How to play Path of Exile on Mac

Path of Exile remains one of the top dungeon crawler titles in the industry and has emerged as a prime rival of Blizzard's Diablo franchise. While macOS players originally had to find workarounds to play the action RPG title, the game is now accessible on the platform, though there is a catch.

Specifically, players can access Path of Exile on Mac through various methods. They can use the standalone game version, but players can also access it through digital storefronts such as Steam/Epic Games. It's even possible to play the game through cloud gaming services such as Boosteroid and GeForce Now.

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Path of Exile: Downloading and playing the game directly on Mac

Path of Exile being played in windowed mode on macOS (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

While various methods exist to play Path of Exile, each with its own upsides and drawbacks, direct download is the simplest means to begin playing in most cases.

Steam and Epic Games can also make the process easy, but that's only if players have accounts on the said platforms. If they don't, then downloading and playing the game directly is likely the simplest way forward. Cloud gaming is beneficial but can run into issues due to connection streaming in some situations.

Fortunately, Grinding Gear Games has made strides to create an effective standalone client for the game on macOS, and players should be able to fully enjoy the game with few problems.

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How to download and play Path of Exile directly on macOS

Players can follow the steps mentioned below:

1. Head to the game's official site and register for an account if you don't have one already. With just an email and a password, players should be able to play the game, verified via email or not. However, verifying one's account via email can assist with future security.
2. Head to Pathofexile.com/download and select the Mac installer button. Doing so should provide players with a .dmg file.
3. Open the .dmg file and drag the game's folder into your applications folder.
4. Launch the game from within the applications folder. The game should begin the patching process until assets are fully downloaded.
5. Once the game has been patched in totality, players should be able to run Path of Exile from their applications as they would other programs.

While the game runs well on macOS, the native client isn't perfect and is subject to bugs like it does on other platforms. Some players have reported graphical glitches, in particular, witnessing artifacts in some areas.

However, Grinding Gear Games has gone through efforts in the past two years since the Mac client was released to improve the overall experience and stability. If players are noticing any issues, they may want to try an alternate method such as Steam or Epic Games versions.

If all else fails, running the game via cloud services such as Boosteroid or Nvidia GeForce Now may provide a more stable option. However, the direct download of the native client tends to work perfectly well for the vast majority of players, and it doesn't utilize as many resources compared to other methods.