Finding good games for Mac® used to be slow and painful. There were very few games to choose from, and the options available were quite old. But things have definitely changed a lot.
Thanks to committed developers such as Aspyr, Feral Interactive, and even Blizzard and Valve, there are now lots of great, recent games you can play on your Mac. And with the continuous improvements of tools such as Parallels Desktop for Mac, playing Windows games on your Mac is becoming easier and easier.
- Nowadays it has never been easier to run Windows on a Mac so we’ve looked at the best ways to do so in 2020. Installing Windows 10 on your Mac is useful for many reasons from running Windows only software to playing PC only games. It’s also much cheaper and more convenient than buying a separate PC or laptop just to use Windows on.
- To run GAMS you must be able to execute the GAMS programs located in the GAMS system directory. There are several ways to do this. Remember that the GAMS system directory in the examples below may not correspond to the directory where you have installed your GAMS system.
Today Ric from MacgamerHQ.com will share ten of the best games you can play on macOS®, including some of the most exciting Mac games from 2018 and a few Windows-only games that run great thanks to Parallels Desktop.
Portal 2 ($9.99) Portal 2 may be the perfect game. It’s a puzzler at heart, but it injects those.
1. Rise of the Tomb Raider
This action survival game is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Tomb Raider reboot from 2013. The game picks up right where its predecessor ended and takes Lara around the world in her quest to discover the secret of immortality.
This game has a solid story waiting for you, but what makes it great are the excellent survival elements, shooting mechanics, and insane action sequences. If you enjoy action adventure games, this is the best you will find on macOS.
Developed for Mac by Feral Interactive, Rise of the Tomb Raider is also one of the finest usages of Metal 2, the new graphics API from Apple. For the longest time, Mac games have suffered in terms of performance compared to Windows. With the improvements made to Metal 2 and the great job some studios have done to implement it, Mac games’ performance continues to improve. Also, having one of the best Mac computers for gaming certainly helps, too…

2. Fortnite: Battle Royale
Fortnite is such a sensation, it probably needs no introduction. But in the remote possibility that you’re not aware of this game, Fortnite is not only the most famous Battle Royale game right now, it’s the most famous game of the moment, period.
Pitting you in a huge map with 100 other players, you’ll need to scavenge weapons and armor to survive until you become the last man standing. Fortnite somehow creates tension and excitement for everyone involved, from the experienced to the beginners. That’s what makes it such a fun game to play.
Behind the playful graphics hides an intense game that is free to play. You read that right—the gaming sensation of the moment is one of the best free games for Mac. What are you waiting for?
3. Rocket League
Rocket League is one of those games that is hard to explain. Combining high-flying rocket-powered cars with soccer, the game pits you against another team, and you’ll need to use your battle-car to score.
That is, of course, easier said than done, because the game features an impressive physics-based gameplay that will require you to have perfect timing, placement, and anticipation in order to score. You can play solo against another opponent or as part of a team.
Needless to say, this is a multiplayer game that is ten times more fun when playing with friends. If you haven’t tried it yet and are looking for a team-focused online game, Rocket League is for you.
4. Civilization 6
Perhaps the best strategy game out there, we sure are glad that Aspyr brought Civilization 6 to MacOS. The follow-up to the stellar Civilization 5, Civ 6 lets you once again take the helm of an infant civilization and turn it into a mighty empire.
Your objective is simple: create the greatest and most powerful civilization in the World. It will then be up to you to decide how to best do it. Do you want to conquer the world using your mighty army? Or perhaps you want to create a trade empire that puts the other Civs to shame? It will be up to you. Even if you’ve played hundreds of hours of Civ games before, Civ 6 has plenty of new features and improvements in store for you.
Civ 6 also introduced new mechanics and improved graphics that take the franchise even further. A quick warning, though, Civ 6 is a very demanding game. In fact, you should have a modern Mac from 2016 onwards to properly enjoy it.
5. Subnautica
As you can see, some of the most famous AAA games support macOS. That’s great, but we can’t forget about all the world-class indie games that helped Mac gaming thrive.
Subnautica is one of the latest examples. In this survival adventure game, you’ll have to explore an alien underworld planet and gather whatever resources you can find to survive.
Subnautica somehow manages to find the right balance between survival and exploration. As you progress, you get to upgrade your equipment and go further into the depths to find better loot—but also face bigger dangers.
6. Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
The sequel to one of the highest-rated RPGs of all time, Pillars of Eternity II broke crowdfunding records, raising over four million dollars. Those are insane figures, but I’m happy to report developer Obsidian made good use of every dollar it raised.
This isometric RPG managed to surpass the original in virtually every way. The game features a rich story, deep characters, a fascinating world, and improved tactical combat. Granted, this RPG is reminiscent to old-school RPGs, and if you’re looking for an action-heavy game, Pillars of Eternity might not be for you. But if you’re looking for a good story and fascinating world to immerse yourself in, give it a try.
7. DiRT Rally
DiRT Rally isn’t simply another racing game from Codemasters; this is probably their best game to date.
DiRT Rally features excellent gameplay that is both precise and exciting. The sense of speed is there, and you can always fine-tune the difficulty settings to suit your preferences. Whether you want a challenging simulation or an intense casual game, DiRT Rally can be both. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a rally fan or not—this game has so much to offer.
Plus, DiRT Rally is the perfect example of how to do a Mac port right. Feral Interactive somehow managed to create a bug-free game that looks great and can run flawlessly on older Mac computers.
8. Terraria
Described by many as Minecraft in 2D, Terraria is so much more than that.
In Terraria, every game takes place in a randomly generated world full of monsters to fight, rare resources to find, and dangerous caverns to explore. But then it’s up to you to decide the kind of game you want to play. You can focus on exploring the world in search of treasure and rare resources. You can seek one of the bosses that hide within the world and fight it to the death. Or you can build a city of your own and house mysterious allies.
Terraria may be a few years old, but because of its cool retro graphics and deep gameplay, it’s still an excellent game to play today.
9. Overwatch
In spite of all of these macOS-ready titles, there are a few games that are sorely missing.
Overwatch is one of those games. Released in 2016 and winner of most Game of the Year awards, this team-based multiplayer shooter keeps getting better and better. It currently has over 30 million registered players and has received countless free updates, including new characters and maps.
Overwatch is also the only game from Blizzard that doesn’t support macOS. That makes us miss it even more. Luckily, it can run beautifully on a Mac using Parallels Desktop. The Parallels team recently tested it again to make sure it runs properly under Windows 10 and Parallels Desktop. As you can see from the video below, the game runs beautifully.
So if you were disappointed that Overwatch is not available for Mac, you can still play it with the help of Parallels.
10. Crysis
Conclusion
By now you should be convinced that macOS offers enough quality games to keep most gamers entertained.
And if you ever felt frustrated that the one game you were dying to play is not available on Mac, remember that you can always check if it works with Parallels Desktop. That includes demanding games such as Overwatch or brand-new games such as Jurassic World Evolution.
So, what will you be playing next?
Thanks to Ric from MacgamerHQ.com for this very interesting Guest Blog post.
If you want to try out any Windows Game that doesn’t work on the Mac, check out these instructions how to make it work with Parallels Desktop for Mac and watch our Playlist with different Windows games that work perfectly on the Mac.
Does Gams Run On Mac Os
Table of Contents
- Installation using the self-extracting archive (osx_x64_64_sfx.exe)
To install GAMS, please follow the steps below as closely as possible. We advise you to read this entire document before beginning the installation procedure. Furthermore, we recommend to use the PKG installer for Mac OS X because it includes the GAMS Studio and it integrates GAMS into Mac OS X, e.g. it is possible to open the GAMS Studio via the Launchpad.
Two installation procedures are available for GAMS on Mac OS X:
- Obtain the GAMS PKG file, which is available from http://www.gams.com/download.
- Double click the package and follow the instructions. By clicking on
Customise
in the tabInstallation Type
you can decide to add GAMS to the PATH as well as to reject the installation of GAMS Studio. Note that adding GAMS to the PATH is done by modifying your shell profile file (~/.zprofile
,~/.bash_profile
etc.). A backup of your old profile is saved (~/.zprofile.gamsbackup
,~/.bash_profile.gamsbackup
etc.). - In order to test the GAMS installation with
GAMS Studio
open theLaunchpad
and click theGAMS Studio 33
icon to open the application. Alternatively, go to Applications and open theGAMS Studio 33
application. Install your license via the corresponding GAMS Studio dialog. The license file is nowadays sent via email, with instructions. You can also request a demo license from http://www.gams.com/download.
Optionally, you can create the license file 'gamslice.txt' in a directory that GAMS searches to find a license. GAMS searches a couple of system wide and user specific standard locations for a license file.
- Open the
Model Library Explorer
and open theTRNSPORT
model (sequence number 001). Run the model and check the contents of the process log, which should be similar to the Terminal output listed in the next bullet point. In order to test the GAMS installation without using
GAMS Studio
open a Terminal window. Execute the following commands to see if everything works as expected:The output should be similar to this:
To uninstall a GAMS installation that was installed using the PKG installer, run the following command from the terminal: sudo bash /Library/Frameworks/GAMS.framework/Versions/33/Resources/uninstall.sh
. Additionally, you can remove GAMS from the PATH in your shell profile file (~/.zprofile
, ~/.bash_profile
) if GAMS was added to the PATH during installation.
- Obtain the GAMS distribution file, which is available from http://www.gams.com/download, in one large self-extracting zip archive with a
_sfx.exe
file extension, e.g.,osx_x64_64_sfx.exe
. Check that it has the execute permission set. If you are not sure how to do this, just type in the commandchmod 755 osx_x64_64_sfx.exe
.- Attention
- The common way to install GAMS on a Mac is the PKG installer. When one tries to run the sfx installer (e.g. for unattended installation) under macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or newer, the installer and several related files will be tagged with the
com.apple.quarantine
flag. There are different solutions to this problem:- The flag can be removed by the following command:
- Instead of downloading the sfx installer through the browser, use a command line tool such as curl (note that by downloading the software, you agree to the License Agreement). The download link may need to be adjusted, depending on the distribution that should be downloaded.
- Choose a location where you want to create the GAMS system directory (the GAMS system directory is the directory where the GAMS system files should reside). At this location the GAMS installer will create a subdirectory with a name that indicates the distribution of GAMS you are installing. For example, if you are installing the 24.3 distribution in
/Applications/GAMS
, the installer will create the GAMS system directory/Applications/GAMS/gams24.3_osx_x64_64_sfx
. If the directory where you want to install GAMS is not below your home directory, you may need to have root privileges on the machine. - Create the directory that should contain the GAMS system directory, for instance
/Applications/GAMS
. Change to this directory (cd /Applications/GAMS
). Make surepwd
returns the name of this directory correctly. - Run the distribution file, either from its current location or after transfering it to the directory that should contain the GAMS system directory. By executing the distribution file, the GAMS distribution should be extracted. For example, if you downloaded the distribution file into your home directory, you might execute the following commands:
Create the license file
gamslice.txt
in a directory GAMS searches to find a license. The license file is nowadays sent via email, with instructions. You can also request a demo license from http://www.gams.com/download.- Attention
- Do not store the
gamslice.txt
in the GAMS system directory. This invalidates the code signature and cause Gatekeeper to reject the bundle!
GAMS searches a couple of system wide and user specific locations for a license file. For Mac OS X these locations include
/Library/Application Support/GAMS
and/Users/username/Library/Application Support/GAMS
. The locations can vary due to different system configuration. One can get an ordered list of data directories GAMS searches forgamslice.txt
by running the program./gamsinst -listdirs
from the GAMS system directory. Even though this list might contain locations in the system directory, e.g./Applications/GAMS31.1
we strongly discourage to placegamslice.txt
here.Change to the GAMS system directory and run the program
./gamsinst
. It will prompt you for default solvers to be used for each class of models. If possible, choose solvers you have licensed since unlicensed solvers will only run in demonstration mode. These solver defaults can be changed or overridden by:a. rerunning
./gamsinst
and resetting the default valuesb. setting a command line default, e.g.,
gams trnsport lp=bdmlp
c. an option statement in the GAMS model, e.g:
option lp=bdmlp;
- Add the GAMS system directory to your path (see below).
- To test the installation, log in as a normal user and run a few models from your home directory, but not the GAMS system directory:
- If you move the GAMS system to another directory, remember to rerun
./gamsinst
. It is also good practice to rerun./gamsinst
when you change your license file if this has changed the set of licensed solvers.
Access to GAMS
Can Windows Game Run On Mac
To run GAMS you must be able to execute the GAMS programs located in the GAMS system directory. There are several ways to do this. Remember that the GAMS system directory in the examples below may not correspond to the directory where you have installed your GAMS system.
Does Gams Run On Macbook Pro
- If you are using the C shell (
csh
) and its variants you can modify your.cshrc
file by adding the second of the two lines given below: - Those of you using the Bourne (
sh
) or Korn (ksh
) shells and their variants can modify their.profile
file by adding the second of the three lines below: If the.profile
file does not exist yet, it needs to be created. You should log out and log in again after you have made any changes to your path. - You may prefer to use an alias for the names of the programs instead of modifying the path as described above. C shell users can use the following commands on the command line or in their
.cshrc
file: The correct Bourne or Korn shell syntax (either command line or.profile
) is: Again, you should log out and log in in order to put the alias settings in.cshrc
or.profile
into effect. - Casual users can always type the absolute path names of the GAMS programs, e.g.:
Does Epic Games Run On Mac
Example
Does Game Run On Mac
The following shows the log of a session, where a user downloads a GAMS 24.3.1 system and installs it under Applications/GAMS/gams24.3_osx_x64_64_sfx
. It is assumed that a GAMS license file has been stored as /Users/doe/gamslice.txt
.