Is it possible to play Valheim on Mac?
Valheim is a new survival game taking place in times of Scandinavian myths and Vikings. Allowing to engage up to 10 players at the same time, Valheim offers a fascinating adventure through the large scale of the picturesque world. A vast amount of reference happening during the game will remind you of the most memorizing things you’ve heard about Vikings. A number of enemies, resources, bosses and everything else will maintain the flow of a continuous journey full of challenging tasks. The game was developed by Iron Gate AB and published on 2 February enticing a lot of attention from the gaming community. Because Valheim embodies more casual and iconic graphics of the survival genre, the game is playable on slack PC configuration as well. With that said, Mac users have once again been left behind with no chance to play. Despite this, we know how to fix this issue and launch Valheim on macOS regardless. Scroll down below to see the steps.
System Requirements
| Minimal | Recommended |
|---|---|
| OS: Windows 7 or later 64-bit | OS: Windows 7 or later 64-bit |
| Processor: 2.6 GHz Dual Core or similar | Processor: i5 3GHz or better |
| RAM: 4 GB | RAM: 8 GB |
| Video card: GeForce GTX 500 series or similar | Video card: GeForce GTX 970 series or similar |
| DirectX: from 11 version | DirectX: from 11 version |
| Disc space: 1 GB | Disc space: 1 GB |
Play Valheim on Mac with Parallels
Valheim does not require lots of PC resources, and if you have a powerful enough 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 Valheim game on Mac.
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.
Play Valheim on Mac with cloud gaming services
Update: Boosteroid and Nvidia GeForce Now fully support Valheim! Play the advanced game on a Mac, old Windows PC, and even Android!
If you have an old Mac or it cannot satisfy the Valheim 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 Valheim 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 Valheim 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 Valheim on Mac
This method is simple but time-consuming. If your Mac meets the system requirements above, this is probably the best way to play Valheim 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.
- Download Windows ISO file
- Open Boot Camp Assistant (Go to Applications > Utilities)
- Define the Windows partition size, choose downloaded Windows ISO file
- Format Windows partition and go through all Windows installation steps
- When Windows boots for the first time, follow on-screen instructions to install Boot Camp and Windows support software (drivers)