How to play Dust & Neon on Mac

Is it possible to play Dust & Neon on Mac?

Dust & Neon is a top-down shooter by David Marquardt Studios. Although it is set in the Wild West, the setting is far from typical. There are quaint towns in the middle of a desert here, yes. There are saloons and railroad stations and so on. There’s only one catch: all of this Western scenery is overrun by an army of robots. Now, these good-for-nothing metal cans are in dire need of a bullet in their heads. Who is going to give it to them? You! Of course it is you. A gunslinger cowboy, standing alone against the endless robotic horde. Defeating them will not be an easy task, and you will fail many times, over and over again. But with each failure, you will become stronger – this is a roguelite game, after all. You will have the opportunity to level up 24 game-changing skills, unlock many unique rifles, revolvers, and shotguns. You will gain access to many different tonics – drinks that can temporarily enhance your character in a myriad of ways. With these tools and a healthy dose of perseverance, you will be able to beat this challenging game. Dust & Neon is available on Windows, Android, iOS, and the Switch. But you can play Dust & Neon on Mac too. All you have to do is to read our guide and follow the instructions.

System Requirements

Play Dust & Neon on Mac with Parallels

Dust & Neon is not a demanding game, so Parallels Desktop can be a solution. This is an application that allows for Windows virtualization on Mac with the full support of DirectX and GPUs. In simpler terms, what this means is that it allows you to install Windows 10 on Mac with just a couple of clicks and switch between MacOS and Windows instantly. So you will be able to run Windows, install Steam, and enjoy the Dust & Neon game on Mac just like on a regular PC.

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 models 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 are 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 Dust & Neon on Mac with cloud gaming services

If you have an old Mac or it cannot satisfy the Dust & Neon game system requirements, there is an easy solution. Cloud gaming services will be happy to provide you with sufficient computing power – though not for free, of course. All you need is a browser or a small client program and a good internet connection starting from 15 MBit/s. There are several great platforms that provide these services, among the best are Boosteroid, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Nvidia GeForce Now. As Boosteroid has Dust & Neon in its game library, it is an excellent choice for those seeking to try the game out.

Play Dust & Neon on Mac using Bluestacks

Note: Playing Dust & Neon on Mac via Bluestacks will allow you to use a keyboard and mouse, however, according to the latest updates, this won’t give you an advantage, as the game uses special separate servers for gamers playing with emulators.

Among the variety of Android emulators, Bluestacks is the most advanced one. Firstly, it is available for both Windows and Mac with full functionality. Secondly, it allows effortless automatic transition to PC game controls, convenient hot-keys, that you are used to from any regular PC game. It provides high performance and graphics in any mobile game even on a relatively weak PC or Mac, as computer processors are usually more powerful than smartphone ones. To run Dust & Neon on Mac you need to perform these easy steps:

1. Download latest version of Bluestacks for MacOS.
2. Open Play Store and sign-in with your Google account.
3. Download Dust & Neon from the catalog and run it.
4. Bluestacks may offer you to run better engine for this game.
5. Install the game and start playing!

Play Dust & Neon on PC or Mac using Tenorshare Phone Mirror

Tenorshare Phone Mirror is an application that allows you to control your smartphone from a PC or Mac. You will see your phone’s screen on the computer, and will be able to issue commands with keyboard and mouse. With advanced keyboard mapping abilities, similar to what is offered by Android emulators, you will be able to play Dust & Neon on PC easily, all while enjoying the precision of PC controls. This method has an obvious disadvantage – it requires you to have a phone capable of running Dust & Neon. However, there are several advantages as well. Because the game doesn’t actually run on your computer, the specifications of your PC don’t matter. What’s more, it is unlikely that you will be banned in any game for using this tool – something that might happen while using emulators. Phone Mirror can be used to control both iOS and Android devices, so unless you have a weak smartphone, this app will be useful to you.

1. Download and install Tenorshare Phone Mirror on your PC or Mac computer.
2. Launch it and pair your smartphone with your computer by following the program’s instructions.
3. Install Dust & Neon and start playing!

Play Dust & Neon on M1 (M2, M3) Mac

Note: According to our research, playing Dust & Neon on an M1 (M2, M3) Mac may cause a temporary or permanent account ban in the game, that is why it is recommended to play with the secondary account or as a guest.

As you may already know, M Macs (latest Macbook Pro, Macbook Air, Mac Mini, iMac) are able to run many iOS apps and games on MacOS. If for apps it can be useful because many iPad and iPhone apps are very advanced and suitable for desktop usage, in gaming this is just magic. M chips (especially M Pro, M Max, M Ultra) are much more powerful than iPhone and iPad chips, in many types of games (shooters, racing) keyboard and mouse (trackpad) controls are much more useful than touch.

To download and play Dust & Neon on M1 (M2, M3) Mac do the following:

1. On your Mac go to Mac App Store and click on your profile in the bottom left corner.
2. Under account click iPhone‌ & ‌iPad‌ Apps.
3. Download Dust & Neon on your Mac device and start playing!

Note: not all iOS games and programs support this feature. If you can’t find the game in Mac App Store, it is likely that the game’s developers have decided not to support it.

Play Dust & Neon 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 Dust & Neon on Mac

This method is simple but time-consuming. If your Mac meets all the system requirements above, you can play Dust & Neon on Mac by installing Windows. You need to set up a dual boot of Windows and Mac via BootCamp. This is an application that 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 want to switch from Mac to Windows and vice versa. Remember that Mac is just a computer, in the end. And while newer Macs have their own special Apple Silicon chips that cannot run Windows, older Macs are very much similar to computers that run Windows, they have Intel processors, compatible RAM, disks, and other components. So you can install Windows on an older Mac by allocating no less than 64 GB of disk space (to be able to run Windows and a couple of games) and following these steps:

For OS X El Capitan 10.11 and older

For MacOS versions prior to OS X El Capitan 10.11 you will need to create a bootable Windows USB.

1. Download this Windows ISO file.
2. Open Boot Camp Assistant (Go to Applications > Utilities).
3. Define the Windows partition size and choose the Windows ISO file you’ve downloaded.
4. Format the 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)