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CrossOver

How to play Horizon Zero Dawn on Mac

RPG · 2020

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 Horizon Zero Dawn will run.

Plays smoothly through CrossOver on Apple Silicon.

How to run Horizon Zero Dawn on your Mac in 2026

Best path: CrossOver

CrossOver runs Horizon Zero Dawn 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 ↓

Horizon Zero Dawn

89
Metacritic
4.0
Metacritic Users

Experience Aloy’s legendary quest to unravel the mysteries of a future Earth ruled by Machines. Use devastating tactical attacks against your prey and explore a majestic open world in this award-winning action RPG!

Horizon Zero Dawn runs on Mac through CrossOver, a Windows compatibility layer that translates DirectX calls into Metal on Apple Silicon.

Buy on AllKeyShopSee how to play it on your Mac
Horizon Zero Dawn screenshot 1Horizon Zero Dawn screenshot 2Horizon Zero Dawn screenshot 3Horizon Zero Dawn screenshot 4Horizon Zero Dawn screenshot 5

What the world thinks

Performance

How Horizon Zero Dawn runs on your Mac, from our performance model and player reports.

See exactly how Horizon Zero Dawn will run on your Mac

Pick your chip and RAM for a personalised estimate.

Best way to play it on Mac

Horizon Zero Dawn runs on Mac through CrossOver, a Windows compatibility layer that translates DirectX calls into Metal on Apple Silicon.

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

Ways to play Horizon Zero Dawn 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 Horizon Zero Dawn

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Step-by-step setup guides

Idiot-proof walkthroughs for every method.

How to run Horizon Zero Dawn on Mac with CrossOver

Good· Compatibility

Running Horizon Zero Dawn 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. Horizon Zero Dawn) 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 Horizon Zero Dawn

  1. Open Steam (or your launcher) inside CrossOver
  2. Install Horizon Zero Dawn 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 Horizon Zero Dawn on Mac with Parallels

Estimate· Compatibility

Using Parallels to play Horizon Zero Dawn 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 Horizon Zero Dawn.
  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 Horizon Zero Dawn. 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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