Apple is really trying to improve the stature of macOS as a gaming platform for the first time in years, adding crucial porting frameworks like the Game Porting Toolkit and user-facing features like Game Mode. However, the best Macs still aren't all that great for gaming. Power isn't the issue anymore, because even low-end Apple Silicon laptops and desktops are capable of playing many AAA titles with ease. The bigger problem is software support, since most flagship gaming titles are made for Windows PCs and consoles. But there is a way to play some of your favorite Windows games on your Apple Silicon Mac without hours of frustration using the Game Porting Toolkit. It's called Whisky, and it mixes the Rosetta, Wine, and Game Porting Toolkit translation layers into a singular and simplistic tool. Anyone can use Whisky, and it just added support for a game that is blowing up again: Fallout 4.

How it works

Leveraging the Game Porting Toolkit in a simpler way

First, let's go over how Whisky can take a regular Windows game file and turn it into a playable macOS game without much manual effort required. Essentially, this app combines multiple translation layers into a single translation tool. It uses Wine, a translation layer that allows Windows apps and games to run on POSIX-based operating systems, like macOS and Linux. It also uses Rosetta and the Game Porting Toolkit, which are two official Apple tools that allow x86 programs to run on Apple Silicon and serve as a framework for porting Windows games to macOS, respectively. Normally, this sort of process would require users to manually port games to Mac. But by combining Wine, Rosetta, and the Game Porting Toolkit, this can all happen automatically.

Anyone could use the official Game Porting Toolkit to port their Windows games to macOS, but it requires some degree of knowledge about the porting process and takes hours per game. Alternatively, users have the option of emulating Windows through virtualization software like Parallels 19, but using VMs can result in a major performance hit. That's why, in many ways, Whisky is the best way to run Windows games on macOS.

How to get started

The process of installing supported Windows games on Mac is quick and easy

Using the Whisky tool to run Windows games on macOS isn't quite as simple as downloading a game on the Mac App Store, but it's much more streamlined than using the Game Porting Toolkit. Basically, all the heavy lifting required to use the Game Porting Toolkit is handled automatically by Whisky with supported games. You provide the program with the .exe or installation files for the game you want to play, and Whisky will use its translation layers to enable the game to run on Apple Silicon. There are some big titles supported by Whisky, and more are popping up over time. Recently, Whisky added support for Fallout 4, which we chose for our test due to the hype around the live-action TV series. Game support is still fairly limited for Whisky, but those who need more titles can pay for CrossOver, which is a similar translation tool.

There are some caveats you may run into, but this is a high-level overview of the process of running Windows games on Mac via Whisky:

1. Download and install Whisky from its official website.
2. Follow the setup prompts to install the required compatibility/translation layers, including Rosetta, Wine, and the Game Porting Toolkit if you haven't done so already.
3. Create a new "bottle" for Whisky by pressing the + button in the toolbar.
4. Create a name for the bottle, choose the version of Windows the game you want to play runs on, and select the file location for the bottle on your system.
5. We recommend downloading the Windows version of Steam and running it through Whisky first. This way, you can download games through Steam for Windows and ensure the games include all the necessary executables and program files.
6. You may be able to launch Windows games directly through Steam in Whisky. To try this method, simply enter the game as you normally would through Steam.
7. Alternatively, you can create a new Whisky bottle with the .exe file from your game and launch it that way.

Originally, I tried downloading the executable and program files to a Windows virtual machine, but that didn't work very well. Necessary files and data seemed to be missing, preventing Whisky from launching Fallout 4. However, after running the Windows version of Steam through the compatibility layer and downloading Fallout 4 through this method, I was gaming just minutes after starting the process. This is a massive improvement compared to using the native Game Porting Toolkit manually, which can take hours and requires some technical know-how.

What's the gameplay like?

Surprisingly good, especially if you have a computer with an M3 chip

The hardest part of running Windows games like Fallout 4 on macOS is getting them into a working Whisky bottle, and even that isn't very difficult. After you've gotten a Windows game up-and-running in Whisky, it was impossible to tell that Fallout 4 was running through a translation layer instead of being natively compiled for macOS. This shouldn't be all that surprising, because Apple has done impressive things with Rosetta. There is a tangible performance drop that comes with running a game through a translation layer, but it is very minimal. Overall, my time playing Fallout 4 on macOS proved that Whisky isn't just a proof of concept — it's a real way that macOS users can play AAA titles optimized for Windows on their Apple Silicon Macs.

One thing to consider is that the type of Apple Silicon system-on-a-chip your Mac has might impact gaming performance. I tested Fallout 4 and Whisky on an M3 iMac, and Apple made great strides with GPU performance on the M3 chipset, as I uncovered in my review. So, it's definitely possible that lower-tier M1 or M2 SoCs might fare worse while playing translated games than the M3 machine I used. However, it feels safe to say that Windows game performance should be more than playable on Apple Silicon machines. There's a fairly active community of Whisky users on GitHub that tracks supported games, potential bugs, and performance results, as well as Reddit communities, too. The good thing about using these free and versatile translation tools is that you can find a ton of help from knowledgeable users if something goes awry. Based on my experience with playing games on Whisky though, I doubt you'll need the help.

Should you use Whisky for Mac gaming?

Whisky, like many other methods that aim to improve Mac gaming, is not at all intended to satisfy true gamers completely. macOS Sonoma has a long way to go if it wants to become a competent platform for gaming, and clever tools such as this one can only do so much. If you're looking for a primary way to play games, Whisky still won't make macOS come close to alternatives like Windows PCs or consoles. However, if you're a Mac user that wants to be able to play casual Windows games on the computer you already own, Whisky will come in handy. After trying both, it's clear that Whisky is a far better way of playing Windows games on macOS than using a virtual machine.