The Best Mac games of 2019

Sure, there’s the sheer quantity of new games released (did you know there are over 8,700 Mac games on Steam?) but what really surprised us was the high quality of the best Mac games of 2019.

And you know what? The games planned for 2020 are just as exciting.

PS: If you want even more top-notch games for your Mac, check out the 100 Best Mac games you can play today.

Important: As most “2019” guides cover older games too, we made sure this list is limited to games actually released in 2019. Enjoy!

The Rest of the Best:

Shadow of the Tomb Raider | Borderlands 3 | Untitled Goose Game | WHAT THE GOLF | Total War: Three Kingdoms | Life is Strange 2 | Oxygen Not Included | Subnautica: Below Zero | Tropico 6 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 | World of Warcraft Classic |Dawn of Man | Tannenberg | DUSK | DiRT 4 | Imperator: Rome | Baba is You 

Our favorite 2019 Mac games

Divinity: Original Sin became an instant classic when it was released in 2015, and now Mac gamers can once again journey to Rivellon. Divinity: Original Sin 2 brings back the deep turn-based combat, multiplayer campaigns, and complex story, and adds some exciting new features.

Up to four players can adventure together online or locally via split-screen, the AI has been updated to be even more devious, and exploration has been opened up to provide countless ways to interact with characters, animals and the environment.

One more thing… Featuring Touch Bar and iCloud support, this is the most advanced Mac port to date. Having direct support from Apple’s own Metal team definitely paid off!

What happens when you fuse a collectible cards game with a roguelike? You get Slay the Spire, a single-player deck builder from Mega Crit Games. Build your deck and use your cards wisely as you battle your way to the top of a spire that changes each time you play.

Slay the Spire contains over 250 cards, over 150 unique items to find and use in your quests, and an impressive host of unique encounters, boss battles, and events along the way. And if that’s not enough, the game’s custom mode allows hardcore players to mix and match various crazy-run modifiers.

Katana ZERO is a brutal and fast-paced action platformer from developer Askiisoft and features stylish pixel art and instant death combat. While it does tell a satisfying story, Katana ZERO shines because of its intense combat. Prepare to slash, dash, dodge and even manipulate time to destroy your enemies.

While clearly inspired by indies such as Hotline Miami or Monaco, Katana ZERO uses that same tried and true formula to deliver a gaming experience that is at a whole new level. With thoughtfully-designed levels and flexible combat abilities, this is a game you will probably finish more than once.

2013’s Tomb Raider reboot is still one of the best games you can play on a Mac. The series only got better with 2018’s Rise of the Tomb Raider. And I’m happy to confirm Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the finale the Lara Croft’s origin trilogy deserved.

This finale finds Lara saving the world from a Mayan apocalypse, and she’ll need to survive a massive, deadly jungle to do it. With vastly improved stealth mechanics and a bigger focus on actual tomb raiding, this is one of the best Tomb Raider games ever released.

Borderlands 3 was a big surprise for Mac gamers. With absolutely no information regarding Mac support available, we were certain we would have to sit this one out. Luckily, developer Gearbox delivered a worthy successor to Borderlands 2, one of our all-time favorite shooters for Mac.

Borderlands 3 takes everything that defined the series brings it up a notch. The humor is even more absurd, the guns are even more amazing and the story is even more over the top. If you’re looking for a new shooter looter to sink your teeth into, look no further than Borderlands 3.

In spite of being a brief and simple game, Untitled Goose Game became an instant hit. And with reason. This is a charming and often hilarious stealth/puzzle game that also plays great and you would be wrong to not give it a try.

It’s rare when a game successfully lets you play the villain, yet Untitled Goose Game pulls it off. It’s simple, really. You play as a goose, and gooses aren’t evil, they’re just wild, misunderstood animals. This is why playing as a goose and wrecking havoc is such a delight.

WHAT THE GOLF? is a ragdoll physics game about golf while at the same time not being about golf. That’s a strange thing to write but what’s important is this is a thoroughly funny, challenging, and charming game.

Golf is indeed the starting point, but you’ll quickly find yourself launching rockets, protecting a crab from the rising tides, or doing something else equally absurd. This is a comedy game first and foremost, filled with punchlines and jokes. Creating a game that is actually funny is hard but WHAT THE GOLF? successfully does just that.

The Total War franchise continues its quest across time and the globe, this time stopping in ancient China. Fans can expect the same tried-and-true mixture of turn-based strategy and real-time battles as they set out to become emperor. 

Become one of 12 legendary warlords and build up your armies, technology, and economy through research, politics, and conquest. Do you have what it takes to create the next dynasty? If not, at least you’ll get to experience the best visuals and gameplay the series has seen yet.

A tragic accident forces two brothers on the run. Pursued by the police and dealing with powers they don’t fully understand, Sean and Daniel Diaz attempt to flee from Seattle to their father’s hometown in Mexico.

Although the characters from the much-heralded original Life is Strange are gone, the overall tone and gameplay mechanics remain in this sequel. As Sean, you will be forced to make difficult decisions that not only affect your quest, but also the lives of those around you.

Oxygen Not Included is a space-colony simulation from the creators of Don’t Starve and Mark of the Ninja.

You’ll need to research the technology to combat hostile aliens, develop infrastructure, keep the colonists happy and sane, and—as is implied by the title—continue to provide the resources necessary for survival. With some careful planning (and a little luck), you may just help your colony thrive in this hostile environment.

For the first time in the Tropico series, you’ll be in full charge of multiple islands, offering all new challenges as you attempt to lead a life of luxury while keeping your citizens happy with…less.

Tropico 6 keeps the series fresh by adding completely new infrastructure and transportation options, a revised research system that focuses on politics (steal what you can’t create), and the timely return of election speeches. “Address the people and make promises that you can’t possibly keep.” It’s pretty easy to get away with it, we’ve learned.

Of course, the fun is in the exploration, as Subnautica: Below Zero recreates a beautiful and massive undersea world for you to discover. Just remember, plenty of danger lurks in the beauteous depths.

If you’re more into multiplayer, there are plenty of enhancements and new features on that side, as well. And even better, you can purchase the Multiplayer Starter Pack if that’s all you’re interested in.

One more thing… This confirms Aspyr‘s relationship with Activition is still alive and well (and hopefully will result in newer Call of Duty games on Mac!).

World of Warcraft Classic, the faithful recreation of the original WoW, easily became one of the most popular games of the year. WoW Classic seemed so simple at first: recreate the game as it was before the release The Burning Crusade.

But for some reason, WoW Classic became a huge success. So much so that players are forced to wait in line to complete quests! Make no mistake, WoW Classic is a grueling experience, often frustrating. But it still manages to recapture the essence of the World of Warcraft the world fell in love with over a decade ago.

That covers around 10,000 years of prehistory, but the needs will be familiar to sim fans: keep your people fed, sheltered, and safe from the elements and attacks while leading them towards the future.

The battles on the eastern front of WWI are regarded as some of the most brutal in history, so prepare for some intense batlles in this multiplayer shooter from the developers of Verdun. Up to 64 players can engage via four-man squads on six massive maps that provide an impressive amount of tactical freedom.

Over 50 historically accurate weapons are available to the game’s Russian, Roumanian, Austro-Hungarian, German and Bulgarian troops, including the horrors of gas warfare. Tannenberg is definitely not for those who prefer dance moves and llamas in their multiplayer games.

DUSK gives you three distinctive campaign modes in which you’ll fight mystical backwater cultists, possessed militants and more, and plenty of ways to fight them, too: “…sickles, swords, crossbows, rifles, dual-wielded and double-barreled shotguns and incredibly necessary grenade and rocket launchers.” Of course, there’s arena multiplayer, too. It’s the ‘90s you remember.

And with the new system called Your Stage, players can generate a countless number of unique stages with the press of a button. It’s even smart enough to generate routes based on your skill level. Career mode and daily, weekly, and month-long challenges will keep you racing for quite some time.

Manage diverse populations, build up your military, choose your type of government, and invest in technologies that will help find your place amongst Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, and other great rulers from the classical era. The deluxe edition includes additional army and ship models, on-map monuments, game events, and more.

Winner of the Excellence in Design and Best Student Game awards in the Independent Games Festival 2018, Baba is You is the puzzle game everyone has been talking about.

In Baba is You, you can literally change the rules by which you play. In every level, the rules themselves are blocks you can interact with; by manipulating them, you can change how the level works and cause unexpected situations! With over 200 levels at your disposal, you’ll be able to experiment with the game’s mechanics in a multitude of ways.

The best choice for you

We made sure we included games from as many genres as possible. At the end of the day, we all have our personal preferences. That said, another important factor to consider is the performance requirements of each game.

Every game listed above has  “Expand to see if your Mac can run it” to help you out. But if you’re in a hurry, this chart can also serve you.

In a nutshell, if you have a Mac with low performance (such as a MacBook or Mac Mini), you know you should stay away from the most demanding games.

Our Criteria

A lot of MacOS games came out in 2019. A whole lot. Thus, we had to be very selective in choosing which games make this list. So, how did we pull these particular games to the top? By focusing on these criteria:

Native MacOS support

Obviously, all games have to run natively on macOS; no Wine, Parallels or Bootcamp needed.

Hype level

Here’s where we get more subjective, but rest assured each of these games has something very important going for it. It could be a much-anticipated sequel to a popular Mac game, it could be the developer’s name/pedigree, or it could be that we just really like the concept.

Regardless of the reason, we’re buying into the hype for each of these titles and agree they should be on your radar.

 Confirmed Mac version

It’s always tempting to hype games that could, maybe, make it to macOS. If a developer has always supported MacOS for all of its previous games, it should support MacOS for its latest game too, right? Not always. 

For that reason, we only covered games that have been officially released for Mac, leaving behind a few games that supposedly have a Mac beta available but no official version.

Wrapping Up

If you are enjoying (or waiting for) a new game that we didn’t cover here, be sure to let us know. We’re always on the lookout for the next big game!