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CrossOver

How to play Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition on Mac

Action · 2015

Plays smoothly through CrossOver on Apple Silicon.

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Your setup
Detect your Mac to see whether Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition will run.

Plays smoothly through CrossOver on Apple Silicon.

How to run Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition on your Mac in 2026

Best path: CrossOver

CrossOver runs Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition natively on Apple Silicon by translating DirectX to Metal. One-click install, no Windows VM, full local performance.

MethodQualityDifficultyCost
CrossOverPickGoodMedium$74 / $39/yrGet it ↗
ParallelsEstimateMedium$99/yrGet it ↗
Get CrossOver Try Parallels Buy on AllKeyShop See all methods & install guide ↓

Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition

The ultimate DARKSIDERS II experience! 1080p native resolution. Reworked and tuned game balancing and loot distribution. Improved Graphic Render Engine for even higher visual quality, lighting and shadows. Improved and reworked level, character and environment graphics.

Darksiders II runs excellently on Apple Silicon via CrossOver using DXVK, though it remains subject to the same crashing bugs present in the original Windows version.

Buy on AllKeyShopSee how to play it on your Mac
Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition screenshot 1Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition screenshot 2Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition screenshot 3Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition screenshot 4Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition screenshot 5Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition screenshot 6

What the world thinks

  1. Install CrossOver 24+.
  2. Create a new bottle and search for 'Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition'.
  3. Select the Steam version during installation.
  4. Critical Step: Once installed, open the bottle settings and ensure D3DMetal is toggled OFF. Use DXVK instead; D3DMetal can cause lighting glitches in the Kingdom of the Dead.
  5. In the Steam launch options for the game, enter: -allowhighres -fullscreen to ensure correct aspect ratio detection.

Parallels Desktop

If you already use Parallels for work, the game is playable, but you will experience lower framerates compared to CrossOver. Set the Virtual Machine to 'Games Only' profile and allocate at least 8GB of RAM and half of your available CPU cores. Expect 40-50 FPS on M2/M3 chips, whereas CrossOver can easily hit 60+ FPS.

Performance

How Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition runs on your Mac, from our performance model and player reports.

See exactly how Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition will run on your Mac

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Best way to play it on Mac

Darksiders II runs excellently on Apple Silicon via CrossOver using DXVK, though it remains subject to the same crashing bugs present in the original Windows version.

Buy on AllKeyShopSee how to play it on your Mac
See if this is the right method for your setup

Ways to play Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition 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.

  • CrossOverTranslationTop pick
    Setup
    Moderate
    Time
    15 min
    Overhead
    Medium
  • ParallelsVM
    Setup
    Moderate
    Time
    30 min
    Overhead
    High

Where to buy Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition

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Step-by-step setup guides

Idiot-proof walkthroughs for every method.

How to run Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition on Mac with CrossOver

Good· Compatibility

Running Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition 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

  1. Open CrossOver → click New Bottle
  2. Name it after the game (e.g. Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition) and choose Windows 10 64-bit
  3. Open the bottle's Settings and set:

- Graphics: D3DMetal (not DXVK)

- Synchronization: ESync

- High Resolution Mode: Off

Step 2 — Install the game launcher

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

Step 3 — Install and launch Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition

  1. Open Steam (or your launcher) inside CrossOver
  2. Install Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition through the launcher as normal
  3. Launch the game — use the launcher's Play button, not CrossOver directly
  4. 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 Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition on Mac with Parallels

Estimate· Compatibility

Using Parallels to play Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition 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 Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition.
  4. 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.

Our recommendation

For most Mac players we recommend CrossOver as the fastest, smoothest way to play Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition. One-click local install, official support.

MethodQualityDifficultyCost
CrossOverPickGoodMedium$74 one-time / $39/year
ParallelsEstimateMedium$99/year + Windows licence
Try CrossOver free for 14 days

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