The Joy of Mac Gaming, Volume 1

Picture this: a sequel to a hugely popular and beloved game releases, with the kind of hype one is used to from video game players who survived the Hype Train days of NeoGAF. Now imagine being a person who would like to play these games on their fast, powerful, cutting edge computer... only to not be able to play it. This is how it goes with most games when that fast, powerful, cutting edge computer is a Macintosh. Sometimes, a bone is thrown a while after the fact, but by then everyone else has moved on from the game and it's kind of anti-climactic.

Today, Team Cherry released the much anticipated sequel to Hollow Knight, dubbed Silksong. It was hyped for years and years, with no release in sight, then suddenly it appeared, like an oasis in a desert. Yes, we got the Hollow Knight sequel before Grand Theft Auto VI. For Mac gamers, this is usually a time of disappointment, as games of this hype level generally just don't hit their platform of choice until it's yesterdays news. But! On this glorious of days, Mac gamers who have Steam installed are granted a treat among treats! Silksong is not only available on every other platform that means anything, it's here, Day One, on Mac. This is not a review as I haven't had time to really dig in, but I will do an "Adventures in Mac Gaming" volume, don't worry. Instead, this is "Oh my God, it's happening!" in writer-ese.

After breaking through the struggle that was trying to purchase the game via Steam at 7AM when it unlocked this morning - a process that took at least 10 minutes to actually get the store page to load in the app, add the game to my cart, and complete checkout... and then wait a whole 90 seconds or so for the actual download to complete. It was a trial by fire with lots of excited people jumping on the Silksong Hype Train. Really surprised they didn't do pre-loading, knowing the audience for the game would be chomping at the bit to play it. Again, I didn't get much time to play, but from the brief moments I did spend with it, I was thrilled to see a beautiful 2D game with incredibly smooth visuals and tight platform mechanics. It runs great on my M4 Mac.

Anyway, the fact that I could actually partake in the new game release hype at the same time as everyone else, by getting the game on the platform I actually want to play it on is a feeling that I haven't felt in a long time. It's a feeling I could get used to. Just... being able to buy a hot new release for my computer and have it work because it's just second nature to release on Mac? I may be the only person on this entire planet who really cares - I'm not even sure Apple cares all that much given their schizophrenic attitude towards non-iOS gaming - but I'll keep harping on it when it happens, and expressing disappointment when it doesn't. I still haven't recovered from not being able to buy Wheel World on Day One when that hit a while back. I could buy it for my PS5 or Xbox Series X, but I would prefer to play it on my shiny Mac and keep the TV open. I'm also feeling this way about Metal Eden, which just released, and also looks great! Sure would be nice to download the demo sitting on Steam for my Mac.

This all sounds like port-begging, which would usually catch a ban on video game forums back in the day, but it's not, I promise. It's more about parity and wishful thinking. The days of exclusive games are more or less dead, as console gaming enters a weird phase that is very PC-like in that you have one platform you can use for all your gaming needs. If the game is coming to PC, PS, Xbox, and Switch... why not throw Mac gamers a bone? I don't know if we'll ever know how many copies of Hollow Knight: Silksong will wind up selling on Mac thanks to the day-and-date release, but I bet it's a bigger number than you would expect, just from Mac players showing gratitude to Team Cherry for remembering them when releasing their hot new game. It's nice to be part of the cool kids club again.