For the gaming community, the quest to enjoy top-tier games like Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2) on Mac has been riddled with challenges. Without a native Mac version and the game’s absence from most cloud gaming platforms, Mac gamers have faced a tough path. However, our exploration led us to a promising solution via Boosteroid, a cloud gaming service that seems to defy the odds. In this article, we’ll dive into our testing and review of playing RDR2 on Mac using Boosteroid, showcasing how cloud gaming is revolutionizing gaming experiences for Mac users.
The Red Dead Redemption 2 Mac Method That Works
Boosteroid is an independent cloud gaming platform that integrates all major vendors to its service and excels in adding support for the latest titles before other platforms. Read our review on Boosteroid. Look at our Boosteroid list of games.
Our top recommendation goes to Boosteroid as an excellent starting point for the majority of Mac users. Notably, it excels with a consistent 60 frames per second even on contemporary titles, all without inducing overheating in your Mac or demanding excessive gigabytes of storage.
Features: Constant 1080p/60 FPS; Stable connection; Low bandwidth requirements (15 MBPS); Huge gaming library with all the latest AAA titles
Our Mac RDR2 Experience
Cloud gaming services like Boosteroid are rapidly emerging as game-changers, particularly for Mac gamers. Boosteroid’s model of running games like Red Dead Redemption 2 for Mac on powerful rigs and streaming the gameplay directly to Macs bypasses the need for meeting hefty system requirements. This breakthrough is especially beneficial for Mac gamers who have traditionally grappled with hardware limitations.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Mac M1 Performance with Boosteroid
Since, as you probably know, cloud gaming enables gaming on various devices regardless of their hardware specifications, we decided to leverage our trusty MacBook Air M1 from 2020 for our testing purposes. Our Red Dead Redemption 2 Mac M1 experience via Boosteroid was exactly what we expected. The service streamed the game at 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second. In our tests with a 20+ Mbps connection, we enjoyed a largely consistent and smooth gaming session, with just a few stutters due to internet fluctuations. However, even a minimum internet speed of just 15 Mbps is enough to cover the service’s internet requirements, which makes Boosteroid an ideal solution for Mac gamers with less robust internet connections.
An impressive feature of Boosteroid that we should note is the absence of limits on gaming session lengths. Our extensive Mac RDR2 playthroughs, spanning several hours, remained uninterrupted and enjoyable. This aspect is crucial for immersive gaming experiences, particularly for narrative-driven games like RDR2, where prolonged sessions enhance the engagement. So, our verdict is that cloud gaming through Boosteroid offered us a robust alternative to play the title in the easiest possible way. While it differs from playing natively on a gaming PC or console, we cannot deny that the ability to enjoy games like RDR2 on Mac without investing in high-end gaming hardware is a significant leap forward.
Alternative RDR2 Mac Methods We Explored
Before settling on Boosteroid, we explored other RDR2 Mac methods with the idea to see if they can offer us a better experience. However, none of the solutions we tested proved successful. CrossOver, Parallels Desktop, and even considering Boot Camp, all fell short for various technical reasons.
Despite our persistent efforts, using CrossOver proved to be a frustrating experience, as we didn’t succeed with launching the game. The root cause of this issue was attributed to potential problems with the launcher or the game’s utilization of AVX, which may not be supported on Apple Silicon machines. Despite our extensive research, a concrete answer to this problem remained elusive.
Regrettably, the hindrance preventing the running of Red Dead Redemption 2 on Mac persisted when attempting to use Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit and our tests with a Parallels Desktop virtual machine also proved unsuccessful, leading to an error when initiating the game.
With all these local gaming methods failing, Boot Camp looked like a potential solution, but it demands a robust Intel Mac with a powerful GPU and, since Intel Macs were discontinued in 2019, even the latest models fall short of being optimized for graphically-intensive software like RDR2. The scarcity of Intel Macs meeting the GPU requirements for Red Dead Redemption 2, coupled with their discontinued status, rendered Boot Camp an impractical method for most users.
Red Dead Redemption 2 for Mac: Conclusion
Mac gamers longing to dive into the world of Red Dead Redemption 2 for Mac, should turn to cloud gaming platforms like Boosteroid as the most accessible solution. Our experience stands as a testament to the evolving landscape of Mac gaming, where limitations are increasingly being overcome through the innovative solutions of cloud gaming. As the gaming industry continues to evolve, Mac gamers can look forward to more such opportunities, enabling them to fully indulge in their gaming passions.
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