Mar 20, 2020 After testing 40+ games, these are our Top 20 free Mac games. It includes games from every genre and games ranging from completely free open-source games to very generous online, free-to-play games. But because of the virus, many can’t afford to buy games right now. For this reason, we put together a list of the best free games on Mac.
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.
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).
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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
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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.
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.
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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.
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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If you're new to the Macintosh, or even if you've had one for a while, you may be interested in putting the work aside from time to time and playing games on your lovely machine. Macs may not have the same number of games as Windows PCs, but there are still plenty of places to get them if you know where to look. Here are some of my favorites. What are yours?
Steam
Valve's Steam service has been available for the Mac for a while now, and offers a pretty rich combination of indie and commercial titles for the Mac. They have their own Mac OS X section, which makes it very easy for Mac gamers to find what they're looking for.
What's more, Valve puts Mac gamers on a pretty even playing field with their Windows counterparts when it comes to sales and promotions — so you can usually get the same remarkable discounts. This weekend, for example, they're doing a free play weekend for the popular FPS Borderlands 2, with a 50 percent discount available as well.
Mac App Store
I've already said my piece about what I perceive to be the problems with the Mac App Store. But those issues notwithstanding, Apple deserves credit for bringing forth a robust marketplace for Mac app developers. What's more, Mac App Store is baked right in to OS X and uses Apple ID credentials, which means that it instantly has a potential user base of almost half a billion accounts, many more than the total number of Macs in use today.
The Mac App Store features indie and commercial titles alike, and also keeps lists of top paid and top free games, so there's something to appeal to gamers regardless of the budget. You can usually find the latest hot releases for Mac offered here, but sometimes it's a good idea to compare to Steam to see if you're getting the best deal.
MacGameStore
Even before the Mac App Store launched, MacGameStore came on the scene to provide Mac gamers with the latest downloads. In fact, they've been serving up games to Mac customers since 2005.
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You can buy games directly from the web site, though there's a handy app that you can use if you prefer. MacGameStore regularly runs specials and deals, and if demos are available you can find links to them there too.
GameAgent.com
GameAgent.com started out as Mac game publisher Aspyr's way of reaching out to its own customers, but since then it's grown into an active Mac gaming service that offers downloads not just of Aspyr games but of other company's products too. They sport deals, favorites and games under $10, to make it easy to find something you might like.
If you set up an account with GameAgent, you can also use their Mac Match service to find out what games are supported on your system, taking the guesswork out of system requirements. You can also create a wish list, get access to special deals and more.
Feral Interactive
Mac game publisher Feral Interactive is a perennial darling of the Mac App Store, but you can usually find their games through other Mac game services too. If you'd prefer to go direct to the source, Feral is happy to take your money — they run their own Mac game download service, which is exclusive to their games.
Feral follows the 'traditional' model of Mac game publishing — they license top rated games from PC and console game publishers, then produce and publish Mac versions. So if you want the new Tomb Raider game, for example, or XCOM: Enemy Within, you know where to look.
GameTree Mac
TransGaming is a company that mostly stays behind the scenes — they're content to convert games to the Mac using their Cider technology (which has its distant origins in the open-source WINE project) and let the publishers themselves to the heavy lifting. But they also operate their own game sales service, called GameTree Mac.
GameTree Mac has the usual Mac-compatible products from other commercial and indie game publishers, but they also sport the titles that TransGaming has worked on, which often can't be found through other services. So there are some exclusives there that might peak your interest.
GOG.com
GOG.com — what was once branded as 'Good Old Games' — specializes in selling 'vintage' computer software. They do have some more recent releases like Torchlight, for example, but much of their specialty has to do with resurrecting games from the DOS and early Windows era, recycled to run on modern hardware.
They're much better about supporting the Mac than they used to be, and you can usually find games for $6 — $10 without too much of a problem. Just be advised that GOG.com games are typically running inside some emulation layer or shell in order to operate and haven't been updated, so you're getting the real look and feel of vintage games, with their unusual control schemes and blocky graphics to boot.
GamersGate
GamersGate is another online service where you can download Mac and PC games alike. The service is clientless, just like most of the other services we've talked about, but one cool thing about GamersGate is that they have 'gamified' the experience of using their service with a rewards system.
The more active you are on their boards — posting reviews, ratings, solving problems for other gamers, and more — the more 'Blue Coins' you'll earn, which will get you discount on future orders. You'll also gain experience points, which will entitle you to special discounts on games.
Straight from the source
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More and more Mac game publishers are hopping on board with support for the platform for their own download services. Electronic Arts' Origin, for example, is where you'd go to download SimCity and connect to other players. Want to buy popular Blizzard games like World of Warcraft or Diablo III? Off to Battle.net with you, then.
So look around — Mac games are a lot more available than you might think. And have fun gaming!
Do you have other favorite places to buy Mac games? Sound off in the comments.
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Another day, another iPhone 12 Pro concept. How much would you pay?
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If reports are accurate we might be waiting a little while longer than normal for iPhone 12 Pro. But would you care if it looked like this?
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