With the release of Manor Lords, many Mac users might wonder if this city-building game can run on Apple Silicon Macs. The answer is yes! Here’s a quick rundown of how you can play Manor Lords on your M1 or M2 Mac, along with insights into the gameplay experience.
What You’ll Need
To play Manor Lords on an Apple Silicon Mac, you’ll require a tool called Whisky. Whisky is an application that allows you to run Windows applications on macOS. Here’s the process in brief:
- Download Whisky: This app acts as a compatibility layer for running Windows programs on macOS.
- Install Steam via Whisky: Use Whisky to set up the Windows version of Steam.
- Download Manor Lords: Purchase and download the game through your Steam library.
For detailed installation steps, you can refer to tutorials linked in the video description.
Setting Up Manor Lords
Once you have everything installed, here’s what to expect:
- Launch Steam through Whisky.
- Navigate to your Steam library and download Manor Lords (approximately 5 GB).
- Hit “Play” to start the game.
The setup process is straightforward and works well on an Apple Silicon Mac. I tested it on a 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Max chip, and the installation went smoothly.
Gameplay Experience
Performance
- Frame Rate: The game runs at about 30 FPS on the M1 Max. While it’s not silky smooth, it’s playable.
- Graphics Settings: Setting graphics to “High” provides the best balance of performance and visual quality. Anti-aliasing seemed to make the visuals blurrier without improving performance, so I turned it off.
- Adjustments: Lowering the settings to “Low” slightly improved performance but at the cost of visual fidelity.
In-Game Mechanics
- The game opens with a tutorial that helps you get started. It’s a bit slow to load initially, but once it stabilizes, the gameplay is engaging.
- You can customize your character, adjust settings, and explore various scenarios. Currently, only one map is available, which is standard for early development stages.
Building and Exploration
- Constructing roads and buildings is functional, though there are occasional performance hitches. This is expected since the game isn’t natively designed for macOS.
- Navigating the game world and managing your town works as intended. It helps that Manor Lords is developed in Unreal Engine, which tends to perform well across different platforms.
Final Thoughts
Playing Manor Lords on an Apple Silicon Mac is entirely feasible with Whisky and the Windows version of Steam. The game runs decently well, considering it’s not optimized for macOS. While there are minor hiccups, the experience is enjoyable, and the visuals are stunning.
If you’re a Mac user eager to dive into the medieval world of Manor Lords, give this setup a try. With a bit of patience, you can enjoy the game on your Apple Silicon Mac. Stay tuned for more updates, including tests with larger cities!
Happy gaming!
Leave a Reply