Macs have never had the best reputation for gaming. Whether because Apple preferred to market them as creative computing powerhouses or because their alumnium shells could cook eggs after a heavy graphics session, the lowly Mac spent much of its youth in the gaming outhouse, suffering with years-behind releases and sub-par ports. Mercifully for Mac owners, things have changed. Sure, the mega-releases still hit mainstream platforms some way before Apple's (if ever), but there is a growing and substantial crop of computing capers that you can beam to your Mac through the App Store and Steam - which can more than hold a candle to PC alternatives. Few are unique to Mac, but a number are redesigned, remastered and retuned for the MacOS interface, with slicker moves and better integration - so there's absolutely no excuse not to spend your weekend putting all of our recommendations to the test. Here are 25 of the best games you can grab right now for your Mac. Additional words by Chris Rowlands.

Yes, the original is the one that everybody raves about, and even a decade after release, it's still absolutely brilliant and well worth circling back on. But the sequel is even larger, even nuttier, and arguably just as compelling of an experience even if it wasn't quite as impactful overall. Portal 2 keeps the first-person puzzle-solving approach of Valve's iconic original, but there's more than just teleportation at play here: you'll also fuss with lasers, light bridges, and slippery goo to make your way through these challenging lab stages. Is excel 2017 for mac 32 or 64 bit. Text message forwarding not showing up. And in addition to the hilarious solo campaign, there's also a separate co-op campaign that demands a buddy. Find one for it. You can play Fortnite: Battle Royale from pretty much anywhere: from your console, smartphone, tablet and yes, even your Mac.

And sure, the Mac crowd probably provides the smallest percentage of that tally, but that doesn't matter. Everyone's connected together. They're also all shooting at each other, as Fortnite's massively popular approach drops 100 players into a battle to the death within an ever-tightening area. Luckily, it's all fun and games: Fortnite's colourful aesthetic and compelling quick-building mechanics give Epic's smash a unique feel and flow – one that's being enjoyed by millions upon millions of people daily. Is the world's most popular MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) game, while Valve's is the most hardcore of the bunch – but Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm is the friendliest of that top trio, plus it stars loads of familiar characters from classic game. Like those other MOBAs, Heroes of the Storm is a five-on-five battle for map domination, as you team up to bash down the enemy's turrets before taking down their base.

Unless they do it to you first. It's loaded with StarCraft, Diablo, Warcraft, and Overwatch characters and is a lot more streamlined than the others, making it the perfect first genre entry. And besides, all these MOBAs are free-to-play, so there's no harm in giving them all a shot. After creating FTL: Faster Than Light, one of the most brilliant strategic time sinks of the last several years, Subset Games is back with Into the Breach – and it's equally worth obsessing over.

Into the Breach is a turn-based tactics game that's akin to a Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre, albeit with futuristic mech suits instead of wizards and warriors. And there are twists: the aliens you're battling telegraph their moves in advance, which means your success is all about planning and executing the perfect response.

This version of FreeCell in the Mac App Store is very basic and doesn’t seem to have a developer website. The developer description for the game has been cut and pasted from Wikipedia so it doesn’t seem like the most legit version out there but it is free, very simple to get play and has the standard 52 card deck.

If you blow it, then your mech pilots must travel back in time and start over again. How's that for motivation?

With that in mind, we played through and evaluated a slew of free Mac games, and we’ve put together this updated list of the best free games for Mac. We made sure there is enough variety here to please most gamers, but this is also a perfect opportunity for you to try something new.

Also, to help you decide, we’ve designated each game as Free (start to finish) or F2P (free to play, but purchases are possible). Of course, if you’re happy to just buy your games, feel free to check out our comprehensive list of the available today.

For the freebies, read on. Free-to-Play / Battle Royale Shooter Consider this your free invitation to one of the biggest gaming parties going on right now. You’ll play, you’ll have a great time, you’ll die, and you can always come back for more Fortnite Battle Royale is simply the free PvP mode of Fortnite.