When it comes to personal computers, the Mac has never been known as a gaming heavyweight: Apple doesn't focus on building machines that have the hard-core processing and graphics power you might find in, say, a Razor PC laptop.
That said, there are still a number of excellent games available to play on your Mac — especially of the indie variety. Two-person development teams and small studios shine on Apple's laptops and desktops, building stories with smart twists and heart-wrenching endings.
There have been many great indie titles for Mac over the years, especially with the advent of the Steam Store, but here are our all-time favorites.
Mar 19, 2019 Top 25 Best PC RPGs Ever. Updated on March 19, 2019. Neverwinter Nights 2 is a great RPG that comes with a bonus feature in the form of a complex toolset that let.
Braid
I'm not generally the type to get overly invested in a game — I'm more of a book and movie person. But when I picked up Braid in 2009 after an off-hand recommendation from a friend, I found myself completely captivated by its mechanics and story.
On its face, Braid is a simple puzzle platformer: You play a man named Tim searching for a princess across the landscape of a strange world, encountering puzzles as you progress through each level. But the true delight of the game is in its controls: Not only can you run forward, jump, and the like — but you can rewind time at any moment, reversing your decisions and movements. It's a simple but beautiful mechanic and quickly becomes one of the primary ways you can solve the hardest puzzles; all the while, it makes you think about time and movement in a completely different way.
Years after its release, Braid is still considered a masterpiece — and it's not hard to see why. (If you can't — just rewind.)
Firewatch
We've said a lot about the magic of Firewatch on iMore over the last year, but the Campo Santo/Panic collaboration continues to merit praise. The 3D mystery and exploration game, which places you as a firewatch in a national park around the late 1980s, captures the essential beauty of being alone in the U.S. wilderness — and the eerieness factor, too. The voice acting here is also top-tier; this is a game that demands headphones and a wistful spirit.
Gone Home
Another entry in the first-person mystery genre, Gone Home puts you in the shoes of a student recently returned from a lengthy overseas trip to her family house, only to find it empty — with her younger sister apparently vanished. It's a wonderful example of the mystery and exploration genre, providing just enough of a creepy flair to keep you on the edge of your seat with just a few major jump-out scares.
For all of its intrigue, however, the game's core centers around family, ambition, and love — and paints those feelings with wrenching truths.
Transistor
Modern RPGs are a dime a dozen, but none are painted in quite so stunning a manner as Transistor. Supergiant Games's sci-fi/action game sets you on a path through a futuristic electro-punk city with a mystical weapon and enemies to outwit and defeat. Though shorter than your average Final Fantasy entry, Transistor nevertheless captivates and offers great replay value with its quests and power-ups — though I'd settle for just exploring its beautifully rendered environments.
Stardew Valley
This was an outlier pick for our indie games list courtesy Mobile Nations video producer Justus Perry, but I have to admit that I quickly fell in love with it myself after a few hours. If you're a fan of simulation games but want a little more quirk and a little less 'send your Sim to work for the fortieth time' monotony, Stardew Valley offers you the chance to run your own pixelated farm, interact with the locals, defeat (or join forces with) a possibly evil corporation, explore caverns, and create all sorts of endless weird cooking experiments.
In a month where it's been hard to regularly read Facebook or Twitter, Stardew Valley is an appropriately delightful escape from the real world.
Great Mac Rpg Games Free
FTL: Faster Than Light
If you've ever dreamed of captaining a starship, it's hard not to love FTL. Subset Games's tactical strategy title puts you in the captain's chair on your way to save the galaxy — if you can make it through any number of insane and sometimes impossible challenges. And those, honestly, end up being the heart of the game: You become attached to your ship and crew — even when you end up accidentally killing them and having to start over.
Your favorite indie games for Mac?
What are your favorite indie games for the Mac? Let us know below!
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Apple Arcade is a separate gaming subscription service that offers players hundreds of premium, high-quality titles for one low, flat rate each month. With Apple Arcade, you have unlimited access to all of these games as long as the subscription is active, and there is a lot of titles for pretty much everyone. What are the best RPG games you can download? Here are some of our favorites!
Get your game on!
Apple Arcade
Hundreds of games, one price
Apple Arcade features over a hundred premium games with more added regularly. There is something here for everyone, and it costs less than your morning coffee!
THE BEST
Oceanhorn II: Knights of the Lost Realm
- Studio: Cornfox & Brothers Ltd.
- Age rating: 9+
- Use a gamepad? Yes
Oceanhorn is an action RPG that is heavily inspired by The Legend of Zelda games. In fact, if you just glance at Oceanhorn, you would probably mistake it for a Zelda game at first. Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm is the second Oceanhorn game, and this one takes place thousands of years before the original game.
In Oceanhorn 2, you take on the role of a young knight who embarks on a magical journey across Gaia, which is full of its own rich history, mythology, and lore. Warlock Mesmeroth has returned with a new Dark Army, and you must bring together the forces of Owrus, Gillfolk, and other powerful heroes to stop the darkness.
A big change in Oceanhorn 2 is the fact that you eventually get two companions that accompany you on the journey, and they'll be fighting by your side against Mesmeroth's Dark Army. You can direct them with contextual menu commands, and they are invaluable to solving some of the later puzzles that you'll come across in dungeons.
As someone who enjoys The Legend of Zelda games, I find Oceanhorn 2 to be a great game to get your Zelda fix if you don't have a Switch. The graphics are stunning and gorgeous, the music and sound effects are very reminiscent of Zelda games, and the controls are easy to get used to. The game plays best with a controller, of course, and DualShock 4 is a great option.
Cat Quest II
- Studio: The Gentlebros.
- Age rating: 9+
- Use a gamepad? Yes
Cat Quest II is the follow-up to the popular Cat Quest. It's a 2D open-world action RPG that features dungeon crawling elements and a ton of loot. In the first game, you were only able to play as a cat, but in Cat Quest II, you return to Felingard and are able to play as both a cat and a dog, with the option to easily switch between the two. With this new dynamic, players can either enjoy the game solo or play co-op with a friend.
The story in Cat Quest II revolves around a war between the cats of Felingard and the advancing dogs of the Lupus Empire, and how two kings must reclaim their thrones. It puts a fresh new twist on the classic cats versus dogs argument, that's for sure.
While the original game was great, Cat Quest II outdoes itself and makes even more improvements to the gameplay and content. Not only are you able to play as two characters now, but there are a ton more weapon types, magic spells, passive abilities, and overall loot to find. There are even new enemies to conquer, and the hack-n-slash action makes grinding for experience quite fun, actually.
I was a big fan of the original Cat Quest, so naturally, Cat Quest II is a no-brainer. The visuals are gorgeous and the animation is incredibly smooth. The music and adorable sound effects are fun and will make you go 'aww' often, especially if you have pets.
Please note that while the game doesn't explicitly say that there is controller support, it is there. You just have to use the touch controls in the game options menu to switch it over to a controller.
Spelldrifter
- Studio: Free Range
- Age rating: 12+
- Use a gamepad? Yes
Spelldrifter is not your typical RPG. In fact, it's a unique hybrid tactical RPG and deck builder that features the best of both worlds. Think of it as a turn-based RPG with tactical positioning like Fire Emblem, but with a card game element like Hearthstone. It sounds a bit confusing at first, but the combination works reasonably well.
You start off as a warrior type hero who ends up rescuing an agile-type female, and then you embark on a quest together. While you control one character at a time, allies will move on their own to help you out once you begin to recruit them alongside you. Eventually, you're able to switch out the hero that you want to control manually.
Every character on the board has a turn, and a timeline at the top shows the order in which everyone moves. Each turn counts as a 'tick' on the timeline, and you draw a new card from your deck on every third tick. Cards allow you to do things like attack, guard, block, and other actions. If you get an item equip card, it will replace your main action for a certain number of turns, and can increase the damage you deal or armor for guarding. After every battle, you're rewarded with card loot.
I don't usually play tactical deck building RPGs, but this one is interesting and the gameplay is surprisingly in-depth. The art style is high-quality and looks great. It may take some time getting used to, but the battles do ramp up in difficulty and offer a nice challenge.
King's League II
- Studio: Kurechii
- Age rating: 9+
- Use a gamepad? Yes
King's League II is a strategy simulation RPG that is both easy to play and quite addictive. It's a follow-up to the original King's League, and it's hard to put down once you get going.
The game features a Story Mode and Classic Mode. The Story will go through the journeys of various League participants as they embark on their quest to become Champions of Kurestal. If you prefer to make your own story, the Classic Mode is what you want.
You'll be recruiting heroes of different classes into your guild and training them to increase their stats. At some point, you can even get gear for them to equip to increase their defense and damage output. Each battle has your heroes moving forward and doing basic attacks automatically, but if you select a specific character during battle, you'll activate their special move that can turn the tide of battle if used appropriately.
The game consists of actual League battles, where your guild rank increases and the rewards grow exponentially as you progress. There are also quests to take on in between league battles, and dungeons to explore. You'll collect gold coins to increase facilities, recruit new heroes, and purchase gear. The purple crystals let you level up your guild members, and the training points let your team do various training exercises to become stronger.
I remember playing the original King's League years ago, and King's League II is a great sequel. The art is incredibly well-drawn, with a buttery smooth frame rate on my iPhone 11 Pro. Controls are easy to follow, and while it looks simple on the surface, there's quite a bit of strategy involved.
Mac Rpg Games Download
THE REST
Cardpocalypse
- Studio: Versus Evil
- Age rating: 4+
- Use a gamepad? Yes
Cardpocalypse is an interesting one because it is an RPG about being a 90's kid. You know how it goes: make friends, play cards, twist the rules, become a Mega Mutant Power Pets master, and save the world.
In Cardpocalypse, players become 10-year-old Jess, who accidentally gets the popular card game banned from school, so every kid on the block takes these battles underground. But then the monsters from the game start to invade the real world, causing a whole lot of trouble for kids, parents, and pretty much everyone.
This game is about building a deck of cards to duke it out with other kids and real-world monsters. You'll earn more cards as you play, and you can trade your unworthy cards for those that you actually want and will use. The game is full of unique Champion cards that decks revolve around, and there are plenty of evolutions to collect too. You know, it's like that one game about pocket monsters and digital monsters...
This is a unique game with a fresh art style that is reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons that most of us grew up with. The game did have some bugs in the initial release, but the developers say that things should be fixed by now. So go on and create your deck of awesome cards!
VARIOUS DAYLIFE
- Studio: SQUARE ENIX
- Age rating: 12+
- Use a gamepad? Yes
VARIOUS DAYLIFE is the latest RPG from the developers behind Bravely Default and Octopath Traveler, but it seems to fall short compared to the other RPG offerings on Apple Arcade.
While VARIOUS DAYLIFE has a beautiful art style and modernizes the turn-based battle and job-and-ability system, there are a few issues with the game. It has a rather clunky menu system, small text, and is riddled with terribly long load times.
Honestly, I'd expect more from SQUARE ENIX.
Best Mac Rpg Games
Embark on your journey
Apple Arcade is packed with a ton of different game genres, including RPGs, even if they're mashups. These are the RPGs that we've noticed so far in Apple Arcade, and for the most part, they're pretty amazing. We'll update this as more RPGs come out on Apple's gaming subscription service.
Free Mac Rpg Games
What RPG are you hooked on right now? Let us know in the comments.
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(PRODUCT)REDApple is now redirecting (PRODUCT)RED purchases to COVID‑19 relief fund
Now through September 30, Apple is redirecting 100% of a portion of (PRODUCT)RED purchases to the Global Fund’s COVID‑19 Response.