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CrossOver

How to play Outlast on Mac

· 2013

Plays smoothly through CrossOver on Apple Silicon.

Overall rating: Hit or miss on Mac · 50% of 2 players say it runs well

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

Plays smoothly through CrossOver on Apple Silicon.

How to run Outlast on your Mac in 2026

Best path: CrossOver

CrossOver runs Outlast 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 ↗
BoosteroidEstimateEasy$9.95 /moGet it ↗
WhiskyEstimateMediumFreeGet it ↗
Game Porting ToolkitEstimateAdvancedFreeGet it ↗
Get CrossOver Try Parallels Buy on AllKeyShop See all methods & install guide ↓

Outlast

Hell is an experiment you can't survive in Outlast, a first-person survival horror game developed by veterans of some of the biggest game franchises in history. As investigative journalist Miles Upshur, explore Mount Massive Asylum and try to survive long enough to discover its terrible secret... if you dare.

Outlast runs exceptionally well on Apple Silicon via CrossOver or Whisky, easily maintaining high frame rates at maximum settings due to its well-optimized Unreal Engine 3 roots.

Buy on AllKeyShopSee how to play it on your Mac
Outlast screenshot 1Outlast screenshot 2Outlast screenshot 3Outlast screenshot 4Outlast screenshot 5Outlast screenshot 6

What the world thinks

  1. Install CrossOver: Open the application and click 'Install a Windows Application'.
  2. Select Game: Search for 'Outlast' or 'Steam'. If using the Steam version, install the Steam bottle first.
  3. Toggle Settings: In the right-hand sidebar of the bottle settings, ensure D3DMetal is toggled OFF (DXVK is generally more stable for this older title) and MSAA is enabled if you experience aliasing.
  4. Launch: Open Steam within the bottle and download Outlast. The game should run at 60+ FPS on even the base M1 chip.
  • Whisky (Free): This is a great free alternative to CrossOver. Create a new bottle, install Steam, and disable 'Retina Mode' in the bottle configuration if mouse scaling feels off. Performance is nearly identical to CrossOver.
  • Boosteroid (Cloud): If you have a poor local configuration or want to save battery, Boosteroid offers a native macOS app that streams the game flawlessly, provided your internet connection is stable.
  • Parallels Desktop: The game will run here, but it is less efficient than CrossOver/Whisky due to the overhead of virtualizing Windows 11. Use this only if you already have it installed for work.

Performance

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

See exactly how Outlast will run on your Mac

Pick your chip and RAM for a personalised estimate.

Best way to play it on Mac

Outlast runs exceptionally well on Apple Silicon via CrossOver or Whisky, easily maintaining high frame rates at maximum settings due to its well-optimized Unreal Engine 3 roots.

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

Ways to play Outlast 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
  • BoosteroidCloud
    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 Outlast

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

Platform-by-platform reliability

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Step-by-step setup guides

Idiot-proof walkthroughs for every method.

How to run Outlast on Mac with CrossOver

Good· Compatibility

Running Outlast 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. Outlast) 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 Outlast

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

Estimate· Compatibility

Using Parallels to play Outlast 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 Outlast.
  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.

How to run Outlast on Mac with Boosteroid

Estimate· Streaming

Streaming Outlast through Boosteroid 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

  1. Create a Boosteroid account and pick a plan.
  2. Use the web client or download the macOS app.
  3. Add Outlast from their library (you'll need to own it on Steam/Epic).

Video proof

Get Boosteroid ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.

How to run Outlast on Mac with Whisky

Estimate· Compatibility

Running Outlast 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

  1. Download Whisky (free, requires macOS 14+).
  2. Open Whisky → New Bottle.
  3. Install Steam or your launcher in the bottle.
  4. Install Outlast and run it from Whisky.

Video proof

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

How to run Outlast on Mac with Game Porting Toolkit

Estimate· Compatibility

Running Outlast 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

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

Video proof

Get Game Porting Toolkit ↗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 Outlast. One-click local install, official support.

MethodQualityDifficultyCost
CrossOverPickGoodMedium$74 one-time / $39/year
ParallelsEstimateMedium$99/year + Windows licence
BoosteroidEstimateEasy$9.95 / month
WhiskyEstimateMediumFree
Game Porting ToolkitEstimateAdvancedFree
Try CrossOver free for 14 days

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