Stardew Valley became a sensation when it was first released in 2016 and quickly conquered Steam’s charts to become one of the most-played games of the year.
The critics’ response was equally impressive. In fact, Stardew Valley’s Mac version easily earned a spot among our top simulation games for Mac. But instead of simply enjoying the success, developer ConcernedApe continues to work hard on his game.
But what does it take to run this indie sensation on macOS? How well can YOUR Mac run Stardew Valley? Can it run on M1 Macs?
Can you play Stardew Valley on Mac?
You can absolutely play Stardew Valley on your Mac, and that includes 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 mentioning that the macOS version of the game never received Apple Silicon native support, which is strange because the iOS version of the game did… And while the iOS version could run on macOS flawlessly, one of the advantages of Apple Silicon machines, the developer decided to prevent that for some unknown reason…
| Art | Game | Genre | 64-bit? | 64-bit | API | M1 Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Stardew Valley | Simulation | Yes |  | OpenGL | Rosetta |
Stardew Valley on Mac: Everything you need to know
Stardew Valley is a pixelated farming simulator about a boy who inherits a farm from his grandfather. From there, the boy will have to learn how to care for it and bring it back to greatness.
You could easily discard it as simply a PC version of the Harvest Moon games, but the game doesn’t stop there. Stardew Valley gives players more control over the design of their farms, and the kinds of animals and crops to raise, and also introduces more interesting NPCs.
The incredible story of one man, four years, and fame
Stardew Valley is a good game, no doubt. But what I found truly fascinating is the story behind it. The game was quietly developed by one man over the course of four years. From there, the game quickly earned a spot among Steam’s top-selling games.
An already great game further improved
The game continues to receive top-notch support in the form of free updates. One of the biggest pieces of new content was Stardew Valley 1.5. Released on December 21, 2020, it included tons of “late-game” content, new game options, and split-screen local multiplayer. You can read the official changelog for all the detail here.
And every single one of those features supported macOS from Day 1. Stardew Valley is the perfect example of a Mac port done right.
Into simulation games? These are our favorites:
| Game | ★ Our Pick | Also Great | Best Value |
 Cities: Skylines |  Farming Simulator 2022 |  Euro Truck Simulator 2 |
|
| Genre | City-builder | Farming-sim | Truck-sim |
| Release date | 2015 | 2021 | 2012 |
| Metascore | |||
| Our rating | ★★★★★ Full Review | ★★★★☆ Full Review | ★★★★★ Full Review |
| Requirements | High | Medium | Low |
| Check Price |
Stardew Valley Mac requirements
These are the game’s official Mac requirements:
| Requirements | |
| OS: | 10.10 |
| Processor: | 2.0 GHz |
| Memory: | 2 GB RAM |
| Graphics: | 256 MB video memory, OpenGL 2 |
| Hard Drive: | 500 MB |
| A 64-Bit OS and processor are required | |
How to play Stardew Valley on Mac
As mentioned before, Stardew Valley 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.
Running Stardew Valley on an M1 Mac
This means Stardew Valley 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 my Mac run Stardew Valley? Benchmarks
These are the Stardew Valley M1 benchmarks we have gathered so far (you can find more details about the game’s Apple Silicon version here):
| Game | Machine | Resolution | Settings | Other | FPS | Tester | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stardew Valley | 💻 M1 Pro MacBook Pro 14", 16 GB | 3024x1964 | Default | 60 | Mac Gamer HQ | ||
| Stardew Valley | 💻 M1 MacBook Pro 13", 8-core GPU, 8 GB | 1920x1080 | Default | 60 | Apple Silicon DB | ||
| Stardew Valley | 💻 M1 MacBook Pro 13", 8-core GPU, 8 GB | 1920x1080 | Max | 60 | MrMacRight |
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.
Into Simulation games? These are our favorites:
| Game | ★ Our Pick | Also Great | Best Value |
| Cities: Skylines | Farming Simulator 2022 | Euro Truck Simulator 2 |
|
| Genre | City-builder | Farming-sim | Truck-sim |
| Release date | 2015 | 2021 | 2012 |
| Metascore | |||
| Our rating | ★★★★★ Full Review | ★★★★☆ Full Review | ★★★★★ Full Review |
| Requirements | High | Medium | Low |
| Check Price |
Intel Mac benchmarks
We previously tested the game on these Intel Macs:
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2016): 2.0 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB RAM, Intel Iris Graphics 540 (1.5GB)
- iMac (5K, 27-inch, Late 2014): 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB RAM, AMD Radeon R9 M290X (2GB)
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2013): 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5, 4 GB RAM, Intel Iris 5100 (1.5GB)
The game locks frame rates to a maximum of 60 per second.
For the record, we benchmarked Stardew Valley using a 2560×1600 resolution, High Lighting Quality, 100% Zoom Level, and our in-house FPS counter Count It.
In case it wasn’t clear yet, most Macs should be able to run Stardew Valley. Even our older models managed to pull off 60 frames per second (FPS), the fastest possible performance.
Can you play Stardew Valley on a MacBook Pro?
This might be the easiest Mac performance review we’ve done so far. After all, this was to be expected from a pixelated retro-looking game.
Every MacBook Pro we tested handled Stardew Valley without breaking a sweat. The same happened with our MacBook Airs. It doesn’t matter whether you have a shiny new M1 MacBook Air or an older Intel MacBook Pro; Stardew Valley should run just fine.
Bottom line: Stardew Valley is a perfect game for MacBook owners: It’s both great and extremely easy to run on even the oldest MacBooks out there.
Download Stardew Valley for Mac
You can download Stardew Valley on Steam.
I’m glad to see that Stardew Valley is playable on old MacBooks, that’s encouraging news. Ideally, all video games can be played on any Internet connected device. But that’s a story for the future.