Oxygen Not Included on Mac: How to Play & Benchmarks

Oxygen Not Included is the space colony indie sensation from developer Klei Entertainment.

Downloaded by more than 2 Million players, Oxygen Not Included has come a long way since it went into Alpha in 2017. At the time, the game only featured a few Duplicants and some pipes full of cold water. Nowadays, it features biomes, automation, skill progression, critter ranching and breeding, and much more.

But what does it take to run this indie sensation on macOS? How well can your Mac run Oxygen Not Included? Can it run on M1 Macs?

Can you play Oxygen Not Included on Mac?

You can absolutely play Oxygen Not Included on your Mac, including Intel and Apple Silicon Models. Even if the official system requirements don’t mention M1 or M2 Macs, our benchmarks confirm the game runs fine on Apple Silicon Macs.

It is worth noting that albeit the game does not feature a native Apple Silicon version, it does support Apple’s Metal graphics API. This ensures that Oxygen Not Included runs smoothly on virtually every Mac model out there.

Art	Game	Genre	64-bit?	64-bit	API	M1 Support
	Oxygen Not Included	Simulation	Yes		Metal	Rosetta

Oxygen Not Included on Mac: Everything you need to know

Oxygen Not Included is a space-colony sim that tasks you with mastering new technology, dealing with strange lifeforms, and using your scientific skills to keep your base running.

In Oxygen Not Included, you’re in charge of building an underground base and making sure your colonists have what they need to survive, namely oxygen, food, water, and warmth. The asteroid you’ll be trying to colonize will throw plenty of surprises and challenges at you, making it hard to create and manage and sustainable colony.

The game, of course, features the charming graphics and addictive gameplay Klei is known for. After all, all of their games have been instant hits, especially Mark of the Ninja and Don’t Starve.

One more thing… Oxygen Not Included features plenty of DLCs to keep management fans busy.

Oxygen Not Included Mac requirements

These are the game’s official Mac requirements:

How to play Oxygen Not Included on Mac

As mentioned before, Oxygen Not Included runs natively on macOS, including Intel-based Macs and M1/M2 Macs.

The game does require Rosetta 2 to run on Apple Silicon Macs. But Rosetta 2 works so seamlessly (it installs automatically the first time it detects an Intel-based app), and it integrates so well with macOS that the experience is virtually the same as running a native Apple Silicon Mac.

This means Oxygen Not Included can run on macOS without requiring any third-party software. Therefore, we won’t waste your time talking about Parallels, Crossover (both excellent tools, but only useful for Windows-exclusive games…), or Streaming services.

Can you play Oxygen Not Included on Mac? M1 and Intel Benchmarks

These are the Oxygen Not Included M1 benchmarks we have gathered so far:

As a reminder, this is how we describe the different levels of performance:

• Below 20 FPS: Unplayable: Laggy gameplay, full of stutters and slowdowns.
• 20-30 FPS: Borderline: Can be OK in slow-paced games. Still, not optimal.
• 30-45 FPS: Playable: Acceptable for most (most gaming consoles do this).
• 45-60 FPS: Smooth: Fluid gameplay, with no perceivable stutters.
• 60+ FPS: Very Smooth: For hardcore and professional players, a luxury for most.

Can you play Oxygen Not Included on a MacBook Pro?

We previously tested the game on these Intel Mac:

• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2016): 2.0 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB RAM, Intel Iris Graphics 540 (1.5GB)

I personally tested the game on my 2016 13-inch MacBook Pro more than a year ago. Oxygen Not Included ran great.

How to download Oxygen Not Included on Mac

You can download Oxygen Not Included on Steam.