Backrooms: Escape Together has no Mac version. The Steam listing is Windows only, and there is nothing to suggest that will change. You can still play it on a Mac, and play it well, in one of two ways: run the Windows build locally through CrossOver, or stream it through Boosteroid. Our verdict on Backrooms: Escape Together is CrossOver, and it carries a Gold rating in the CodeWeavers compatibility database for version 26.2, which is the highest grade they give.
The short answer depends on your Mac. If you have a Pro or Max chip, install CrossOver, switch on D3DMetal and you will get a smooth 60 frames per second at high settings with your friends. If you are on a base M1 or M2, CrossOver still works, but you are looking at low to medium settings and a frame rate somewhere between 30 and 45. Boosteroid is the option for anyone who wants 1080p at 60 without touching a settings menu, or who is on a Mac that will struggle locally.
This guide covers the exact CrossOver setup we use, the settings that make the difference, the point at which streaming becomes the better choice, and how to make sure proximity chat works in both cases, because a Backrooms session without voice is barely a session at all.
What you are working with
The game runs on Unreal Engine 4, which is good news for Mac players. Unreal 4 titles are among the most reliable things you can run through CrossOver, because the engine's DirectX rendering translates well to Metal through Apple's Game Porting Toolkit, which CrossOver bundles as D3DMetal. We have no anti-cheat recorded for the game, and a Gold rating would not stand if something were blocking the compatibility layer, so there is nothing to worry about on that front. The GPU demand is moderate rather than heavy. We rate it 3, which puts it above lighter co-op horror titles like Content Warning and R.E.P.O. but well short of the big open world games.
That demand matters because the Backrooms is a lot of flat yellow corridors under damp fluorescent lighting, and those lighting effects are where the GPU time goes. Lowering shadows and post processing has a bigger effect here than lowering texture quality, because the textures are repetitive and small.
CrossOver: the setup that works
You need CrossOver 23 or newer. Version 26.2 is the one the Gold rating was verified against, so that is what we recommend. The steps below assume a clean install.
- Install CrossOver from CodeWeavers and open it.
- Create a new bottle and choose Windows 10 64-bit as the bottle type. Name it something you will recognise, such as Steam.
- Install Steam into that bottle using the Install Software search. Sign in to your Steam account once it opens.
- Find Backrooms: Escape Together in your library and download it into the bottle.
- Select the bottle in the left sidebar, then in the right panel switch on D3DMetal. Leave DXVK off. D3DMetal gives a clear performance improvement over DXVK for this game and fixes most lighting oddities.
- Launch the game through Steam inside the bottle. Set your resolution and quality on first run rather than accepting the defaults, which tend to be too high for a base chip.
If the game stutters once you are in, go back to the bottle settings and switch on E-Sync, which smooths out how the compatibility layer handles synchronisation. Some players find that enabling MSAA in the game's own graphics menu also reduces stutter, oddly enough, because it changes which rendering path the engine takes. Try one, then the other, and keep whichever helps.
Settings by chip
On a base M1 or M2, including the MacBook Air and the entry level Mac mini, set the resolution to 1080p and the quality preset to Low or Medium. Expect somewhere between 30 and 45 frames per second depending on how many players are in the level and how much is going on. Shadows on Low and post processing on Low are the two changes that help most. Turn off motion blur. It is a horror game, so a lower frame rate is more tolerable than it would be in a shooter, but anything below 30 will make the moments where you have to run from an entity feel unfair.
On a Pro or Max chip, you can run the High preset at 1080p or 1440p and stay at or around 60 frames per second with D3DMetal enabled. Our data covers the M1, M2 and M3 Pro and Max chips, and there is no reason to expect later Pro and Max chips to do anything other than make this easier. The 16 inch MacBook Pro models with Max chips will handle native panel resolution with a few settings dialled down. We have not tested the Ultra chips in the Mac Studio, but the same logic applies.
Memory is the other variable. CrossOver runs Steam, the Windows game and the translation layer all at once, and 8GB machines will see more swapping than 16GB machines. If you are on an 8GB base M1, close your browser before you start. If you are not sure what chip you have, the My Mac page will tell you and show which route we recommend for your machine.
When to stream instead
Boosteroid is the right choice in three situations. The first is a base chip Mac where the local experience will be 30 to 45 frames per second and you would rather have a locked 60. The second is an 8GB machine where CrossOver plus Steam plus the game leaves little headroom. The third is anyone who does not want to maintain a bottle, keep CrossOver up to date and troubleshoot stutter. Streaming removes all of that.
Boosteroid runs the game at 1080p and 60 frames per second on its own hardware and sends you the video. Your Mac does nothing but decode a stream, which means the result is the same whether you are on an M1 Air or an M4 Max. The game is in the Boosteroid library, you connect your Steam account to it, and you launch either in Chrome or Edge or through the Boosteroid app for macOS. The subscription is a monthly fee on top of owning the game on Steam.
The cost is latency, and in a co-op horror game that matters less than in most genres, but it is not nothing. On a wired Ethernet connection with a decent fibre line the input delay is small enough to forget about. On Wi-Fi in a busy house it is noticeable when you try to turn and sprint at the same time. Our rule is simple. If you can plug in a cable, stream with confidence. If you are stuck on Wi-Fi, local CrossOver is the safer bet even on a base chip, because a stable 35 frames per second feels better than a stream that hitches. Cheaper streaming tiers may also queue you at peak times, so check the plan before you sign up with your group.
Getting proximity chat working
The game leans heavily on proximity voice chat. Players who wander off get quieter, and the panic of hearing a friend's voice fade as something chases them is most of the appeal. Both routes need a microphone permission that macOS will not grant on its own.
For CrossOver, open System Settings, go to Privacy and Security, then Microphone, and make sure CrossOver is listed and switched on. If it is not there, launch the game, join a lobby and try to speak; macOS should prompt you the first time the game requests the microphone. If the prompt never appears, quit CrossOver fully and relaunch, then try again. Inside the game, check that the input device is set to your Mac's microphone rather than a default Windows device that does not exist.
For Boosteroid in a browser, the browser handles the permission. Chrome will ask you the first time, and you can check it afterwards in the site settings for the Boosteroid page. The macOS app asks once on first launch. In both cases, use headphones. Open speakers will feed your friends' screams back into your own microphone, and the game's proximity falloff will make it sound like they are in your room.
How this compares with other Backrooms games on Mac
If you have come to Backrooms: Escape Together after one of the other games in this corner of Steam, the picture varies. Escape the Backrooms is in the same position, with a CrossOver Gold rating and a Boosteroid listing, so the advice above transfers almost exactly. DEVOUR is the one co-op horror game in this group with a native Mac build on Steam, which means no CrossOver and no streaming subscription, and it is the easiest recommendation of the lot if your friends are flexible about what to play. Phasmophobia also runs through CrossOver and remains the most popular game of the genre. You can line any of these up side by side on the compare page, and if you are thinking about a new Mac for this kind of thing, the rigs page shows what each chip can handle.
The recommendation
If your Mac has a Pro or Max chip and you have ten minutes to set up a bottle, run Backrooms: Escape Together in CrossOver with D3DMetal on and the High preset. It is the better experience: no latency, no subscription, and you own the install. If you are on a base M1 or M2 and you have an Ethernet cable, Boosteroid will give you the smoother game and save you the settings work. If you are on a base chip and stuck on Wi-Fi, use CrossOver at Medium, accept the 30 to 45 frames, and keep your headphones on.