resources. Like no other game, Subnautica manages to convey the oppressive silence and lurking dangers of the deep-sea world.

In the stand-alone addon Below Zero, you return to 4546B two years after the original story, but this time in the significantly colder and snow-covered ice biome.

Subnautica on Steam (user rating: 96% positive)

Subnautica: Below Zero on Steam (user rating: 93% positive)

The Walking Dead

The adventure game The Walking Dead from the unfortunately insolvent game studio Telltale Games tells the story of the young girl Clementine, who fights for her survival during a zombie apocalypse.

With this story-focused, episode-format game, we don’t want to get into the story too much to avoid spoilers. Just this much: On her journey, Clementine not only has to face the omnipresent threat from the zombies but also other survivors, who often represent an even greater danger.

In The Walking Dead, which is set in the same world as the series and comic book series of the same name, you determine the course of history with your decisions and often have to decide the life and death of those around you.

The game is basically an interactive series: you follow the story, make decisions, and occasionally have to solve small puzzles to move forward. The gripping story is the great strength of the series. It lets the player experience the suffering of the protagonists and repeatedly confronts them with moral dilemmas, the consequences of which often only become apparent later in the story.

If you’re a fan of the zombie setting, The Walking Dead is a mandatory purchase. The link takes you to the first part of The Walking Dead, but you can also find all other parts on Steam (and from other providers).

The Walking Dead on Steam (user rating: 96% positive)