If you want the best games that run on a Mac with no translation layer, no Windows bottle and no streaming, start with Baldur's Gate 3, Hades II and World of Warcraft. All three have native builds, all three are rated "perfect" on this site, and all three are among the highest scoring games in our database. You buy them, install them, and they run.
The full list below is twelve games, ordered by Metacritic score, taken straight from the games we track with a Native verdict. Every one of them ships as a universal binary, one download that runs natively on Apple Silicon and, for most of them, on Intel Macs too. None of them need CrossOver, Parallels or Rosetta to play properly on an M-series chip.
Native matters more than people expect. A native game talks to Metal directly, so you skip the overhead of translating DirectX calls, you get better battery life on a MacBook, and updates arrive through the normal store without a bottle breaking. If you want to check how any of these will run on your specific machine, set your chip on My Mac and the game pages will adjust their advice.
How this list was picked
I pulled every game on the site with a Native status and a finished guide, sorted by Metacritic score, and kept the top twelve that were clean. A few high scorers with native builds were left out because their pages are being tidied up, and I would rather leave a game off than recommend it on mixed information. The scores are a rough guide to quality rather than gospel, so a 92 versus a 90 should not decide anything on its own.
We do not list a minimum macOS version for any of these yet, so check the store page before you buy if you are on an older release. Everything here runs on Apple Silicon from the M1 upwards.
Baldur's Gate 3 (96)
Baldur's Gate 3 is the best game on the Mac right now, and it happens to be one of the best ports too. Larian ships a universal binary on Steam and GOG, with cross-save to PC and consoles, cross-play and mod support.
On performance, our guide puts an M1 at High settings at 1440p and 60 frames per second, an M2 Pro at Ultra at 1440p, and an M3 Max at Ultra at 4K. The one caveat is Act 3. The city is heavy on the CPU, so on a base M-series chip you may want FSR turned on to keep things smooth. It is a demanding game overall, the most demanding on this list alongside Total War, so a base MacBook Air will work harder than a Pro.
Hades II (95)
Hades II is the easiest recommendation here. The native build runs exceptionally well on every Apple Silicon Mac and on modern Intel Macs, and the GPU demand is low. Buy it on Steam or the Epic Games Store, install, press play. The macOS build picks up your chip on its own.
It is also a perfect laptop game. Runs are short, the battery holds up, and it feels at home on a train.
Hades (93)
The original Hades is just as good on a Mac. The native build uses Metal, it is easy on battery, and Steam Workshop mods work. If you have never played either, start here. The sequel is better in almost every way, but the first game makes it land harder.
World of Warcraft (93)
World of Warcraft has had a native Apple Silicon client for years, and it shows. You install it through Battle.net, all current expansions are supported, and addons work through the usual managers such as CurseForge or WowUp. Metal lets it run at high refresh rates and high resolutions.
This is the one MMO on the list, and the only game here that needs an ongoing subscription to play. It earns its place because it is one of the few big online games where the Mac version is not a second class citizen.
Blue Prince (92)
Blue Prince is a puzzle adventure about a house whose rooms change every day, and the native build is the version to play. It runs natively on Apple Silicon and Intel with Metal support and no notable caveats.
The Windows version does run in CrossOver, but our notes flag black cutscenes there, which spoils a game that relies on its small reveals. Stick with native from Steam.
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut (91)
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut is a detective RPG with almost no combat and some of the best writing in games. The native build handles high resolutions well, battery life is excellent, and Steam Workshop mods are supported. The GPU demand is low, so it plays as well on a MacBook Air as on a Studio.
Resident Evil 4 Remake (91)
Resident Evil 4 Remake is the showcase for what a modern big budget port can look like on a Mac. Capcom's version uses Metal 3 and MetalFX upscaling, and it is sold on the Mac App Store as a single purchase that covers macOS and iOS. There is a free trial, so you can check performance on your own Mac before paying.
Two practical notes from our guide. The App Store download is a small launcher that pulls the full game the first time you open it, and you need about 70GB free for that. Then go into Options and Graphics and turn on MetalFX before you judge the frame rate. GPU demand is high, so a Pro or Max chip will give you noticeably better settings than a base chip.
Factorio (90)
Factorio is the factory building game that eats weekends, and the native build is excellent. It holds up even with very large bases, the in-game mod browser works, and multiplayer and cross-play work too. GPU demand is low, so this is a good pick for anyone with an older or base model Mac.
Hollow Knight: Silksong (90)
Hollow Knight: Silksong ships natively for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, and our notes list no caveats. It is a 2D action platformer, so you do not need a powerful machine. Plug in a controller. It is playable on a keyboard, but the platforming is precise enough that a pad helps.
Resident Evil 2 Remake (89)
Resident Evil 2 Remake is the other Capcom port worth buying. The native version uses Metal and looks very good on M-series chips. Our notes say it requires an M1 or later, and that memory use climbs at high settings, so on an 8GB Mac keep textures sensible. It is less demanding than the Resident Evil 4 Remake, which makes it the better pick of the two for a MacBook Air.
Avoid the Windows version in CrossOver for this one. Our notes record frequent crashes after the intro there, and there is no reason to put up with that when the native build exists.
Civilization VI (88)
Civilization VI is Aspyr's port, and it has full feature parity with the Windows version, including Steam Workshop and multiplayer. The Metal renderer suits M-series chips well and the GPU demand is low.
The one real caveat is timing. Aspyr's Mac patches sometimes land a few weeks after the PC ones. That matters if you play multiplayer with friends on Windows, because version mismatches can stop you joining. For solo play you will not notice.
Total War: WARHAMMER III (86)
Total War: WARHAMMER III is a Feral Interactive port, which is about as good a sign as you get for Mac gaming. It runs natively with Metal, supports cross-play with Windows and gives full access to Steam Workshop mods.
It is also the heaviest game on this list after Baldur's Gate 3. Our notes say you want 16GB or more of unified memory for Ultra textures, and the install is large. On a Pro or Max chip it is a pleasure. On a base 8GB machine, expect to lower textures and battle sizes. You can buy it on Steam or the Mac App Store. Steam is the better choice because cross-play and DLC ownership carry across platforms.
Which one to buy first
If you have a recent Pro or Max chip, buy Baldur's Gate 3. It is the best game on the platform, it runs well, and nothing else on this list gives you as many hours.
If you have a base MacBook Air or any Mac with 8GB of memory, buy Hades II. It runs perfectly, it is light on the battery, and it is the game I would hand to anyone who says Macs cannot play games. If you want to see how either compares to the Windows version or a streaming option on your machine, put them side by side on compare.