Highball
Which renderer to use
Highball can run each game through three different Direct3D translation layers. This is what the database knows for this title — empty rows are open questions, not failures.
| Renderer | Verdict | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| DXVKDirect3D 9-11 over Vulkan | Reported | 1 report |
| DXMTDirect3D 11 over Metal | Untested | no report yet — send one |
| D3DMetalApple's Game Porting Toolkit | Untested | no report yet — send one |
No dated Highball run yet. When one lands it records the renderer, the engine build and the macOS version it was seen on — which is what stops a verdict quietly rotting. Send one.
Notes
Playable on an M4 Max over 108 minutes once set up: a 16:9 resolution such as 2560x1440 rather than ultrawide, and Keep game files inside this environment (the environment's Compatibility settings) so the game's config doesn't live in the Mac's Documents folder.
Known issues
At 3440x1440 ultrawide some menus are cut off and clicks land off target, unevenly, in menus and on the map's grid (M4 Max, Wine 10 r28)
What helps use 2560x1440, which fixes most of it (highball-db#1069, credit imdinu)
Why not diagnosed
The game's config files in Documents\My Games\XCOM - Enemy Unknown\XComGame\Config got corrupted
What helps delete that Config folder and turn on Keep game files inside this environment in the environment's Compatibility settings (highball-db#1069, credit imdinu)
Why not diagnosed. The reporter suspects iCloud syncing the Mac's Documents folder, where the environment kept them
Provenance
Reported by imdinu (highball-db#1069, 2026-11-08), Apple M4 Max, macOS 27.0.1, Highball 0.10.23, engine x64-sikarugir10.0_6-r28, DXVK by the report (the environment's mode is DXMT), rated 4 of 5 after 108 minutes: PhysX in the environment. At 3440x1440 some menus break and clicks land off target, unevenly, on buttons and on the map's grid. At 2560x1440 most of that is gone. The game's config files in Documents\My Games\XCOM - Enemy Unknown got corrupted, which the reporter puts down to iCloud syncing the Mac's Documents folder. Not verified by the maintainer.
Before installing anything, it is worth checking whether the game already ships a native Mac build.
Common questions
Does XCOM: Enemy Unknown work on Mac?
XCOM: Enemy Unknown has no native Mac build, but it is reported to run on Apple Silicon through Highball, a free open-source compatibility layer. This comes from community reports rather than a Highball test run, so treat it as a reasonable expectation rather than a guarantee.
Contribute a result
This page is generated from an open database. If you have run XCOM: Enemy Unknown on Apple Silicon, working or not, a report takes a minute and fills in the empty rows above. Send a report, or read how the data is put together.