When it comes to gaming, Mac-based computers are the last thing that comes to anyone’s mind.
Inadequate hardware and lack of powerful GPU are the reason why passionate gamers almost always prefer Windows over the expensive MacOS.
However, this doesn’t mean Mac users cannot enjoy quality games. Below, we have listed some of the best games that you can play on Mac in 2019.
Note: As you may already know, modern Mac systems can no longer run 32-bit applications since the release of MacOS Catalina in 2019. That’s the reason you cannot play much older games on your new Mac.
In case, you want to enjoy classic games, such as Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, you can always install a virtual machine.
Table of Contents
16. Layers of Fear
Genre: Psychological horror, adventure
Mode: Single-player
Layers of Fear is a story-driven, horror video game which mostly revolves around exploration and puzzle solving. It’s played in first person perspective.
In the game, you’ll control a psychotic artist who is trying to complete a magnum opus or masterpiece in his studio and in order to do that you must locate hidden items scattered around the complex.
The entire game is split into a total of six chapters. In the beginning, the studio appears normal, but it changes in a flick of a second with doors vanishing and corners turning into endless straight walls. These effects become more and more intense with each passing level.
The game reveals certain aspects of the painter’s past and personal life through dialogue flashbacks and certain objects that you will find throughout the gameplay.
Apart from macOS, you can also play the game on Windows, Xbox One and PS4.
15. Firewatch
Genre: Adventure
Mode: Single-player
Firewatch is a first-person, adventure game in which players take control of Henry, a fire lookout stationed in the Shoshone National Forest.
After a few days of tedious work, Henry began noticing strange things happening around him. He is then contacted by Delilah, another fire lookout in an adjacent sector, regarding similar concerns.
Henry and Delilah, both interact with each other over the radio (throughout the game). To converse, you will be given a number of dialog options to choose from. But remember your choices will affect your character’s relationship with Delilah.
Excellent storytelling and near realistic dialogues, expressing a bit of everything – humor, sadness, and anger, make Firewatch the first person narrative game everyone wants. The game is also available on Steam.
14. Night in the Woods
Genre: Adventure
Mode: Singe-player
Night in the Woods is a 2D, story-driven game which revolves around Margaret “Mae” Borowski, a young girl who moves back to her hometown of Possum Springs in order to pick things up from where she had left several years ago.
She soon, however, realizes that everything there has changed, including her friends. She also finds out that one of her old friends has mysteriously gone missing.
As Mae, you will explore Possum Springs and converse with friends and locals.
You will be able to do a number of other things such as climbing on rooftops, power-lines, observe different objects, and more as the game progresses. It also features a variety of mini-games where you can smash old cars and play in a band.
The course of the game depends solely on your dialogue choices and whom you decide to spend time with.
Overall, Night in the Woods is a remarkable game which not only tells a story but also illustrates emotions and experiences with surprising clarity.
13. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
Genre: Real-time strategy
Mode: Single/multi-player
Are you a fan of military fiction games? If yes, then StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty might just be the thing you are after.
Originally released in 2010, the entire game is divided into three parts; the core game, an expansion pack (Heart of the Swarm) and one stand-alone expansion pack (Legacy of the Void).
StarCraft II revolves around three powerful factions; the Zerg, Protoss, and Terrans, and the tussle between them for more power. You need to choose a faction to begin with. The single-player mode only allows you to control the Terrans.
The game demands good multitasking skills which include careful management of your resources and armies. You also need to keep a tap on whereabouts of your enemies to have an upper hand.
In 2016, Blizzard released a campaign pack StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops focusing on Terrans.
12. Life is Strange
Genre: Adventure
Mode: Single-player
Life is Strange is a popular episodic adventure game in which you take control of Max Caulfield, a teenage photographer who discovers that she can go back in time whenever she wants.
After having a vision about a devastating storm, she then decided to put her powers in good use and stop the storm from wrecking her town.
Over the course of the game, Max will meet different characters (non-playable) with whom she will be able to converse.
Some of your dialogue choices will affect the gameplay through either short or long-term consequences. Game’s time rewinding mechanics allow the player to undone any action that has been taken.
11. The Witness
Genre: Puzzle
Mode: Single-player
The Witness is a puzzle adventure game in which your character explores a strange island filled with challenging puzzles.
The entire island is divided into seven different regions surrounding a mountain. These regions can be differentiated from each other by vegetation types.
You can find several boxes across the island which can only be activated once all the puzzles in the nearby area have been solved.
A number of such boxes must be activated in order to access the mountain, the final chapter of the game.
What makes the game standout from any ordinary puzzle game is its presentation and a steep learning curve.
10. The Banner Saga 3
Genre: Tactical role-playing
The Banner Saga is one of the best tactical role-playing game series you can have right now. The Banner Saga 3, its third installment, builds on the same turn-based, story-driven plot as its predecessors and carries choices you made in them.
In order to succeed, you must make tactical decisions as your choices will affect the gameplay. The game features about 40 unique characters, each with different combat abilities.
Furthermore, the game introduces a new battle ‘waves’ system, weapons and heroic titles to further enhance the overall gaming experience.
Technically, you can play The Banner Saga 3 without ever getting your hands on either of the previous two installments. But since it’s a continuous narrative you’re likely to miss all the fun part.
Read: 16 Best Puzzle Games You Can Play in 2019
9. Dead Cells
Genre: Roguelike
Mode: Single-player
Dead Cells is a roguelike video game that comes with surprisingly good and detailed design. The game begins shortly after you gain control of a reincarnated corpse lying in a castle dungeon.
You must explore the castle level-by-level and fight your way out of it.
The enemies come in all shapes and sizes along with bosses or keepers (currently four), whom you must defeat in order to progress.
You will be able to collect various weapons, armor, power-ups, and other tools throughout the gameplay. Occasionally, you will find ‘cells’, which can be traded to gain permanent power-ups.
Game’s combat mechanics are quite similar to that of the Souls series, meaning repeated combat encounters (kill, die, learn and repeat). And yes, frequent character death is an essential part of the game.
8. Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Genre: Role Playing
Mode: Single-player/multi-player
In 2000, Baldur’s Gate II’ release disrupted the gaming world with its captivating story and quests.
Then almost after thirteen years, Overhaul games (Beamdog) along with Atari decided to bring back the same excitement with Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition (BG2EE) and they did in some style.
BG2EE employs an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition rule-set (same as the original one). Graphically, no major changes have been done apart from the fact that it can now run on modern resolution quite comfortably.
Players have the option to zoom in and out during any point in the game. A number of other small-scale changes has made the game satisfying especially for newcomers.
7. Into The Breach
Genre: Turn-based strategy
Mode: Single-player
Into The Breach is a single player, turned based strategy game that has been able to garner enough praise from both critics and fans
It is one of my all-time favourite strategy games. To tell you the truth, before this, I had no idea that a superior tactical game can be produced on an ordinary 8X8 grid platform.
Here, you’re tasked with waging tactical battles against an army of monsters called Vek. To defeat them, you must control and command ‘mechs’, giant machines from the future.
These machines can be equipped with a wide variety of weapons and tools.
Before every combat, you’ll be assigned a set of objectives (one generally includes protecting civilian buildings) and a set number of turns, to achieve them.
The civilian buildings actually function as a power grid supporting the mechs, meaning any physical damage to the buildings can affect the machines. The game is simply tactical greatness.
6. Kerbal Space Program
Genre: Space flight simulation
Kerbal Space Program is one of a kind, space flight simulation game in which you’re tasked with administering a space program operated by Kerbals, a green and rather quirky humanoid race.
The game allows you to build spacecraft, rockets and other crafts that can be launched from runways/launch pads.
Your objective is to complete a wide range of flight missions; from reaching a certain altitude to landing on a different planetary body and performing various orbital maneuvers.
Kerbal Space Program’s in-game physics, though not perfect, is pretty close to the real world constraints. Interestingly, almost every component of the game adheres to Newtonian dynamics.
5. Fortnite Battle Royale
Genre: Battle Royal
Mode: Multi-player
Fortnite Battle Royale broke every record in the gaming industry and has been extremely successful in attracting new users, especially the non-gamers.
Based on ‘last player standing’ model, the game allows up to a hundred players, playing either solo or as a team, to try and survive till the end by killing or evading other players.
All players must scavenge for armor and weapons spread across the map to stay ahead in the game. It also allows players to enforce various strategies, which includes building fortifications.
One important thing to keep in mind is the ever shrinking ‘safe zone’. Any player caught outside that zone would face drastic health damage.
Read: 12 Best Survival Games You Should Checkout
On November 2018, 14 months after its initial release, a media source reported that the Fortnite had over 200 million players. By 2020, the game exceeded 350 million registered players.
4. Sid Meier’s Civilization IV
Genre: 4X, Strategy
Mode: Single-player/multi-player
Sid Meier’s Civilization IV is without a doubt one of the greatest game ever made. If you’re new to strategy genre, then Civ IV should be at the top of your list.
Your objective, here, is to build an entire civilization from nothing using a limited amount of initial resources. It follows the 4X model, i.e. explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate.
There are a number of ways one can win the game; by defeating other civilizations, sending the first sleeper ship to the Alpha Centauri star system (actual star system closest to our star), governing a supermajority of the in-game world population, achieving legendary levels with at least three cities or winning the “World Leader” title.
However, if none of the above-mentioned goals are reached within a certain time limit, the civilization with the highest score will be declared the winner.
3. Minecraft
Genre: Survival, sandbox
Mode: Single-player/multi-player
Minecraft surely doesn’t need any formal introduction. Often considered as a pioneer of the survival games, it helped popularized the entire genre and a major influence to many contemporary games.
Set in a virtually infinite world, the game allows you to mine resources, build houses and survive by fighting off pixel monsters. There are no specific goals so you can do almost anything you want.
The sandbox nature of the game gives you the freedom to choose your own playing style. You could either forge weapons and hunt hostile creatures in the dark and most dangerous places or adopt a defensive style by building strongholds and fending off creatures at night.
Minecraft also features a creative mode which allows players to build huge structures without worrying about hunger and health damage.
Read: 35 Best GBA Games OF All Time | Bring Your Childhood Back
2. Portal 2
Genre: Puzzle-Platformer
Model: Singe-player/multi-player
Portal 2 is a popular puzzle-platform game in which players solve puzzles with the help of portals. These portals allow players to teleport from one point to another.
The game begins with your character, Chell, waking up in a chamber of a dilapidated research facility and tries to escape.
Wheatley, a personality core artificial intelligence, guides her (Chell) through the old test chambers in an attempt to escape. They accidentally reactivate the dormant supercomputer GLaDOS, who separates Chell from Wheatley and begins rebuilding the laboratory.
Portal 2 improves on the original game by adding new features such as light bridges, lasters and tractor beams. The game also introduce paint-like gels that help enhance player’s movements.
Portal 2 is admired its design, pace, excellent learning curve, and the overall gameplay. In 2015, Steam launched a fan-made single-player mod named Portal Stories: Mel.
1. World of Warcraft: Battle For Azeroth
Genre: MMORPG
Mode: Multi-player
Blizzard’s second bestselling title, World of Warcraft has always been chaotic with never-ending battles between the alliance and Orcish horde. But it all breaks loose in Battle for Azeroth.
For those who are new, World of Warcraft is a multiplayer online role-playing game where you explore an open world landscape, fight monsters and complete quests with other players.
The game begins right after the major events in Legion (previous installment of the game), where the Titan Sargeras is defeated, before plunging his sword into Azeroth itself.
The wound caused the planet to start spilling “life-blood,” which transforms into Azerite, a rare and powerful substance that enhances the abilities of anyone who posses it.
The desire of having control over such substance raises more tensions between the two opposing factions of the Alliance and the Horde.
Read: 16 Best PC Games To Play In 2023
A more intimate storyline and a number tweaks alone makes the game worthy of your time, let alone the battles.
Frequntly Asked Questions
How Can I Get Games On Mac?
Like with PC, one can get games for Mac on popular online storefronts like Steam and Epic Game Store. Both services offer free-to-download Mac client.
You can also check out other online stores – GOG, Humble Bundle and individual publishers such as Activision Blizzard’s Battle.Net and EA’s Origin to eplore more games.
Of course, Mac users can also download games from the App store. Here, you can find many free-to-play games, as well as, some of the more popular and mainstream titles.
Before purchasing a game for your Mac, no matter from where, you must check a few things – whether the game is Mac-compatible or not (usually there is a Apple symbol); and will it run on the macOS version of your system.
What Are The Best Free Mac Games?
Below is a list of 7 best Mac games that you can play for free –
- Trove
- Team Fortress 2
- Slime Time
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- DOTA 2
- Eternal Card Game
- Eva Online