u/KageYume

I've just finished the prologue of Amatsutsumi, and what a prologue it was! I originally intended to just run the game briefly to see if it worked on Mac, little did I know that what awaited me was the first visual novel to make me tear up in a long time.

It was a long prologue (about 4 to 5 hours) and by the time the opening video played, a complete story had already been told. >!Makoto left the village, met his newfound family, and discovered a sense of humanity and an appreciation for those bonds that he was ultimately willing to trade his life for.!<

Even the two H-scenes (Kokoro and Hotaru) were used so effectively for storytelling that they didn't feel out of place at all. A plot twist regarding the words his biological mother left for him was fantastic: >!Ikinasai meaning "Live on!" (生きなさい) rather than "Leave!" (行きなさい) as he had long assumed. I do believe that if a reader doesn't understand Japanese, the weight of this twist would be lost in translation, which would be a huge shame.!<

The prologue left such a deep impression on me that I will definitely continue reading. I just hope the game doesn't peak here. I'd hate for the rest of the story to struggle to live up to the prologue, as was the case with Chrono Clock by the same developer.

P/S: since I just only finished the prologue, please don't spoil what happens in the main game.

I asked around here and on r/macgaming about playing visual novels on Apple Silicon Mac before but got conflicting answers. After getting a MacBook, I finally tried it out for myself.

You have two main options for running Windows apps on Apple Silicon: a translation layer (CrossOver, Whisky) or a virtual machine (Parallels Desktop). I avoid VMs due to the huge file sizes and expensive subscriptions, so this guide will focus on CrossOver.

1. Initial Setup

• Install CrossOver (purchase a license or use the 14-day free trial).
• Create a "bottle" (a Windows environment). A "Steam" bottle is created by default.
• Optional: Install K-Lite Standard Codec pack into your bottle for media playback for some games (See "For Non-Steam Games (With an Installer)" for how to install).

2. Running Your Games

For Steam Games:

• Run Steam in the Steam bottle, log in, install your games, and play.

For Non-Steam Games (With an Installer):

• Open your bottle in CrossOver and click Install Application into Bottle.
• Click Install an unlisted application.
• Select your installer file and click Install.
• Note: You can delete unwanted shortcuts like readme or uninstaller in your macOS Applications folder (those are shortcuts created in the Start Menu in Windows).

For Non-Steam Games (No Installer):

• Open your bottle and click Run Command.
• Click Browse... and select your game’s .exe file.
• Click Run to test it.
• If it works well, click Save command as a launcher to add it directly to your macOS Applications Menu.

3. Enabling Japanese Locale

If your game requires Japanese locale, follow these steps:

• Open your bottle and click Open C:Drive.
• Press Command + Up Arrow and open the cxbottle.conf file.
• Under the [EnvironmentVariables] section, add "LC_ALL" = "ja_JP.UTF-8" on a new line.
• Save the file and restart CrossOver.
• Result. Text Hooker works too.

4. Tips for Buying CrossOver

Link to buy

You don't need the $500 lifetime license. The standard license gives 12 months of updates, and you can keep using your current version indefinitely after it expires. 

CrossOver sometimes has promo code to make it a bit cheaper. At the time of writing (2026/05/06), TOM15 code gives 15% discount.

Watch out during Cyber Monday as traditionally they have 75% OFF sales. If you can't afford to buy right now, you can give Whisky a try for the time being.

5. Visual Novels I've tested

Here is the list of visual novels that I've personally tested on Mac.

Visual novels on Mac

That's it. Thanks for reading and enjoy getting long battery life while playing on Mac.