PC MacOS Game Recommendations?

[Piper Halliwell]

Hi! I haven't posted on here for a while and I've been meaning to ask this question since I've sort of transitioned from WIN10 to MacOS. This new Macbook Air laptop is the one I use for school. However, I'm getting kinda tired of some of the games I have on the steam store. So I'm looking to expand my library a little with emulation or anything! Unfortunately, my options are limited since I'm using an M4 Mac Air and wine doesn't work. Anyone have any recommendations for games in the old school FPS category? Or RPGs? Anything that I can play if I need a short break from college work :,)

 

[DunkeyKong]

You can play games with an emulator until the 7th gen (and maybe beyond) if you have the system requirements, here's the list for example
https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/1cpk4ox/all_emulators_that_work_on_mac/

 

[Piper Halliwell]

You can play games with an emulator until the 7th gen (and maybe beyond) if you have the system requirements, here's the list for example
https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/1cpk4ox/all_emulators_that_work_on_mac/

Thanks! I'll take a look. I don't know the exact gen but all I know its the 2025 Macbook Air

 

[Natsuyasumi]

For old School FPS, The original Marathon games are free and have MacOS ports.

For emulation, there's OpenEmu, Dolphin, PCSX2, Duckstation, BSNES, Mesen, Citra, Cemu, Xemu, Flycast, Vita3k, PPSSPP, Pico-8, RPCS3, ShadPS4, Ryujinx, the list goes on.

Get a free trial to the Apple Arcade for a couple hundred games. Whether you enjoy any of them depends on your taste.. They have Fantasian and a few other RPGs on there.

Should be able to play all of the above no problem on a 2025 MBA.

 

[Deleted member 560402]

the Ultima series for RPGs
Marathon trilogy for FPS
i screenshot a bunch of Mac games that were ported to Windows but there's ways to play the originals via Sheepshaver and Basilisk II.

Here's some other Mac games that were brought back, Monkey Shines requires Java to run

 

[Sfjeov]

Mac Source Ports

 

[Deleted member 560402]

Mac Source Ports

ah, speaking of the Marathon trilogy! All 3 games are here! :D

Post automatically merged: Sep 22, 2025

Also Marathon Infinity is getting a new scenario on September 23rd.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Marathon/comments/1ni7wd5/dont_worry_the_marathon_extraction_shooter_game/

 

[Jeff]

Try an app called Whisky. it's like Wine, but easy to use to play Windows only fan games. https://getwhisky.app/

 

[Deleted member 560402]

Munchies

GitHub - ascott18/Munchies: A re-creation of Michael Fan's 1996-2001 game, Munchies.

A re-creation of Michael Fan's 1996-2001 game, Munchies. - ascott18/Munchies

github.com

Power Pete/Mighty Mike

GitHub - jorio/MightyMike: Pangea Software's Mighty Mike (Power Pete) for modern systems

Pangea Software's Mighty Mike (Power Pete) for modern systems - jorio/MightyMike

github.com

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Saturn games are a bit iffy with or without Retroarch and OpenEmu but other than that, you’ll have good options for pretty much every console up until more modern ones like PS4

Playing Windows games can be a bit annoying though. The least storage costly method is BootCamp but BootCamp can only be turned on by shutting down the computer and pressing a specific button combination before it boots.

 

[Deleted member 560402]

Saturn games are a bit iffy with or without Retroarch and OpenEmu but other than that, you’ll have good options for pretty much every console up until more modern ones like PS4

heck you can get a mac mini dirt cheap online, doesn't have to be current model. Makes for a good emulation machine.

 

[Judgment System]

You can play games with an emulator until the 7th gen (and maybe beyond) if you have the system requirements, here's the list for example
https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/1cpk4ox/all_emulators_that_work_on_mac/

I second this. Ive gotten everything 6th gen and below to work excellently and about 75% of games I try on RPCS3 give me no issues.

 

[Deleted member 560402]

Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster | Zomb's Lair

Install and play Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster (1995) on your modern PC | Screenshots | Review

www.zombs-lair.com

Journeyman: Project Turbo | Zomb's Lair

Install and play Journeyman: Project Turbo (1993) on your modern PC | Screenshots | Review

www.zombs-lair.com

Post automatically merged: Sep 22, 2025

Scarab of Ra that runs on Windows 11

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

 

[SpecialK]

Is not a game, but as multiplatform emulator I recommend OpenEmu: https://openemu.org

For me is the best one, fast and good looking. I would love to have something similar in Windows, but It doesn't exist.

 

[nobitakun]

Is that transition reversible? because macOS is not the right platform for playing native PC games counterparts. Although for emulation is very nice, I have an Air M1 laptop and it can run even many Switch games perfectly.

 

[Deleted member 560402]

Is that transition reversible? because macOS is not the right platform for playing native PC games counterparts. Although for emulation is very nice, I have an Air M1 laptop and it can run even many Switch games perfectly.

what about Mac games? EDIT: Also i realized my mistake in the last few posts. I've been posting links to Mac games ported to Windows, not links to the Mac versions for OSX onward. ._. sorry.

 

[NotReallyHere]

www.macintoshgarden.org

This place is a gold mine of classic Mac OS titles - and has been for decades

Getting them all to work on modern hardware? It can be done! I'd recommend a pre-made virtual machine, using an app called Mini vMac. Self-contained classic Macintosh hardware, like the Macintosh Plus or Color Classic. VERY easy to find online, and can get you up-and-running playing classic disk images of games in moments.

I'm sure you're already familiar with Good Old Games. They have some freebies available on there, and I've found that many classic titles (LucasArts point-and-click) go on sale frequently. Like, almost-free. $1.50 or so. Well worth a look.

You've probably already taken a look at your Steam library to see what all is Mac compatible. I'm partial to the recent remake of Riven, as it just feels right playing it on a Mac. I've also lost many, many weekends to the recent turn-based BattleTech game. Probably not what you want to play if you want a quick fix, that one

 

[Neb Lleb]

Hi! I haven't posted on here for a while and I've been meaning to ask this question since I've sort of transitioned from WIN10 to MacOS. This new Macbook Air laptop is the one I use for school. However, I'm getting kinda tired of some of the games I have on the steam store. So I'm looking to expand my library a little with emulation or anything! Unfortunately, my options are limited since I'm using an M4 Mac Air and wine doesn't work. Anyone have any recommendations for games in the old school FPS category? Or RPGs? Anything that I can play if I need a short break from college work :,)

One game series that defined the Mac that you can find on Steam is Marathon, a first person shooter trilogy that combines fast-paced gunplay and combat with a sci-fi novel which you access via terminals. It was developed by Bungie, and is also their breakout hit that laid the foundations for their future successes Myth: The Fallen Lords and Myth II: Soulblighter, Halo: Combat Evolved (and most of its sequels up to Reach), and Destiny. Of course since most of the people who made Bungie what it is have left, the new Bungie is rebooting the property as a terrible INO Extraction Shooter, so I think you're best putting up with the 2.5D sprites and retro gameplay in this case.

 

[qw90700]

Is that transition reversible? because macOS is not the right platform for playing native PC games counterparts. Although for emulation is very nice, I have an Air M1 laptop and it can run even many Switch games perfectly.

The OPs case is pretty much the same as my brother.

In short due to his university education they gotta use a Mac PC for many reasons. The artistic programs they use works significantly "undeniably" waaaaaay better on Mac PCs as this is the education they got for and the school uses only Mac computers in great variety I can't even grasp the shit (my brother talks a lot about these but I just pretend to listen while I send you messages lolol). They don't talk about Windows at all. It's not simple "office work" education, this shit is professional-grade artistic education so this is where Mac PCs matters a lot. However school doesn't force students to use a Mac PC for homeworks which they can be done on Windows PC but what I know is "it doesn't worth it" and since I convinced my brother that Mac PCs really make such stuff pretty much better and this is why Mac computers dominate artistic aspect of industry which he was insulting Mac for useless before but once he used one he understood Windows is lost cause in deep artistical shit. Recently Windows PCs keep up with artistical aspect of the industry but they are still to expensive when you can buy way cheaper Mac PC that performs that good for artistical programs therefore this makes so many students sacrifice Windows in the duration for their education and buy a decent enough Mac PC they can afford that has great performance for that price compared to Windows PCs around that price.

So naturally students would go for Mac laptop instead. I know my brother's Mac laptop doesn't support Windows dual boot (I checked but nada) but I also know some Mac laptops support it so the OP if it is possible may make it dual boot to Windows to play Windows games. I tried virtual PC route but the situation was "not worth it"for me bro's Mac laptop. But hey at least it can run CyberJunk 2077 good so some Windows games may be sacrificed lol.

As for games, I found a way to make some old games like Diablo 1-2, Starcraft and whatnot work because it's what my bro likes but it's been a while so I don't remember how I did. I kinda found Mac (fan port?) version of games from a random Russian website and later bothered with turning them into English but finding English language files lol. So my verdict is Mac PCs are not useless at playing games at all if you know what you doing and can bother with such stuff.

 

[SherionVane]

use boot camp for play windows games or wait you have m1 you cant use it,use Parallels or VirtualBox

 

[nobitakun]

About Macs, I have a friend who used them a lot for photo and video design since they used G4 processors, then Intel, and he changed them in favour to Windows because he literaly said "Apple on OSX turned everything crappy because it's not for professionals anymore, it's for kids and students who are not demanding on what they do and just want to show they have a Mac".

So, if I have to believe somebody, that's my friend, who works professionally since 20 years ago.

 

[eyixon]

S

the Ultima series for RPGs
Marathon trilogy for FPS
i screenshot a bunch of Mac games that were ported to Windows but there's ways to play the originals via Sheepshaver and Basilisk II.
View attachment 112890

Here's some other Mac games that were brought back, Monkey Shines requires Java to run
View attachment 112891Heeeey! Alone in the Dark! im looking to try that one on my PSX emulator!

 

[Fergoose]

I loved Marathon because of its storytelling, but if you don't like it there was quite a big step up in polish with Marathon 2.

For RPGs, I absolutely adored Exile: Escape from the Pit. Again, excellent storytelling. Very accessible despite the old school graphics. Its sequels are pretty darn good too.

 

[Ezri_Muldoon]

If it hasn't already been posted, The Macintosh Repository.

https://www.macintoshrepository.org/games/

I have a 2007 Imac myself, but getting it to play any games has been a struggle due to compatibility issues. It's good for Garageband & Final cut Pro. The only upside of Apples planned obsolescence is that don't care about software piracy. Once they abandon an OS Apple's newer systems won't run legacy software. So sites like the MacRepo can get away with archiving literally everything.

I'm also considering buying an old G3 too. Yes it would solely be for power mac compatibility so Journeyman, Myth & Marathon but as a fan of point & click adventure games G3's are outstanding pieces of retro hardware.
The MacRepo will give you everything you need.