How to play Raft on Mac

Is it possible to play Raft on Mac?

Raft is an adventurous game that will launch you into a world of perilous survival over the boundless sea. Whether willing to set up the voyage alone or with a group of friends, Raft will throw you into the challenge of building and reinforcing your lifeboat to explore new civilizations scattered across numerous islands. Be careful, the water beneath is infested with hungry sharks ready to rip your flesh into pieces. So far, the game has raised a lot of positive feedback since 2018 and getting ready to please its community with the second chapter of Raft. The cartoon-like graphics create a gentle atmosphere over the whole course of gaming. Good optimization does not require users to have a high-level performance of PCs, which expands the range of players willing to thrill the experience of such a game even on old configurations. Officially, Raft cannot be played by Macintosh users, which is a shame not having a possibility to collaborate with friends alongside Windows. However, thanks to certain programs that involve newborn technologies, users are now allowed to play the game on Mac systems as well.

System Requirements

Play Raft on Mac with Parallels

Raft requires lots of PC resources, but if you have a powerful Mac computer (iMac, iMac Pro, or Mac Pro) Parallels Desktop can be a solution. This is software for Windows virtualization on Mac with the full support of DirectX and GPUs. It allows you to install Windows 10 on Mac with a couple of clicks and switch between MacOS and Windows instantly. You can run Windows just like on a regular PC, install Steam and enjoy the Raft game on Mac.

Download Parallels Desktop

Note: Recommended devices to run resource-demanding games: MacBook Pro (models with Intel processor, discrete graphics cards, and 16 GB of RAM or more), iMac (models with Intel processor, discrete graphics cards, and 16 GB of RAM or more), iMac Pro (all versions are suitable), Mac Pro (all versions are suitable). Parallels on Mac computers with M1 (M1 Pro, M1 Max) chips may not support recent games. Games that require DirectX 12 and later currently not supported by Parallels.

Install Windows 10 on Parallels (Step 1)

Install Windows 10 on Parallels (Step 2)

Install Windows 10 on Parallels (Step 3)

Install Windows 10 on Parallels (Step 4)

Play Raft on Mac with Boosteroid or Nvidia GeForce Now

Update: Boosteroid and Nvidia GeForce Now both support Raft! Now you can enjoy the game on an old Windows PC, Mac, Nvidia Shield, even on Chromebook and Android!

If you have an old Mac, or it cannot satisfy Raft game system requirements, there is an easy solution. Cloud gaming provides you sufficient cloud resources for a fixed fee. All you need is a small client program (or just a browser) and a good internet connection starting from 20 MBits/s. There are several great services, that provide such an opportunity, among the best are Boosteroid, Xbox Cloud, Nvidia GeForce Now, and Google Stadia. Currently, only Boosteroid and Nvidia GeForce Now has Raft in their game catalog, and you can play on any Mac computer (starting from MacOS 10.10) and even Android!

Play Raft on Mac with BootCamp

Note: Mac computers with new Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3 Pro, or M1, M2, M3 Max) currently do not support BootCamp. In this case, please, use the options above to run Raft on Mac

This method is simple but time-consuming. If your Mac meets system requirements above, this is probably the best way to play Raft for now. You need to set up a dual boot of Windows and Mac via BootCamp. BootCamp allows users to choose the system to work in on startup, however, you won’t be able to switch between systems like in Parallels. You will need to reboot your machine every time you switch from Mac to Windows and vice versa. Remember that Mac is just a computer, that uses common processors, RAM, disks, and other components. So you can install Windows on Mac by allocating disc space of a minimum of 64 GB (to be able to run Windows and a couple of games). To set up Windows via BootCamp, please, do the following:

For OS X El Capitan 10.11 or later

Mention, that for MacOS versions prior to OS X El Capitan 10.11 you will need to create bootable Windows USB.

1. Download Windows ISO file
2. Open Boot Camp Assistant (Go to Applications > Utilities)
3. Define the Windows partition size, choose downloaded Windows ISO file
4. Format Windows partition and go through all Windows installation steps
5. When Windows boots for the first time, follow on-screen instructions to install Boot Camp and Windows support software (drivers)