How to play NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on MAC 

Can you play NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on Mac?

You can play NARAKA: BLADEPOINT either through the use of cloud gaming services such as Boosteroid or by emulating/installing Windows on your Mac. Since this game doesn’t have an official macOS version, to play NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on Mac, you need to use workaround methods.

NARAKA: BLADEPOINT is not available for Mac, but this doesn’t mean that there’s no way of playing it on a Mac computer. Cloud gaming is by far the easiest method you could use to start this game on your Mac. NARAKA: BLADEPOINT is available on Boosteroid and GeForce Now – two popular cloud gaming services – and you can play it through either of them right now, without even needing to download the game.

If you think cloud gaming isn’t for you, it is still possible to download and run the game from your Mac, but to do this, you must first either install Windows on your Mac or emulate it using a Windows virtual machine.

About NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on Mac

NARAKA: BLADEPOINT isn’t officially available on Mac, but it can still be played on Mac computers using workaround methods. Possible methods of playing NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on Mac is to use cloud gaming, to install Windows, or to create a Windows virtual machine on your Mac.

NARAKA: BLADEPOINT is a battle royale action game developed by 24 Entertainment. The game was published in August 2021 by NetEase Games and made available on Epic Games Store and Steam. The game bears a lot of similarities to other popular battle royale titles, such as Fortnite, PUBG, and Apex Legends, but its setting and combat system gives a new, much-needed twist to the battle royale formula, which has been steadily becoming staler and staler in the last couple of years. 

If you are a Mac user interested in this game, below we will share with you our thoughts about NARAKA: BLADEPOINT, after which we will explore the different methods of running it on a Mac computer, seeing as how the game isn’t officially supported for macOS.

Is it just another battle royale game?

There are already more than enough battle royale-type of games out there as it is, for a game like NARAKA: BLADEPOINT to be worth trying, or at least that is what many gamers may initially think when they come across it. Indeed, this gaming genre is getting stale – similarly to how MOBAs were everywhere some 10 years ago, following the immense success that League of Legends had gained, there’s a ton of battle royale games at the moment, maybe more than there needs to be. However, NARAKA: BLADEPOINT is actually a battle royale title, the existence of which may be justified and may actually introduce some freshness and vigor to the battle royale formula. Sure, all the expected tropes of the genre are here – you have a large map that can accommodate up to 60 players that gradually shrinks so that everyone is forced to get closer to one another and fight to the last man standing – pretty standard stuff. You have various weapons, armor, and powerup pickups spread across the map that you need to find and equip to stand a better chance at defeating your opponents. Similar to Apex Legends, you can join a game as a part of a three-payer squad, or you could be a lone wolf and try to survive on your own (hint: teamwork tends to win).

As far as the main game mode is concerned (there are a couple of additional game modes), NARAKA: BLADEPOINT seems to be just another battle royale. However, the main thing that sets the game apart from other titles of the same genre is its combat system. There’s a distinct focus on melee combat in NARAKA: BLADEPOINT that is more akin to the combat system in games such as Sekiro or Soul Calibur, making the current title one that’s worth exploring and that has something to offer that’s not “more of the same”.

Melee-focused combat

Having the fights in NARAKA: BLADEPOINT be primarily resolved in a melee range serves to set this game apart from more conventional battle royale titles. The game mode is the same, but the actual combat feels distinctly different from that of Fortnite, Warzone, or Apex Legends. Aiming down a barrel and accounting for the unique recoil pattern of a specific gun here is replaced by perfectly timing your attacks and parries and putting your champion at the optimal distance from your opponent in order to deliver the finishing blow. By simply looking at gameplay footage of NARAKA: BLADEPOINT, it may seem like the combat system is nothing but hack-and-slash, but there’s a lot more to it than that. There are many subtle details that you need to be aware of if you are to walk away as the victor of an encounter with the enemy. Different weapons have different ranges, speeds, and attack patterns. Combine this with the different types of armor and the unique abilities that every champion has, and the combat system becomes a lot more complex and nuanced than it may initially seem. Of course, you can always just pick a big sword and mash the buttons on your keyboard/controller, hoping for the best, but anyone with a bit of experience and understanding of the combat system would be able to easily overpower you if that’s your go-to strategy.

Though melee is the focus in NARAKA: BLADEPOINT, there are also ranged weapon options. There are bows, crossbows, muskets, and even a weapon that shoots out fireballs. However, don’t expect to arm yourself with a crossbow, climb a tree, and snipe enemies from afar. Though you can certainly try that, this is likely not going to get you far as it’s not an effective strategy. Again, the focus in NARAKA: BLADEPOINT is melee combat, so ranged weapons are more of a plan B. They are useful for dealing some initial damage to your opponents to soften them up before you engage in melee combat or to pick them off when they are running from you on low hp. However, relying solely on your ranged weapon as your go-to way of dealing with enemies will likely not get you far. The idea seems to be to combine both styles of fighting so that they complement one another, but, again, for the most part, melee is the way to go in NARAKA: BLADEPOINT.

Overall, it’s a very fun combat system with lots of potentials. It’s not too difficult to get into, but you need to spend some time in order to be somewhat proficient with it. Once you start getting the hang of it and understand its subtleties, the game becomes that more enjoyable and, frankly, even a bit addictive.

Movement

An action game that draws a lot of its inspiration from Chinese culture is bound to have some pretty over-the-top movement, à la Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and NARAKA: BLADEPOINT doesn’t fail to deliver. Characters can easily scale pretty much any vertical surface in the game, they can perform superhuman feats of agility and gymnastics, making all sorts of gravity-defying jumps, flips, slides, and more. Obviously, realism here takes a back seat here, and it’s all for the best. None of the game’s crazy movement antics feel out of place, however, it all feels right as it should be – an extra-dynamic and over-the-top gameplay that is exactly what it needs to be to make the game fun and enjoyable.

Game Modes

Though the main gameplay mode in NARAKA is battle royale, there are a couple of additional modes to spice things up. The first one is called Bloodbath, and it’s basically a deathmatch mode, where you play on a much smaller arena-type map, in a free for all battle against 15 other players. Here, the player with the most kills at the end of a round is the winner. Bloodsport is a dedicated 1v1 mode, and there’s also a mode called Shadow Surge, which is another battle royale-type of mode, where once the safe-zone starts growing smaller, it doesn’t stop until the end of the game, unlike in the default battle royale mode, where the shrinking of the safe zone happens gradually, with each round.

Though the additional modes can be fun, they are usually not what players are interested in – the main battle royale mode is still at the base of the game and is the one with the greatest fun potential.

Matchmaking and multiplayer

The reason we are writing a separate paragraph on the topic of matchmaking in NARAKA is mainly to point out certain problems related to it. Firstly, as a new player, you will initially mainly get matches against AI bots rather than real players. Yes, NARAKA has bots that are supposed to ease new players into the game and give them time to figure out the basics of the combat. However, the bots in NARAKA are quite underpowered and easily defeated. For the most part, you don’t need to apply any advanced tactics and combat skills to pick take them out, which means that they aren’t particularly good at helping you learn. This, in turn, makes fighting them feel like a chore that you need to get through before you can start actually playing the game against real players, at which point, you’d still likely feel overwhelmed by the sudden spike in difficulty. It would have been nice if players were given a choice between training with bots or directly fighting against other players, rather than being forcefully matched with underwhelming AI opponents that serve little to no purpose.

Another matchmaking issue with NARAKA is related to performance. Since this is an online game, some lag issues are bound to occur, but here, in NARAKA, even the slightest instance of a lag spike can cost you the game due to the high levels of precision required during combat. Due to the specific nature of the combat system in NARAKA, you’d need to have pixel-perfect precision for your blocks and attacks to be successful. With such a system, even a split-second lag spike can cause your attack or block to fail, costing you the life of your champion. Undoubtedly, similar problems can be encountered in every fast-paced multiplayer action game, but they seem to be even more pronounced in NARAKA.

System requirements

NARAKA: BLADEPOINT is a rather demanding game, so you’d need a powerful machine if you are to run it locally. As mentioned earlier, the game isn’t supported for macOS, but there are still options you can try to run on your Mac that will be shown to you further down this post.

How to play NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on Mac

To play NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on Mac, you can use services such as Boosteroid and GeForce Now to run the game using cloud technology. Emulating Windows using Parallels or installing Windows with Boot Camp Assistant can also help you play NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on your Mac.

The cloud gaming options we mentioned are far easier to use, and we’d generally recommend them when it comes to playing demanding games such as NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on a Mac computer. For this reason, we will first show you how to use Boosteroid and GeForce Now to start this game on your Mac. If instead, you are interested in playing the game locally, by downloading it on your Mac, you should check out the Windows installation instructions we’ve shown further down this guide.

NARAKA: BLADEPOINT Set Up Methods

NARAKA: BLADEPOINT with Cloud Gaming

NARAKA: BLADEPOINT 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 NARAKA: BLADEPOINT

You can go straight ahead and buy NARAKA: BLADEPOINT from the Steam store. You can play the game right away after you have purchased it. If you feel the game graphics are under-performing, you can proceed to step two where you can upload the game to the cloud gaming library for better performance.

Step 2. Register and Add Naraka: Bladepoint To Boosteroid Cloud Gaming Library

All you need to do now is register for Boosteroid. This allows you to add Naraka: Bladepoint 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 100 top-rated games for free. Pricing varies depending on the subscription plan.

Play NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on Mac using Boosteroid

Note 1: Boosteroid is a paid service and doesn’t have a free trial option. You aren’t required to pay anything to create a Boosteroid account – you will later be asked to get a paid subscription to the service, once you try to play a game through Boosteroid.

Note 2: To play NARAKA: BLADEPOINT through Boosteroid, you must own the game on Steam.

Note 3: Boosteroid runs in the browser and though it should work with any browser, it’s best that you use it through Chrome or Opera. If you are using a different browser and are experiencing any performance issues while playing games through Boosteroid, we recommend using Chrome or Opera for the service.

1. First, create a Boosteroid account for free using your email and then log in. Note that signing up with Google is an option, but it didn’t seem to always work properly when we tried it.
   
2. Once you are logged in, use the search from the top of the Boosteroid site to find NARAKA: BLADEPOINT and click on the game when it appears to go to its page.
   
3. Next, click Play – if this is the first time you are attempting to play anything through Boosteroid, you will be shown a subscription prompt, where you must click the Subscribe button.
   
   
4. After that, choose the subscription plan and payment method you want to use, and enter your details to finalize the subscription.
5. Back on the NARAKA: BLADEPOINT page in Boosteroid, start the game and confirm that you agree to link your Steam account to Boosteroid.
6. When you get the Steam log in window, enter your username and password, and log in to Steam. Once you are logged in, NARAKA: BLADEPOINT should start in the browser, and you can begin playing it. We recommend putting your browser in full-screen mode and setting its toolbar to only appear when you move your cursor to the upper part of the screen.

Play NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on Mac using GeForce Now

1. Get registered on the GeForce Now website.
2. Log in to your account and download and install the GeForce Now client.
3. Start the client, log in, search for NARAKA: BLADEPOINT, and click on the game.
4. Pick between the Steam or the Epic Games Store version of the game (depending on where you’ve bought the game), click Play, then click Continue, and log in to Steam/Epic Games Store to begin playing.
   

You will find more details on how to use GeForce Now on this page.

How to download NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on Mac

To download NARAKA: BLADEPOINT, you will need to either install Windows on your Mac or emulate Windows using virtualization software, such as Parallels. After you install/emulate Windows, you will be able to download the Windows version of NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on your Mac.

Below, we’ve put a brief overview of how to install Windows on Mac using Boot Camp and how to create a Windows 10/11 virtual machine on Mac with the Parallels app. For a full-fledged guide, be sure to check out the links provided after each method.

Creating a Parallels virtual machine for Windows 10/11

1. Get Parallels from the site of the app and install it on your Mac.
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.

Installing Windows 10 with Boot Camp Assistant

1. Go to Microsoft and download a Windows 10 64-bit ISO file.
2. Start the Boot Camp Assistant app, select the ISO file in it, make any necessary adjustments to the partition storage space distribution, and click Install.
3. Follow the installation prompts once your Mac restarts and launch the Windows 10 installation.
4. Customize the Windows 10 settings, create an account, enter Windows 10, and use the Boot Camp Assistant window on your screen to install Apple drivers for Windows 10.
5. Once everything else is ready, in your Mac’s Windows 10 partition, go to Steam or Epic Games Store, download the respective client, and use the latter to install NARAKA: BLADEPOINT.

Full Boot Camp guide

NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on Mac M1

To play NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on Mac M1, the two options you have are to use cloud gaming or to create a Parallels virtual machine. Playing NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on Mac M1 through Boot Camp isn’t an option – the Boot Camp app isn’t available for M1 Macs.

M1 Macs are quite powerful, so they should be able to run most Windows games through a Parallels virtual machine (something that requires quite a lot of RAM and processing power). However, we still consider the cloud gaming variant to be the better option in most cases, for most Mac users – it’s quicker and easier to use, and it circumvents the overheating problems that Macs tend to experience while running games locally.

As for the Boot Camp option, this is something reserved for Intel-based Macs. Currently, there’s no way to actually install Windows on an M1 Mac due to the specific ARM architecture of the M1 chips.