Play God of War on Mac Tutorial 

God of War on Mac

God of War cannot officially be played on Mac, so Mac users would need to resort to workaround methods to run it. You can now play God of War on a Mac with “Cloud Gaming Services” or by installing Windows and play the Windows version.

God of War, released in 2018, is an action-adventure single-player game developed by Santa Monica Studio. It is the eighth installment in the God of War game series and was initially released only for PS4 and PS5, but on the 14th January 2022, it also became available for Windows PC.

Like the previous God of War games, God of War (2018) follows the story of Kratos, the former Greek God of War. In the current game, we see Kratos at an older age, fathering a son, which plays a major role from both a gameplay and storytelling perspective. God of War stays faithful to its predecessors but also marks a major shift in some aspects of its gameplay, as well as in its setting.

Gameplay reimagining

One of the first notable changes that players who are familiar with the previous God of War games would notice is the over-the-shoulder camera angle used throughout the majority of the game, as opposed to the fixed cinematic camera used in other GoW games. Another thing that has been changed is that Kratos now uses a single magical axe as his weapon and not his signature double-chained blades he uses in the previous games.

Friendly NPC companion done right

As mentioned, Kratos now has a son, who is integrated into the gameplay. Throughout most of God of War, Kratos’ son, Atreus, follows the player and aids them in battle, shooting arrows with his bow at Kratos’ enemies. During a battle, you can tell Atreus which enemy he should focus on with his arrows, but you aren’t given full control over the boy. At first, many players may see the addition of a friendly NPC that follows you throughout the entire game as potentially annoying, since many games in the past have tried to implement a similar mechanic resulting in a negative impact on the gameplay. However, the developers of God of War have actually managed to successfully integrate Atreus and make it a helpful (and oftentimes necessary) companion that players are sure to appreciate, rather than a liability that gets stuck behind walls and doors and makes you go back to unstuck them. The presence of Atreus also adds additional combat options and mechanics, thus lending the fight encounters in God of War more variety and making them even more dynamic. Atreus also plays a major role in solving the various puzzles that the player encounters throughout the game.

More focus on RPG elements

While God of War’s main focus remains combat, with occasional puzzles to solve between battles, one other notable change introduced with this latest installment in this game series is that players will now find an abundance of systems that affect various character stats. At first, it may not seem like it, but play the game for a while, and you will realize the surprising depth of the customization and upgrade options you are given access to. You can upgrade your different parts of Kratos’ Leviathan axe to improve its stats and unlock new attacks and abilities, you can equip Kratos with better gear such as chest armor, gauntlets, waist armor to make him more durable, as well as improve the physical stats of Kratos himself. In addition to that, you can do the same with the stats, weapon, and equipment of Atreus – in fact, upgrading Atreus isn’t just another option thrown in there but an actual meaningful strategy that can greatly improve your success in combat.

Overall, we consider the abundance of upgrade options and the more pronounced RPG elements to be a nice addition to the God of War series, as it allows the player to fine-tune the attacks, abilities, and stats of Kratos (and Atreus) to their own specific playstyle. It’s always fun to experiment with different builds and to be able to beat a game in a number of different ways rather than being forced to stick to one specific strategy that must be used in every single playthrough.

The Combat – as fun as ever

The combat in God of War is, as expected, tightly linked to the upgrades you choose for Kratos and Atreus, but this doesn’t mean that the fun component of the game’s combat has been swapped for accumulating stats high enough to beat the next enemy. God of War is as action-packed and as fast-paced as ever. Additionally, using Kratos’ new weapon – his Leviathan Axe – feels great. It is a vastly different weapon compared to his twin blades, and with it, the attacks, combos, and finishers that Kratos uses are changed as well. Speaking of Kratos’ moves, it’s important to know when and how to execute each of them, because the enemies in the game don’t hold back, and you’d need to be precise in your attacks and defensive maneuvers in order to progress through the game. There are also several difficulty settings, so even if you are a God of War veteran and feel like the default setting isn’t challenging enough, you can always ramp up the difficulty and try to beat the game that way.

An engaging story

Even if you want to play God of War for its gameplay, after a while, you will surely also come to appreciate its well-told story too. Unlike other God of War games, which were inspired by and based on Greek mythology, the story, and setting of this installment focus on Norse mythology. In God of War 2018, Kratos travels with his son through six of the nine realms of Norse mythology on a quest to scatter his deceased wife’s ashes from the highest peak of the nine realms. This is the game’s premise, but as father and son travel through the realms, they become entangled in a conflict between the Norse deities and mythologic creatures, as Kratos’ own divine nature and past life (of which Atreus is unaware) starts to unravel. We won’t go any further in order not to spoil anything for those of you who want to experience the story first hand, but it’s safe to say that God of War tells an engaging tale, which can only further elevate the entire experience.

Can you play God of War on Mac?

Yes, you can be able to play God of War on Mac if you either by using cloud gaming services such as boosteroid or by creating a virtual machine on your Mac. Boot Camp Assistant app or a virtualization tool such as Parallels can help you create a Virtual Machine to install Windows and potentially play God of War on Mac.

On the 14th of January 2022, God of War (2018) received a Windows PC version, so now Windows users could install and play it on their machines. Expectedly, the game is still not available for Mac and will probably never get an official macOS release. That said, the fact that it has a Windows version means that it may now also be possible to run it on a Mac using a workaround method. Now, it must be said that, since we are talking about unofficial workarounds, there’s no guarantee that this would always work and the game would run with decent performance. Still, if you have the time to spare and your Mac is powerful enough, you may try the methods suggested below and see if they allow you to play God of War on your Mac.

Before you attempt to create a VM by either of the following methods, first make sure that your Mac can actually run the game from a hardware requirements perspective. Below, you can see the requirements for running God of War on Windows PC – your Mac must meet them if you want to have any chance of running the game on it.

*Note that if you want to use the Parallels method, it’s best if your Mac meets the Recommended requirements and not only the minimum ones, because, while you are running Windows through Parallels, some of your Mac’s hardware resources would need to be left for running macOS in the background.

God Of War Set Up Methods

God Of War with Cloud Gaming

God of War is now available to play on cloud gaming servers. This assures NO
compatibility issues while playing on your Mac as well as top-notch performance.

Step 1. Get God Of War

Before playing God of War make sure you get the game through the official website bellow. For the moment only the Steam version is compatible with cloud gaming services such as Boosteriod.

Update: Limited time offer now available at CDkeys.com, buy God of War for $39.99 (Steam Launcher)

Step 2. Register and Add God of War To Boosteroid Cloud Gaming Library

All you need to do now is register for Boosteroid. This allows you to add God of War to their Cloud Gaming Library. Once uploaded you can seamlessly play the game from your Mac, TV or Mobile Device.

When Registered you will have additional access to more than 70 top-rated games for free. Pricing varies depending on the subscription plan.

How to play God of War on Mac

To play God of War on Mac, the recommended method is to use the Boosteroid cloud-gaming service due to its easy set up and reliability. Alternatively, you can try to play God of War on Mac by first installing Windows on the computer.

Even though God of War (2018) is unlikely to ever receive a macOS version, the fact that it has come to PC means that Mac users may have some options of playing the game on their Macs. As some of you probably already know, it is quite possible (and not overly complicated) to install Windows on a Mac. Once you have Windows on your Mac, you can easily download the Windows version of the game and play it. Of course, the experience would most likely not be the same as playing God of War on a PC, but if you really want to play the game, have a powerful enough Mac, and also have some time to spend setting everything up, you might as well give a try to the methods we will show you below.

An alternative and, in our opinion, much better way of playing God of War on Mac is to use Boosteroid – a gaming service through which you could play a wide variety of games, including God of War, straight from your browser, without the need to go through the other, more complex ways of running the game on a Mac.

How to play God of War through Boosteroid

Boosteroid is an online gaming service that uses cloud technology to allow its customers to play any game from its library directly from their Chrome or Safari browser, without the need to actually install the game on their computers. This, and other similar services, are particularly beneficial for Mac users, as it lets them play even games that are not officially available for macOS. This is perfect if you want to play God of War but don’t want to go through the lengthy process of installing Windows on your Mac just to be able to download and install the game. All you’d need to do in order to play God of War through Boosteroid on your Mac is purchase the game on Steam and then create a Boosteroid account with a paid subscription plan. After that, you can simply start God of War from the Boosteroid site and the game will load in your browser. For more detailed instructions on how to do this, please, have a look at the following brief guide:

1. Go to Steam and log in to your account, or create a new Steam account from here if you don’t have one.
   
2. Search for God of War in the search bar, click on the game, and select Add to Cart on the game’s page and follow the prompts on the next page to purchase the game.
   
3. Go to Boosteroid, create a new account there, and log in to your account.
   
4. Click on the search button shown at the top, type God of War in the search bar, and click on the game.
   
5. On the game’s page, select Play, and then click Subscribe.
   
   
6. Next, choose the payment method you prefer, choose how you want to pay for it, and provide the requested payment details to complete the subscription payment.
7. After that, select OK, let’s go when Boosteroid informs you that you will need to connect to your Steam account to play the game and God of War should start loading in your browser.
   
8. Once the game loads, log in with your Steam account and start playing.

• In addition to the Boosteroid and Windows methods that we mentioned, it’s also possible that God of War gets added to GeForce Now (another cloud-gaming service) in the near future, seeing as how Nvidia has played a major role in bringing God go War to PC. We will keep an eye out for whether God of War 2018 gets added to GeForce Now, and we will make sure to update this article with any relevant information.

Now, if you prefer the Windows-installation method and are ready to try it in order to download and play the game, here are the two ways you could do this:

God of War on Mac M1 + Intel Parallels

To run God of War on Mac M1, you can try installing Windows on your Mac using the Parallels virtualization program. Through Parallels, you can set up a Windows 11 virtual machine and use it to play God of War on your Mac M1 and Intel Chips.

The Boot Camp Assistant instructions shown above do not work on M1 Macs, so Parallels is your only potential way of running the game on your M1 Mac. However, if you are an Intel Mac user, you can still use Parallels to create a Windows virtual machine (VM) on your Mac and the instructions to do so are the same as the ones shown below. The only difference is that you must download a Windows 10 ISO file for the creation of the VM that you can download from here.

1. Go to the Parallels website and download the program’s installation file.
2. Install Parallels on your computer by running the .dmg file and following the directions on the screen.
3. Once Parallels has been installed, open it and select the “Install Windows” option to begin the process of creating a Windows VM.
4. Create a Parallels profile or sign in to the virtual machine using one of the other available sign-up options.
5. Once you enter the VM, download the Steam or the Epic Games client and use it to install the game on the virtual machine.

If you need more in-depth steps for Parallels with screenshots , check out our Full Parallels Guide for solutions.

Installing Windows using Boot Camp

Boot Camp Assistant is a built-in app for Intel-based Macs that allows the user to install Windows 10 in a separate partition on the Mac. Since this app isn’t available for M1 Mac models, the following instructions can only be used on an Intel Mac. If you own an M1 Mac, you can instead use the next suggested method of installing Windows on a Mac, which involves the use of the Parallels virtualization program and requires much less storage space.

Tutorial Overview

1. Downloading the Windows 10 ISO file
2. Preparing for the Installation
3. Starting the installation of Windows 10
4. Customizing Windows 10 and installing necessary updates

1. To install Windows using Boot Camp, you must first download a 64-bit Windows ISO file from this Microsoft page – select a preferred Windows edition (we recommend the Home edition) and a language, confirm them, and click the Download button.
   
   
2. After the ISO file download completes, go to Applications > Utilities, open the Boot Camp Assistant app, and click Continue.
   
3. Select Choose, find and select the downloaded ISO file, and click on Open.
   
4. Change the storage space distribution by dragging the small dot between the partitions to the left or right. The idea is to allocate at least 200 GB to the Windows partition, while leaving at least 50 GB to the macOS one. If your Mac’s drive currently doesn’t have at least 250 GB of free space, you should first delete some data before continuing (our Mac from the image below didn’t have enough free storage space, so getting God of War installed on it this way isn’t an option).
   
5. After the ISO file has been selected and each partition has been given enough free space, select the Install button, wait for Boot Camp Assistant to get ready for the installation, then enter your password, and click OK.
6. Your Mac will now restart, after which you will be asked to choose a location and a language – do that, and click Next.
7. The following screen will require you to provide your product key for Windows 10. Enter your key if you have one, or click on Skip/I don’t have a product key if you don’t.
   
   • If you don’t have a key and have selected the Skip option, you will need to choose what Windows 10 edition you want to install. Your choice here doesn’t matter too much, but we still recommend opting for the Home edition, unless you have a specific reason to want to install the Windows 10 Pro edition.
8. On the following screen, you must agree to the Terms and Conditions of Windows 10 and then follow the remaining prompts to launch the installation. Once the installation starts, be sure that, if you are using a MacBook, the computer stays plugged in to a power source throughout the duration of the installation – you must not risk your MacBook running out of battery power and shutting down before the installation finishes.
9. After the process completes and your Mac restarts, you will get to a customization screen for Windows 10 settings – there is an option to skip this, but we recommend taking a couple of minutes to customize the settings.
10. Next, choose your Windows 10 username and password and create an account.
11. After that, activate and customize Cortana or leave this for another time – it really doesn’t matter.
12. Next, your Mac will finally enter Windows and the Boot Camp Assistant should be open there – follow the prompts in it to allow it to begin the installation of Apple drivers for Windows and give any permissions that may be required. Once the installation is over, restart your Mac.
13. (Optional Step) Perform the following two actions and restart your Mac after each to get the optimal Windows 10 experience on your Mac:
    • Search for Apple Update in the Start Menu, open the shown result, and install any updates that may be available.
    • From the Start Menu, go to Settings > Update & Security, select the Windows Update section, see if any updates are pending there, and install them.
      

After you’ve completed everything, you can then proceed to download Steam in your Mac’s Windows 10 partition and use it to install God of War, as shown in the instructions at the end of this article.

How to download and install God of War on your Mac

Once you’ve installed Windows 10 or created a Windows VM on your Mac, here’s what you need to do to get the game installed on the computer:

1. Enter the Windows partition or start the Windows VM depending on the method you’ve used.
2. Go to Steam, create a Steam registration if you don’t have one, and download and install the Steam client.
3. Start the Steam client app, enter your account, and search for the God of War in the Store section.
4. Open the game’s page, purchase the game, then click Play Now and select Next to install the game.
5. After God of War is installed, you can start it from the shortcut on your Desktop or from the Steam app.