How to play Horizon Zero Dawn on Mac

Is it possible to play Horizon Zero Dawn on Mac?

Horizon Zero Dawn is a popular action game developed by Guerrilla Games. It was released for the PC on 7 August 2020. Previously it had only PS4 version. Horizon Zero Dawn is set in the 31st century, in a post-apocalyptic world that has been taken over by giant machines. The development of mankind has reversed and thrown civilization back to a tribal way of life in which people are engaged in hunting and gathering. The tribes are forced to survive in the deep forests, majestic mountain ranges and atmospheric ruins of their ancestors – all while the machines become ever more powerful. Horizon: Zero Dawn is a third-person Action/RPG. Aloy (the main character) is proficient with both ranged and melee weapons, and uses stealth tactics to combat mechanical creatures. You still can’t download Horizon Zero Dawn on your Mac, because MacOSX version doesn’t exist. Since it is a graphically demanding game – old MacOS machines couldn’t run it. But if you are a lucky Apple MacBook Air 13 owner, or have a newer version of MacBook – you can run this game without buying a new Windows computer. In the article below, we will describe several simple ways to make Horizon Zero Dawn run on Mac, or MacBook.

System Requirements

Play Horizon Zero Dawn on Mac with Parallels

Horizon Zero Dawn requires lots of PC resources, but you can run it anyway, by using Parallels. This is software for Windows virtualization on Mac with the full support of DirectX and GPUs. It allows you to install you have a decent Mac configuration, you can 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 Horizon Zero Dawn 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 Horizon Zero Dawn on Mac with cloud gaming services

Update: Boosteroid and Nvidia GeForce Now fully support Horizon Zero Dawn! Play the advanced game on a Mac, old Windows PC, and even Android!

If you have an old Mac, or it cannot satisfy the Horizon Zero Dawn game system requirements, there is an easy solution. Cloud gaming provides you with sufficient cloud resources for a fixed fee. All you need is a browser or a small client program and a good internet connection starting from 15 MBits/s. There are several great services, that provide such an opportunity, among the best are Boosteroid, AirGPU, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Nvidia GeForce Now. Among them, only Boosteroid and Nvidia GeForce Now have Horizon Zero Dawn in their game catalog, and you can play on any Mac computer (starting from MacOS 10.10) and even Android! Boosteroid and Nvidia GeForce Now can stream games with high resolution (1080p), every service has its pros and cons.

Play Horizon Zero Dawn 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 Horizon Zero Dawn on Mac

This method is simple but time-consuming. 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 50 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)