5 Ways to Play The Last off Us 2 on Mac

The Last of Us Part II is one of those games that practically demands to be played – brutal, emotional, beautifully crafted. But yeah, if you’re on a Mac, it’s not available natively. Still, I tested out a bunch of ways to make it work, and here’s everything I learned, the hard way.

Can You Play The Last of Us 2 on Mac?

Short answer – yes, but only via workarounds. I’ve spent the last few days testing different ways to get The Last of Us 2 running on a Mac, and yeah, it’s possible. You’ve got options, and depending on your setup, some of them work surprisingly well.

Boosteroid is probably the most balanced of the bunch. It’s a cloud gaming service, and honestly, it’s come a long way. The pricing is better than GeForce NOW, especially if you care about 4K. It runs the game smoothly, but depending on where you live, the limited number of servers might be a problem.

CrossOver is the best local method I’ve found. It uses a compatibility layer to run Windows games, and it actually performs decently on Apple Silicon Macs – assuming you’ve got one with some horsepower. There’s a little overhead, but it’s surprisingly playable.

Whisky is kind of like CrossOver’s scrappy little cousin. It’s free, kind of janky, and hasn’t been updated in a while. Might work, might not. Use at your own risk.

Kegworks is another free alternative. It’s got dev support, but the setup’s not super beginner-friendly. If you’re comfortable with command lines and config files, it might work for you.

Bootcamp is still an option – if you’re on an older Intel Mac with a dedicated GPU. Otherwise, forget it. For most Intel users, cloud gaming is the better call.

Click here for a more detailed breakdown of all the methods.

	Boosteroid	CrossOver	Kegworks/Whisky	BootCamp
Requirements	≥ 15 Mbps Internet speed (Boosteroid)	M1 Pro or better (16GB RAM or more)	M1 Pro or better (16GB RAM or more)	Top-tier Intel i7 or i9 MacBook Pro or iMac
Must Own Game	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Supported game stores	4/5 – near native experience	Steam, Epic	Steam, Epic	Steam, Epic
Ease of Use	1/5 – 🍼 Child’s Play	4/5 – 🧩 Moderate Challenge	3/5 – 🎯 Some Focus Required	3/5 – 🎯 Some Focus Required
Time to Set Up	~ 10 min	~ 20-30 min	~ 30-40 min	~ 1-2 hours
Performance	4/5 – near native experience	4/5 – near native experience	4/5 – near native expereince	1/5 – only a minuscule percentage of Intel Macs can run it
Stability	4/5 – only minor hiccups	4/5 – only minor hiccups	3/5 – a bit finicky	5/5 – very stable with powerful enough Macs

Now let’s move on to how to use those methods.

How to Play The Last of Us 2 on Mac

So here’s where we get into the actual steps. I’ve broken down how to set up each method I tested, from the cloud services to the local installs. Some are super straightforward, others take a bit of messing around – but I’ll walk you through all of it based on what worked (and what didn’t) for me. Whether you’re aiming for the simplest path or want to tinker, there’s something here for you.

Play The Last of Us 2 With Boosteroid

How to Play The Last of Us 2 on Mac With Boosteroid

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Click the Boosteroid button above. Create an account or sign up with Google.
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Go to your profile page(top-right), click Subscribe, select a preferred plan, and start your subscription.
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Search for “The Last of Us 2”, choose your preferred version of the game (Steam, Epic, etc.), and click Play (or Install and Play).
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Click OK, Let’s go, and wait for the game to load.
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Log into your game store account. The Last of Us 2 will launch directly in your browser.

Play The Last of Us 2 With CrossOver

How to Play TLOU2 on Mac With CrossOver

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Click the CrossOver button, download the app (the free 14-day trial or the paid version), and install it.
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Open CrossOver → Bottle (top-left) → New Bottle → Create (Windows 10, 64-bit compatibility).
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Right-click the new bottle → Install Software → search for Steam and install it.
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Open Steam, log in, search for The Last of Us 2 in your library, and install it.
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After it installs, exit Steam, enable E-Sync, and D3DMetal, and Reboot the bottle.
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Start Steam again and launch The Last of Us 2 from your library.

How to Run The Last of Us 2 on Mac With Kegworks

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Visit the Homebrew website and copy the installation command by clicking the button next to it.
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Press Command + Space to open Spotlight, type “Terminal,” and hit Enter.
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Paste the Homebrew command into Terminal using Command + V, then press Enter.
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Enter your Mac password when prompted (input remains invisible), and press Enter again to continue.
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Wait for the installation to proceed, then press Enter once more when prompted to complete the Homebrew installation.
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Visit the Kegworks site, copy the installation command, paste it into Terminal, and press Enter to install it.
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Once installed, open Kegworks from the Applications folder and click the + button to install a Wine engine (try Game Porting Toolkit first).
I recommend experimenting with different engines to see which one works best for a given game.
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Select the installed engine, click “Create New Blank Wrapper,” name it, click OK, then open it via “View Wrapper in Finder.”
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Then go to this Steam page and click the Windows logo below Install Steam to download the Windows version of Steam.
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In the wrapper config window, click Browse, find the downloaded Steam installation file, click it, and click Choose.
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Close the Config window, then open it again and it will launch the Steam Windows installer. Follow the prompts to install Steam.
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Once Steam is installed, log in, find the game in your library, click Install, and install it without changing the installation directory.
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Once this is done, you are ready to start playing. For future gamign sessions, just open the same Steam wrapper and start the game from there.

Play The Last of Us 2 With Whisky

How to Download The Last of Us 2 on Mac With Whisky

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Click the Whisky button above and download the latest version.
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Double-click the downloaded .zip file and drag and drop the extracted Whisky to your Applications folder.
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Start Whisky. Click Open when asked to confirm the action. Click Next to install.
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Select Create a Bottle and create one with Windows 10 compatibility.
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Open this Steam page and click the Windows logo (under Install Steam) to download the Windows version.
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In Whisky, click Open C: drive. Drag and drop the SteamSetup.exe file into C:.
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Click Run in Whisky, find SteamSetup.exe, open it, and follow the prompts.
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When Steam installs, log in and click Allow when asked if you want the application to accept incoming connections.
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In Steam, find The Last of Us 2, click Install, and launch the game when its ready.

How to Run TLOU2 on Mac With Bootcamp

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Head to Microsoft’s official site and download the latest Windows 10 ISO file.
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Next, open Boot Camp Assistant (found in Applications > Utilities), click Continue → Choose, pick your downloaded Windows ISO file, then click Open.
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Adjust the slider to give your Windows partition at least 50 GB storage, then click Install → Next.
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The installation begins. Follow the prompts, skip the product key prompt by selecting “I don’t have a product key”, then finish setting up Windows as guided.
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Once Windows is installed and set up, download Steam, install it, and use it to download The Last of Us 2. Once that’s done, you are ready to play.

The Last of Us 2 on Mac – Performance

If you’re like me, you probably want to know how well each of these methods actually runs before diving in. So here’s the breakdown based on my own testing. I tried The Last of Us 2 using every method listed above on my Mac, and the results were… mixed. Some were surprisingly solid, others not so much. If you care about smooth gameplay, visuals, and input lag – this is the section you’ll want to read.

Streaming The Last of Us 2 on MacBook With Boosteroid

I tested The Last of Us 2 on Boosteroid first, and honestly, it was a solid experience. I used a wired Ethernet connection, which I’d definitely recommend – Wi-Fi introduced a bit of input delay when I tried it. With Ethernet, though, the stream stayed stable at 1080p/60 FPS, and the game looked great. I also gave 4K a shot since Boosteroid includes it in all plans, and yeah, it worked better than I expected for a cloud service. My ping to their servers was just under 20 ms, which helped a lot with responsiveness. I used a DualShock 4 controller, and it synced without any fuss. Just keep in mind you’ll need to own the game on a supported platform – mine was from Steam. Setup was quick, and the game was already pre-installed. Out of all the options I tested, Boosteroid felt like the easiest and most balanced way to just jump in and play.

Running The Last of Us 2 on Mac With CrossOver, Kegworks, and Whisky

I tested The Last of Us 2 using CrossOver, Kegworks, and Whisky, and CrossOver easily delivered the most stable experience.

On my M3 Max MacBook, I got around 50–60 FPS on medium settings with FSR Quality, though drops to 30 FPS still happened occasionally. There’s a memory leak issue across the board, which causes performance to degrade the longer you play. You also must launch with the AVX flag, or the game won’t even start.

Whisky and Kegworks both work, but they’re less consistent. Whisky, in particular, felt unstable – it’s no longer supported, and it shows. Kegworks ran the game too, but setup was clunky and performance was slightly worse than CrossOver, especially with more frequent stutters.

If you’re on an M1 or base M2 Mac with 8–16GB RAM, expect real problems – frequent dips to 15 FPS, possible crashes, and locked FSR settings. On the other hand, M3 Pro or M4 Pro Macs with 16GB+ should get you playable results, though not flawless. The game’s demanding, and even on high-end Apple Silicon, it doesn’t run perfectly. Still, if you’re patient and don’t mind tweaking settings, CrossOver makes it playable – and that alone is impressive.

Download TLOU2 on Mac With BootCamp – Is it Even Worth It?

If you’re on an Intel-based Mac, Bootcamp is technically an option – but only if you’ve got the right hardware. We’re talking about high-end models like the 2019 16″ MacBook Pro with a dedicated AMD GPU and at least 16GB of RAM. Even then, performance will likely sit around the 30–40 FPS range on low to medium settings, assuming you’re using an SSD and your system meets the game’s Windows requirements. Thermals and aging hardware might still cause dips or crashes. For most Intel Macs – especially those without a dedicated GPU – Bootcamp just won’t cut it. In those cases, cloud gaming through Boosteroid or GeForce NOW is a better, smoother alternative. Unless you’re already set up with a powerful Intel Mac, I wouldn’t recommend going through the hassle of Bootcamp for this one. Cloud is simpler and works better.

The Last of Us 2 on Mac – Conclusion

So yeah – The Last of Us 2 on Mac isn’t plug-and-play, but it’s definitely doable. CrossOver gave me the best results locally, especially on Apple Silicon. Boosteroid was a close second and way easier to get going. If you’re rocking an older Intel Mac, Bootcamp might work – but it’s probably not worth the pain. Whisky and Kegworks? They’re fine if you like to tinker, but don’t expect miracles. Overall, if you’ve got decent hardware and some patience, you can absolutely play this masterpiece on a Mac. It’s not perfect – but it’s way better than I expected going in.