Actually played on my Mac for 6 months straight.
I've been running CrossOver on my M4 Air for six months now for games like It Takes Two, Ready or Not, a bit of Helldivers 2, and my verdict is that it’s totally playable.
So from my personal perspective, there are several nuances worth mentioning:
Thermal throttling is real, but it's not the whole story! Yep, the MacBook Air has no fan (ironically isn’t it). After 20-30 minutes under load, it will throttle inevitably. However, I've had solid 45–60 minute sessions on medium settings before things got choppy.
CrossOver compatibility is genuinely good right now. Ready or Not runs fine on DX11 (set it in Steam launch options, not from the CrossOver menu, and that defaults to DX12 and eats resources). Helldivers 2 is the messiest!! Occasionally freezes every few minutes, seems CPU-bound, and even M4 Max owners are reporting the same weirdness.
Background apps are the real boss fight. This is where I see most people lose frames and blame the hardware. Discord, browser with 15 tabs, iCloud syncing mid-session, background updaters, they take their cut of RAM and CPU before the game even loads…
So, I started running CleanMyMac's Performance module before longer sessions. Fortunately, it kills background processes and login items I didn't even know were running. The difference on a fanless Mac is noticeable. I get fewer stutters, more stable temps, and win time before throttle kicks in.
Mac gaming won't replace Windows, cause it’s too much effort for my after-work time killers, but I’ve navigated the way to make it work, and work even better.