I don’t think it’s any secret how much I love gaming, I love it so much that at the age of 25 I decided to throw my whole life upside down so that I could try to make gaming a part of my career. One of the reasons I fell in love with gaming, to begin with, was the feeling of being included in something bigger than myself: bigger than the world I lived in and the feeling of being part of a community that is indescribably colourful, bubbly and amazing.
When I decided I wanted to start writing about games I never wanted to pretend that I was some all-knowing gaming god and blow people away with my knowledge. Instead, I wanted to be a bridge that helped people discover this wonderful world through my writing so that they get to experience the magic that I do and also find that feeling of inclusion. I wanted to help show that gaming wasn’t just for a select demographic of people, it was for everyone.
So I started writing the type of gaming articles that I wish I had when I was younger.
I started trying to break down some of the more intense online games like League of Legends and Hearthstone so that no one had to feel scared to dive in for the first time. I’ve also written posts about which games make a good transition from mobile gaming to something more serious. I tried to make people see that gaming could be easy and accessible.
But somewhere along the line I forgot where I came from: I’m a HUGE Apple fangirl. It’s the one love I have that could easily stand its own against my love for gaming. Throughout my life I have always had either an iMac, MacBook or iPad around, and contrary to popular belief, I have always been able to play games on them.
It wasn’t as easy as playing games on my PC or a console because there wasn’t a big selection of titles and performance was sometimes a problem, but that was then and this is now.
A lot has changed in the last few years and with every passing year Macs become stronger and more equipped to handle games, and more developers start seeing that and bringing their games to Mac. In the spirit that I started writing gaming articles, I present to yo:
My top 5 favourite games to play on my Mac (right now)
1) The Cave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt4_oY-uuu8
Local Co-Op, Puzzle Platformer
I first bought this game for my partner because this style of game is 100% up his alley but then once I actually watched him play it, I was instantly hooked. It’s beautiful, funny, has intelligent puzzles, a great soundtrack, and an intriguing story. It quickly went from ‘I bought you this game’ to ‘I bought US this game’. You create a team of up to 3 different adventurers to make your way through ‘The Cave’. Each of the adventurers has a different set abilities to help you and you control all three of them simultaneously to help solve different puzzles and get through the cave.
2) Stardew Valley
Agriculture Simulation RPG
Stardew Valley is an open-ended country-life / fantasy adventure RPG, and I’m hooked. I think this is the game I own that drives my partner the craziest I can go for months without even thinking about it, but then once I start playing it again I can’t stop. I’m not ashamed to say that I have definitely blown off dates under the guise of ‘I have so much work to do’ so that I can curl up in sweatpants and a baggy shirt to binge play Stardew. You start from nothing and build your farm, and the town around you up. You have different skills you can develop, different relationships you can explore and a pretty mean crafting system. Also, you get to farm parsnips. It’s rather soothing!
3) Life Is Strange
Story Rich, Choice-based, Narrative game
I’m not even going to write anything more about Life Is Strange, I’ve written enough previously. You can read my love letter to the game here. This is a game that needs no build up, no hype, no nothing – you just need to trust me and play it.
Trust me!
4) Minecraft
Sandbox Survival Crafting game
When my baby cousins first showed me Minecraft years and years ago I vowed never to play it. I just didn’t get it, it honestly looked like the most stupid game ever. I pretended to be excited about the game for their parts but I was secretly judging them for playing it. Then the world went Minecraft MAD and again, I judged them pretty hard, only this time I judged Minecrafters out loud and then, I played it. I can’t explain the voodoo that the game has. All I know is one day I switched on my Mac HATING Minecraft and switched off my Mac a week later HOOKED (I just lied, I lever switched off. CANNOT. STOP. PLAYING). Minecraft lets you literally create anything you can imagine. You build up the world around you, craft, farm, explore, create and survive. It might look simple at first, but it’s actually amazingly detailed and complex, but in all the right ways.
5) Don’t Starve Together
Multiplayer Indie Survival game
Now you know how I said my partner gets driven crazy by my Stardew Valley addiction? Well, that’s nothing compared to how crazy my friends were going back in my Don’t Starve days. I wanted to play ALL THE TIME. I was reading all the guides, I was emailing them all the guides, I was determined for us to be the ultimate survivors and then tragically they all started to run into issues and couldn’t play anymore… or at least that’s the lie they started telling in order to get some time off from surviving. But seriously, it’s a game that’s a lot of fun to play alone and even more fun with friends. We all started playing it on launch day and it’s a game that we still return back to every few months to binge play together again.
You and your friends find yourself on a hostile island all alone. You need to find each other, survive the world, the elements, the seasons, build up a base, keep your wits about you and most importantly, don’t starve.
These are just some of the games that I have on my Mac currently because these are games that I can enjoy playing when I’m sick and huddled up in bed or when I’m having a lazy day lounging on the couch with my MacBook on my lap. But these are by no means the only games that you can rock if you’re all about that Apple life, these are just the ones that I’m currently hooked on.
So now I leave you with the question, do you have a Mac/Macbook and if so, do you ever play games on it? Lemme know down below.
