Does Against the Storm run on Mac?

Against the Storm isn't native, but it runs well through CrossOver — a Windows compatibility layer that translates DirectX into Metal on Apple Silicon.

Can I play Against the Storm on an M1/M2/M3 MacBook?

Yes. On an M1/M2/M3 MacBook the best route is CrossOver, which works across the whole Apple Silicon line.

← Back

CrossOver

How to play Against the Storm on Mac

Strategy · 2023

Plays smoothly through CrossOver on Apple Silicon.

Overall rating: Runs great on Mac · 100% of 1 players say it runs well

Your setup

Detect your Mac to see whether Against the Storm will run.

Plays smoothly through CrossOver on Apple Silicon.

How to run Against the Storm on your Mac in 2026

Best path: CrossOver

CrossOver runs Against the Storm natively on Apple Silicon by translating DirectX to Metal. One-click install, no Windows VM, full local performance.

Method	Quality	Difficulty	Cost
CrossOverPick	Good	Medium	$74 / $39/yr	Get it ↗
Parallels	Estimate	Medium	$99/yr	Get it ↗
Whisky	Estimate	Medium	Free	Get it ↗
Game Porting Toolkit	Estimate	Advanced	Free	Get it ↗
Xbox Cloud Gaming	Estimate	Easy	$16.99 /mo	Get it ↗
GeForce NOW	Estimate	Easy	Free / $9.99 /mo	Get it ↗

Get CrossOver Try Parallels Buy on AllKeyShop See all methods & install guide ↓

Against the Storm

A dark fantasy city builder where you must rebuild civilization in the face of apocalyptic rains. As the Queen’s Viceroy, lead humans, beavers, lizards, foxes, and harpies to reclaim the wilderness and secure a future for civilization's last survivors.

Against the Storm runs flawlessly on Apple Silicon using modern translation layers, offering a near-native experience with full cloud save support.

Buy on AllKeyShop See how to play it on your Mac

What the world thinks

Create a Bottle: Open CrossOver and create a new Windows 10 (64-bit) bottle named 'Against the Storm'.
Install Steam: Download and install the Windows version of Steam within this bottle.
Configure Settings: Right-click the bottle in the sidebar and enable 'D3DMetals' (if on macOS Sonoma or later) or 'DXVK' (on older macOS versions). Enable 'ESync' for better CPU overhead management.
Download Game: Launch Steam, download Against the Storm, and run it. The game uses DirectX 11/12 and maps perfectly to Apple Silicon.

Whisky (Free)

If you prefer a free open-source solution, Whisky provides a great wrapper for the Game Porting Toolkit:

Create a Bottle in Whisky.
Install the Windows version of Steam.
Enable 'Retina Mode' in the Bottle Configuration to ensure the UI scale looks sharp on high-DPI displays.
Use the 'DXVK' toggle for the highest frame rates on base M1/M2 chips.

Performance

How Against the Storm runs on your Mac, from our performance model and player reports.

See exactly how Against the Storm will run on your Mac

Pick your chip and RAM for a personalised estimate.

Best way to play it on Mac

Against the Storm runs flawlessly on Apple Silicon using modern translation layers, offering a near-native experience with full cloud save support.

Buy on AllKeyShop See how to play it on your Mac

See if this is the right method for your setup

Ways to play Against the Storm on Mac

Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce NOW are also available for cloud performance on a strong connection.

Recommended

CrossOver

One-click local install, official support.

Difficulty: EasyCost: $74 (CrossOver) or Free (Whisky)Good

Try CrossOver free for 14 days How to set up ↓

Parallels

Full Windows 11 ARM inside macOS.

Difficulty: MediumCost: $99/year + Windows licenceEstimate

Try Parallels Desktop free How to set up ↓

Whisky

Free option built on Game Porting Toolkit.

Difficulty: MediumCost: FreeEstimate

Download Whisky (free) How to set up ↓

Game Porting Toolkit

Highest local FPS for tinkerers.

Difficulty: AdvancedCost: FreeEstimate

Get Game Porting Toolkit How to set up ↓

Xbox Cloud Gaming

Needs 25+ Mbps internet, wired ideal.

Difficulty: EasyCost: Game Pass Ultimate subscriptionEstimate

Open Xbox Cloud Gaming How to set up ↓

GeForce NOW

Needs 25+ Mbps internet, wired ideal.

Difficulty: EasyCost: Free tier / $9.99+ per monthEstimate

Start playing on GeForce NOW How to set up ↓

Compare methods at a glance

Lower = better

How each supported method stacks up on setup effort, time and runtime overhead.

Method

Setup Difficulty

Time Investment

Performance Overhead

CrossOverTranslationTop pick
Setup
Moderate
Time
15 min
Overhead
Medium
Xbox Cloud GamingCloud
Setup
Simple
Time
5 min
Overhead
Low
GeForce NOWCloud
Setup
Simple
Time
5 min
Overhead
Low
ParallelsVM
Setup
Moderate
Time
30 min
Overhead
High
WhiskyTranslation
Setup
Moderate
Time
15 min
Overhead
Medium
Game Porting ToolkitTranslation
Setup
Complex
Time
30 min
Overhead
Medium

Where to buy Against the Storm

Live prices compared across trusted PC key sellers — updates every few hours.

Platform-by-platform reliability

Loading per-platform notes…

Step-by-step setup guides

Idiot-proof walkthroughs for every method.

How to run Against the Storm on Mac with CrossOver

Good· Compatibility

Running Against the Storm through CrossOver translates its Windows DirectX calls into Metal on Apple Silicon — no reboot, no Windows license, no virtual machine. Most setup time is spent on first-time bottle configuration and installing the game launcher (Steam, Epic, etc.) inside CrossOver. Once that's done, launching feels close to native. Expect 15–30 minutes of setup on the first run.

Step-by-step

Step 1 — Create a bottle

Open CrossOver → click New Bottle
Name it after the game (e.g. Against the Storm) and choose Windows 10 64-bit
Open the bottle's Settings and set:

- Graphics: D3DMetal (not DXVK)

- Synchronization: ESync

- High Resolution Mode: Off

Step 2 — Install the game launcher

Inside CrossOver, click Install Application → search for Steam (or Epic Games Launcher if you own it there)
Install it into the same bottle you just created
Launch Steam, log in, and let it fully update before proceeding

Step 3 — Install and launch Against the Storm

Open Steam (or your launcher) inside CrossOver
Install Against the Storm through the launcher as normal
Launch the game — use the launcher's Play button, not CrossOver directly
First launch may take 30–90 seconds to show a window. Don't force-quit unless it hangs for several minutes.

Step 4 — If you hit issues

Black screen / stuck in small window: go to Settings → Graphics in-game, set Screen Type to Fullscreen, then restart
Resolution resets on every launch: find the game's config/settings file and set the resolution values manually, then mark the file Read-Only to prevent the game overwriting it
Crashes on startup: try switching the bottle's Synchronization from ESync to MSync, or vice versa

Video proof

Try CrossOver free for 14 days ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.

How to run Against the Storm on Mac with Parallels

Estimate· Compatibility

Using Parallels to play Against the Storm means running a full copy of Windows 11 ARM inside macOS. This is the most "it just works" approach for games that don't behave under CrossOver, and DirectX 11 is hardware-accelerated. You'll need a Windows license and roughly 80 GB of disk space.

Step-by-step

Buy / start a trial of Parallels Desktop.
Install Windows 11 ARM via the one-click wizard.
Inside Windows, install Steam / Xbox app and Against the Storm.
Enable DirectX 11 in Parallels settings for best 3D performance.

Video proof

Try Parallels Desktop free ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.

How to run Against the Storm on Mac with Whisky

Estimate· Compatibility

Running Against the Storm through Whisky translates the game's Windows DirectX calls into Metal on the fly. Performance is impressively close to a native Windows PC on Apple Silicon, and you stay entirely inside macOS — no VM, no rebooting. Expect to spend 10–20 minutes on first-time setup.

Step-by-step

Download Whisky (free, requires macOS 14+).
Open Whisky → New Bottle.
Install Steam or your launcher in the bottle.
Install Against the Storm and run it from Whisky.

Video proof

Download Whisky (free) ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.

How to run Against the Storm on Mac with Game Porting Toolkit

Estimate· Compatibility

Running Against the Storm through Game Porting Toolkit translates the game's Windows DirectX calls into Metal on the fly. Performance is impressively close to a native Windows PC on Apple Silicon, and you stay entirely inside macOS — no VM, no rebooting. Expect to spend 10–20 minutes on first-time setup.

Step-by-step

Install Homebrew: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)".
brew tap apple/apple http://github.com/apple/homebrew-apple then brew install game-porting-toolkit.
Create a Wine prefix and install Steam inside it.
Install Against the Storm through Steam and launch via gameportingtoolkit.

Video proof

Get Game Porting Toolkit ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.

How to run Against the Storm on Mac with Xbox Cloud Gaming

Estimate· Streaming

Streaming Against the Storm through Xbox Cloud Gaming is the fastest way to start playing on a Mac — there's nothing to install, no Windows VM, no compatibility layer. The game runs on a remote GPU and your Mac just receives the video, which means even a base M1 MacBook Air can play the most demanding AAA titles at high settings. The tradeoff is that you need a stable internet connection (ideally wired or 5GHz Wi-Fi with 25+ Mbps down) and a subscription.

Step-by-step

Get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Open xbox.com/play in Safari, Chrome, or Edge.
Search Against the Storm and click Play — no install required.

Video proof

Open Xbox Cloud Gaming ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.

How to run Against the Storm on Mac with GeForce NOW

Estimate· Streaming

Streaming Against the Storm through GeForce NOW is the fastest way to start playing on a Mac — there's nothing to install, no Windows VM, no compatibility layer. The game runs on a remote GPU and your Mac just receives the video, which means even a base M1 MacBook Air can play the most demanding AAA titles at high settings. The tradeoff is that you need a stable internet connection (ideally wired or 5GHz Wi-Fi with 25+ Mbps down) and a subscription.

Step-by-step

Sign up at GeForce NOW. The free tier works; Ultimate gives 4K/120fps.
Download the GeForce NOW Mac app (Apple Silicon native).
Link your Steam / Epic / Xbox account that owns Against the Storm.
Search the title in the app and click Play.

Video proof

Start playing on GeForce NOW ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.

Our recommendation

For most Mac players we recommend CrossOver as the fastest, smoothest way to play Against the Storm. One-click local install, official support.

Method	Quality	Difficulty	Cost
CrossOverPick	Good	Medium	$74 one-time / $39/year
Parallels	Estimate	Medium	$99/year + Windows licence
Whisky	Estimate	Medium	Free
Game Porting Toolkit	Estimate	Advanced	Free
Xbox Cloud Gaming	Estimate	Easy	Game Pass Ultimate subscription
GeForce NOW	Estimate	Easy	Free tier / $9.99+ per month

How to play Against the Storm on Mac

Best path: CrossOver

Against the Storm

What the world thinks

Whisky (Free)

Performance

Ways to play Against the Storm on Mac

CrossOver

Parallels

Whisky

Game Porting Toolkit

Xbox Cloud Gaming

GeForce NOW

Compare methods at a glance

Where to buy Against the Storm

Platform-by-platform reliability

Step-by-step setup guides

How to run Against the Storm on Mac with CrossOver

Step-by-step

Video proof

How to run Against the Storm on Mac with Parallels

Step-by-step

Video proof

How to run Against the Storm on Mac with Whisky

Step-by-step

Video proof

How to run Against the Storm on Mac with Game Porting Toolkit

Step-by-step

Video proof

How to run Against the Storm on Mac with Xbox Cloud Gaming

Step-by-step

Video proof

How to run Against the Storm on Mac with GeForce NOW

Step-by-step

Video proof

Our recommendation

Comments

Frequently asked questions