Can the M5 Mac Actually Play These 20 NEW Windows Games on CrossOver?

Today, we're going to do something that gives me far too much joy, forcing new Windows games to run on a platform that was never designed to run them in the first place. And I'm not going to be using some monster chip. We're still only testing out the base M5 with 16 GB, literally the weakest Apple silicon chip of this entire generation. So, remember, whatever results I get here, the future M5 Pro and M5 Max should only improve on it. And today I'll be testing out 20 Windows games from the past year. Because if these work, it means that Mac gamers can finally keep up with the latest gaming trends without buying a whole separate gaming PC or console. And all of this is running on Crossover, the Windows to Mac translation layer. And we are using the preview version, which is basically the nightly testing build. If you want to access this for yourself, you'll need an active Crossover license to download it. Link below if you want to check out my tutorial on this. So anyway, let's see what Windows games the weakest M5 Mac can actually play. But before we get into gaming on the Mac, do you remember Apple's time capsule? It was perfect. Fast local Mac backups, no subscriptions, totally private, but now it's going to disappear forever. And after Mac OS Tahoe, the time capsule is no longer going to be supported. Apple really wants you to rely on iCloud instead. And those monthly fees really add up. And that's why I've been using the Ug Nest DH2300. Basically, the modern replacement for the time capsule, but way more powerful and way more storage. It's great for time machine backups. Every time you turn on your Mac at home, it'll automatically back up everything straight to this device. And it's also your own personal cloud storage. One-time purchase, no monthly fees, and you get to keep full control of your data and access anywhere using the internet. You can store up to 60 terabytes. 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So, first up, we're looking at the game where Winds meet. So, this is the Chinese free-to-play game, and it's supposed to be coming out on Mac in the future, but we don't know when exactly. So, we're playing the Windows version by Crossover Preview. What is slightly annoying is that you can't change the graphics settings until you get about 10 minutes into the game when you can access the main menu. What I did was turn this onto performance mode and set the metal FX over DLSS as hook onto balance mode. So here we are upscaling from 626p and it fluctuates from between about 45 to 70 fps which is surprising given that we're over the 16 GB memory limit of this M5 Mac and it's already suffering from memory pressure. So, it's going to be really interesting to see whether the native Mac port that's going to come out in the future manages to use less memory and will be playable on this base M5 chip. Next up, we are looking at Asetto Corsa Rally. So, this is a new Rally game in the Aseta Corsa series which is now in early access with Windows version being offered up here and it pretty much works out of the box with crossover preview. Here we're using the Metal FX over DLSS hook at 50% resolution upscaled up and it's managing to handle performance pretty well at 1080p very low preset. And here on this level, we are averaging about 55 to 65 FPS, which isn't too bad. However, just be aware that if you're really into sim games, the racing wheel accessories don't seem to work through Crossover at the moment. So, you might want to wait for support for that to come in the future. The next game we are testing out is Octopath Traveler Zero. So, this is a demo version of the game that's about to be released in early December. Previous iterations of Octopath Traveler 1 and 2 had trouble running through crossover. However, this has all been fixed thanks to running this 3D 3D Metal. So, we're playing this at 1080p high, and you're going to expect between 70 and 95 FPS. It's not a super demanding game, but there are lots of depth of field effects and lots of characters and spell effects. So, it's great to see this running so well on the base M5 chip. Next, we're looking at Clover Pit. So, this game is basically a rogue light, similar to the amazing games Batro and Bugshot Roulette. Here, you're locked in a rusty cell with a slot machine and an ATM, and you have to pay off your debts at the end of each round, otherwise you'll plummet to your death. Like all good rogue light, the basic premise is really simple. It's just a slot machine, but you can manipulate this machine to earn extra coins and turn odds in your favor, bending the rules, breaking the game with powerups, meta progression, seated runs, and unlockable run modifiers. And it's a shame this didn't get a Mac port yet, as it runs in the Unity engine and looks pretty basic, but very much playable through crossover preview. Next, we're looking at Final Fantasy 7 remake. So, this is the first edition in the trilogy. I've already covered the fact that Rebirth can run on this machine in another video. I'll link this in the description. Here we're running the game at 1080p low settings. And this runs far better than any other base M chip has done in the past. Of course, here quite late into the mid game, even during these combat sequences, we're getting over 90 FPS at a time. One tip is that you'll get better performance if you run this in DX11 mode. So just set the launch options to -dx11. Personally, I found that the frame rate runs a bit better on this mode. Next, we are looking at Once Upon a Katamari. So this is the latest edition to the Katamari series and unfortunately it's Windows only which is a real shame because there is a relatively recent version of Katamari which has been released on the Apple silicon Mac platform which is called Katamari Damy rolling live and it's on Apple Arcade. So I'm not exactly sure why Bandai and Apple couldn't actually get together to make this sequel into a Mac port as well but it's playable through crossover preview out of the box. One annoyance is that you can't change in the graphics settings or full screen the game until you finish the first tutorial level. But once we get to the next level, we can basically full screen this at 1080p, and we seem to be hitting some kind of frame rate cap at 100 fps. Next up, we're looking at Europa Universalis 5. So, unfortunately, this is one of the first games from Paradox, which doesn't actually have a Mac port, especially in the Europa Universalis series, which historically has been very Mac friendly. And it also looks like there are no future plans to release a Mac port. So, we're going to have to rely on the Windows version run through Crossover Preview instead. Here we're running this game at 1080p very low preset with metal effects set to balanced mode. So that's Metal Effects running over the DLSS hook. Now personally I don't actually know how to play this game very well, but we're able to zoom around the map very quickly and easily. This very low preset guarantees that we get over 60 fps most of the time. I also tried running this game at the medium quality preset and we're also getting pretty good frame rates as well, something akin to 60 to 80 fps. So it seems to run pretty well and it's a real shame that there's no native Mac port coming in the future. Next up, we're looking at Final Fantasy Tactics: The Evil Chronicles. So, this is the remaster of the original game that was released recently, and I'm happy to report that all of the new cutscenes, voice, acting, and gameplay all works perfectly out of the box through crossover preview. This is despite the fact that the Windows version actually uses Denuver anti-teamper. Just make sure not to mess with the crossover bottle too much and reinstall, otherwise you might get locked out for 24 hours. Anyway, [music] this classic turn-based strategy game has got a really good update, and I've actually played and completed this version on Switch, and it's well worth it. So next we are looking at Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. So when this game launched earlier this year, the Windows version would not run through Crossover. However, a recent patch 1.51 now allows this game to work virtually flawlessly through Crossover preview. So one thing to be aware of is that this M5 Mac doesn't really have enough memory in order to run this game. The Metal Hut is showing that we're using 14.42 GB of memory. So, it is going into swap memory at the moment on the solidstate drive, but we're still managing to get above 25 to 55 fps. It's a little bit inconsistent depending on where in the world that you are, but this is a really graphically demanding game. And it's kind of a miracle that this works at all considering the fact that we are going over that 16 GB limit. Next, we're looking at the climbing game peak, which can be played solo or cooperative multiplayer. So, I can confirm that this actually works through multiplayer. You can play with other Windows users, even if you're running the Windows version of the game through Crossover on a Mac. So, there not many graphics options to speak of in the game, but basically, I was able to run this at 1080p, and we're basically capped out at 100 frames per second for some reason. Make sure to check out Mac Pro Tips multiplayer game footage. I'll leave a link to this in the description. Next, we're looking at Blackmouth Wukong. So, this is easily one of the most demanding games that you can get on the Windows platform. And so, I've been forced to run this at a pretty low graphics preset. So, this is on the low preset with metal effects over the DLSS hook set to quality mode or rather the equivalent percentage. So, this is being upscaled from 720p roughly. And we're getting about 40 FPS. In this section here, I've turned the metal effects down to performance mode. So, it's upscaling from 540p. And we're getting a little bit closer to optimal frame rate. So, something about 50 to 55 FPS. But things are starting to look a little bit blurry due to the aggressive upscale, but still manages to work pretty well. Very impressive for the Space M5 chip. So, the next game we're looking at is Dispatch, which is a narrative-driven superhero video game, similar to the choice-driven games made by Telltale Games. The player acts as a dispatcher for a team of perform super villains. So, yes, this is a Windows only title, and this is quite surprising considering the fact that this is, say, an Unreal Engine 4 game, but the actual game content itself is not actually rendered in game. These are all just video files playing in the background, and you can make choices. And all these really do is tell the game which video file to play next. And these are not exactly complicated video files. These are just webm container files. So it's a real shame that a game as simple as this technically hasn't been ported to the Mac platform, which will be quite easy to do. Anyway, this game has got a lot of buzz, so it's great to see it being playable through crossover. Shame about the Mac port. Next, we're looking at Little Nightmares 3. So, this is a puzzle platform horror adventure game. It's really designed to be played cooperatively, so you can go ahead and hook up controllers and play this together on a Mac through crossover. If you did want to play this single player, an AI will take over the second character, so you can play this on your own. Here, I'm running the game at 1080p at the medium graphics preset, and we're hitting over 60 to 70 FPS just fine. So, next up, we're looking at Spider-Man Remastered. So, this isn't that recent a game, to be honest, but this game and also the sequel, Spider-Man Miles Morales, both work great on Crossover Preview. Unfortunately, we don't have a proper solution for Spider-Man 2 working on a Mac yet. We still have major animation T-pose bugs which haven't been fixed yet unfortunately, but this game actually runs great. We're testing this out at the 1080p high graphics preset and we're using Metal FX quality mode based on the DLSS hook. This is well worth upgrading to Mac OS Tahoe for. Make sure to enable DLSS in the settings and this looks a lot better than the FSR implementation and allows this game to run at about 60 to 80 FPS. Next, we're playing the game Rackcoin. So, this is the demo of the upcoming release of the game. And what it is is a roglike deck builder, similar to say something like Bellatro, combining elements of gambling and rogike deck building where you combine special coins with powerful items to trigger wildly satisfying combos. So, I used to love playing these coin pusher games in the arcade back in the day, and I'm really looking forward to a full release coming very soon. Next, we are playing the game RV There yet. So, this is a single and co-op adventure about driving your RV or recreational vehicle. So, this is quite interesting. I haven't driven a manual or a stick shift car for a long time, and this manages to simulate that using a mouse cursor. The game's graphics actually look pretty simplistic, and if you try to run this on ultra, you won't get very high frame rates. So, what I've done is I've put this down to the medium preset at 1080p, and we're able to get about 45 to 55 fps. So, it's cool to see that we can play this on Mac. It's a pretty big indie hit. Reportedly, in its very first week, it managed to sell over 1.3 million copies and joins the ranks of other little bit janky multiplayer cooperative games which have become viral hits. Next up, we're playing the game Void Train. So, this is a new crafting survival game designed to be played solo or online with a group of four people. So, running this at 1080p and we have metal effects on the DLSS hook set at a quality mode which is upscaling up from 720p. The aim of the game is basically to customize your train, gather materials, and build better weapons. So, despite playing the game through the Windows version on Crossover, I was actually able to play a multiplayer game online. So, this is basically a fully featured experience through Crossover. Here, we're looking at the latest big Obsidian RPG, The Outer Wilds 2. So, apparently this sequel is a big improvement over the first game, which I also played in the past, and is actually quite graphically demanding as well. Even though we're running at 1080p low graphics preset with Metal FX set to balance mode, the app memory usage on the top right hand side of the Metal HUD is showing 15.31 GB. We're actually going into memory pressure at the moment. Still managing to keep a very consistent frame rate. So, we don't have that many of these firsterson big world RPGs on the Mac platform. So, great to see this is working. Next, we're looking at the game My Little Puppy. So, this is about a little dog called Bongu, the Welsh Corgi, who's budding his time in doggy heaven. But then, suddenly, he manages to catch his dad's scent. So, in this game, you take control of the dog and journey through various landscapes, meeting other lost souls, and overcoming obstacles. Featuring gameplay like adventure, action, and racing. So, this game is Windows only, even though it uses the Unity engine. I think it would be a nice fit for the Mac OS operating system and the general audience. Something a little bit like Stray, but slightly more simplistic. Here we're basically running the game at 60 frames per second, which is what it's capped to, at 1080p high graphics settings. So, next we're going to cover Grand Theft Auto 5 Legacy. So, of course, this is the old version of the game. The enhanced version doesn't work on Mac at the moment. This uses Direct X11. And of course, I've covered this game before, but the difference this time is that I'm using a different graphics API. Instead of using Apple's proprietary closed source D3D Metal, we're making use of DXMT, which is a DirectX 10 and 11 graphics translation layer straight into Metal. And for certain games, this actually performs way better than previous incarnations of DXVK as well as D3D Metal. So DXMT is now built into Crossover, so you can go ahead and try this out on any DirectX11 or below game and see how it runs on your Mac. Here we're running at 1080p on low graphics settings, and we're getting above 90 fps, which is pretty good. Anyway, I hope you found my look at crossover preview games running on the M5 Mac interesting and useful. Make sure to check out my other M5 Mac gaming videos. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video. >> [bell]

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