How to play on Mac

The classic PC with Windows remains the only real alternative to the game console to play the game titles released in recent years since very little is needed to equip the computer and make it suitable for playing games at maximum resolution: in fact, we only have to choose a good video card, a monitor capable of withstanding high definition and a keyboard and mouse suitable for gaming. What users don’t know or suspect is that Macs can also be used to play to modern gaming titles since for years they have had the same hardware present on PCs (Intel processors and integrated and dedicated video cards) and the operating system offers compatibility with OpenGL graphics libraries, increasingly supported by games as an alternative to DirectX (exclusive by Microsoft).
In this guide, we will, therefore, show you how to play on Mac the same titles as the famous videogames we were used to on Windows.READ ALSO: Open source games on Linux, Mac, and Windows PCs free forever

 

How to download games on Mac

Obviously not all the games that we can try on Windows are available, but fortunately more and more games released in recent years also offer compatibility with the Mac, being downloadable (after purchasing the user license) both from the App Store and from other game distribution clients such as Steam and GOG. Alternatively, we can always start Boot Camp and install Windows 10 on Mac, so we can take advantage of the hardware available to start games that are not natively compatible with the Mac.

How to download games from the App Store

The easiest way to play on Mac is to use theApp Store, i.e. the store where we normally download productivity or work apps. Many modern games are available directly from there, we will only have to press the App Store icon in the lower dock, click on the menu Plays, and choose which game to download.

We can use the subdivision offered by this screen to see the most downloaded games from other Mac users and the latest news; if we do not find the game we are looking for, press on the top left of the Search bar and enter the name of the game we want to download.
Once we find the game we intend to download, press the price next to the name, confirm the password of our Apple ID, choose the payment method and wait for the download to finish.
Most modern games have a selling price, therefore we will need to add a valid payment method (PayPal or credit card) in the App Store, as described in the official Apple guide.

How to download games from Steam for Mac

The best-known store where you can download the most popular games remains without a shadow of a doubt Steam and, for video game lovers, it is also available for Mac!

There are really many Mac compatible games, as seen on the official page updated by Steam. The operation of this platform is completely similar to the version for Windows: download the Steam client for Mac, install it (as seen also in our guide) and, as soon as we are ready, we launch the Steam app from the Launchpad or from the Applications folder of the Finder.
The client will ask us for access with a Steam account or ask us to immediately create a new account at the moment so that we can access the video games catalog.
Found the game we want to install (using the menu Shop and functionality Search for in the shop) we press the button Add to Cart, click on the icon of the cart icon at the top, click on Purchase for me and we confirm the payment method to be used for the transaction (PayPal and credit cards are supported).
At the end of the purchase, the game will be added to our personal library and we can install it on the Mac by clicking on its name (in the menu library) and pressing the button Install.
The peculiarity of the games purchased on Steam and that they can be installed on both Mac and Windows, based on where we install the client: our library will always be available wherever we log in with your account credentials.

To learn more about how Steam works, we can also read our guide Steam guide: how to download games.

How to download games on GOG for Mac

If we are looking for another platform to download games on the Mac, we can also try GOG GALAXY, the official client of the GOG.com platform.

The games on this platform are all free from DRM and we can also find old historical games with patches automatically applied by fans and independent developers to make them compatible with modern operating systems.
If we are looking for old video game titles this is the platform we can focus on; the GOG GALAXY client also acts as an aggregator, since it allows you to import games from Steam or other clients to show them in a single interface, so you can start them from a single position without having to open the right app every time.

How to start Windows 10 on Mac

If the game we want is not compatible with Mac (perhaps because it is released to use only the DirectX libraries of Windows), we can still take advantage of the Apple hardware by starting Boot Camp and installing Windows 10, so that we can play game titles as if we were on a real PC.

If we have never followed this procedure on our Mac, we can apply it immediately by reading our guide How to install Windows on Mac with Boot Camp.

Conclusions

Although the Mac may not be the right system to play, the hardware identical to that of the PC has brought compatibility with most of the video games that we are used to playing on Windows, we will only have to look for the game in the App Store or use one of the clients of the compatible digital platforms (personally we always recommend Steam).

If we are looking for games that can be started directly from the Safari browser on the Mac, we advise you to read our articles Where to play online with free games without registration is Best Browser Games, role-playing online games, strategy, war and alliances.