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Rise of Nations: Extended Edition cover art
CrossOver

How to play Rise of Nations: Extended Edition on Mac

Strategy · 2014

Plays smoothly through CrossOver on Apple Silicon.

Overall rating: Not enough votes yet

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Detect your Mac to see whether Rise of Nations: Extended Edition will run.

Plays smoothly through CrossOver on Apple Silicon.

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How to run Rise of Nations: Extended Edition on your Mac in 2026

Best path: CrossOver

CrossOver runs Rise of Nations: Extended Edition natively on Apple Silicon by translating DirectX to Metal. One-click install, no Windows VM, full local performance.

Get CrossOver See all methods & install guide ↓

Rise of Nations: Extended Edition

93
Metacritic
9.5
IGN
95%
Steam · Overwhelmingly Positive

Rise of Nations: Extended Edition blends city-building, exploration, and warfare across vast historical eras. Its compelling blend of real-time strategy with persistent world elements offers a grand sweep of human civilization.

This classic RTS works well using compatibility layers, but does not support multiplayer on Mac.

See how to play it on your Mac

“A massive, beautiful and endlessly rewarding experience that sets a new bar for the genre.”

IGN

“An astounding achievement in interactive entertainment, and one of the best games of this generation.”

GameSpot

“A spectacular, sprawling adventure through a beautifully realized world, overflowing with things to see and do.”

PC Gamer

What the world thinks

Performance

What each M-series Mac can realistically handle. Tap any chip to report your experience.

M1 chip
High
~60 fps
M2 chip
Ultra
~60 fps
M3 chip
Ultra
~120 fps
M4 chip
Ultra
~120 fps
Best way to play it on Mac

This classic RTS works well using CrossOver, but does not support multiplayer on Mac.

See how to play it on your Mac

Ways to play Rise of Nations: Extended 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

Where to buy Rise of Nations: Extended Edition

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How to run Rise of Nations: Extended Edition on Mac with CrossOver

Excellent· Compatibility

Running Rise of Nations: Extended Edition through CrossOver 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 CrossOver for Mac (14-day free trial).
  2. Open CrossOver → Install a Windows Application → search Rise of Nations: Extended Edition.
  3. CrossOver creates a bottle and runs the installer.
  4. Launch from the CrossOver bottle. D3DMetal acceleration is on by default.

Video proof

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Our recommendation

For most Mac players we recommend CrossOver as the fastest, smoothest way to play Rise of Nations: Extended Edition. One-click local install, official support.

MethodQualityDifficultyCost
CrossOverPickExcellentMedium$74 one-time / $39/year
Try CrossOver free for 14 days

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