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Parallels

How to play Beholder on Mac

Adventure / Indie / Strategy · 2016

Best in a Windows 11 ARM virtual machine via Parallels.

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

Your setup
Detect your Mac to see whether Beholder will run.

Best in a Windows 11 ARM virtual machine via Parallels.

How to run Beholder on your Mac in 2026

Best path: Parallels

Should run in a Windows 11 ARM virtual machine (Parallels). This is an estimate — not a verified report. Demanding 3D titles may need lower settings.

  • Heads up on Parallels: Estimated compatibility — no verified report yet
MethodQualityDifficultyCost
ParallelsPickGoodMedium$99/yrGet it ↗

Beholder

75
Metacritic

You’re a state-installed landlord in a totalitarian country. Place listening devices, steal and sneak into your tenants’ apartments. Use what you uncovered to report anyone capable of plotting against the state. You MUST! But WILL you?

The Mac build is Intel-only (x86_64) and runs on Apple Silicon through Rosetta 2 translation — it's a Mac app, but not a true arm64 native one. Expect a ~10–15% performance tax versus a real native port.

Beholder screenshot 1Beholder screenshot 2Beholder screenshot 3Beholder screenshot 4Beholder screenshot 5Beholder screenshot 6

What the world thinks

Performance

How Beholder runs on your Mac, from our performance model and player reports.

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Best way to play it on Mac

The Mac build is Intel-only (x86_64) and runs on Apple Silicon through Rosetta 2 translation — it's a Mac app, but not a true arm64 native one. Expect a ~10–15% performance tax versus a real native port.

See if this is the right method for your setup

Ways to play Beholder on Mac

Here are all the options available, ranked by what we recommend first.

Compare methods at a glance

Lower = better

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

  • ParallelsVMTop pick
    Setup
    Moderate
    Time
    30 min
    Overhead
    High

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Step-by-step setup guides

Idiot-proof walkthroughs for every method.

How to run Beholder on Mac with Parallels

Estimate· Compatibility

Using Parallels to play Beholder 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

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

Video proof

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Our recommendation

For most Mac players the best way to play Beholder on Mac is Parallels. Full Windows 11 ARM inside macOS.

MethodQualityDifficultyCost
ParallelsPickGoodMedium$99/year + Windows licence
Try Parallels Desktop free

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