How well does Disco Elysium run on a M1 Mac?

In a nutshell, very well indeed. Disco Elysium was first released in 2019, before the M1 Macs even appeared, so you might wonder how smoothly it runs on the new(ish) hardware. If my experience is anything to go by, you’re going to be fine on any M1 Mac, but let’s dive deeper.

What are the Disco Elysium system requirements for Mac?

According to Steam, these are the minimum requirements for Disco Elysium on Mac:

OS: MacOS 10.13 or higher

Processor: Intel Core i3

Memory: 4GB

Graphics: An OpenGL supported GPU

Storage: 20GB

Meanwhile, these are the recommended specs for Disco Elysium on Mac:

OS: MacOS 10.13 or higher

Processor: Intel Core i5

Memory: 8GB

Graphics: Dedicated GPU or eGPU or a Metal supported GPU (Intel Iris and Intel HD 4000 or newer, AMD GCN-based GPUs newer, nVidia Kepler-based GPU’s or newer)

Storage: 20GB

So, how does Disco Elysium perform on M1 Macs?

As you can see, the specs don’t really deal with the M1 processor. Nevertheless, I was pretty confident that any game that required a non-specific Core i5 processor, a pretty gentle smattering of RAM and Intel graphics would probably be OK on the much more powerful M1 Macs, and I was right.

I’ve installed it on a 2021 MacBook Pro 16in with the following specs:

Processor: Apple M1 Pro

Memory: 16GB

Graphics: 16-core GPU

While the game has stunning graphics, it’s not a fast-moving action title, it’s an RPG. You really don’t have to worry too much about frame rates, but the MacBook Pro takes it in its stride.

When played at Full HD resolution on an external display the game ran flawlessly. At the native resolution of the MacBook’s own display (3,456 x 2,234) there was the odd judder, especially when I zoomed in and out of the landscape, but it was by no means concerning.

I’d be 99% confident it would run at an acceptable level on any of the M1 Macs, although I can’t say for certain. It certainly didn’t stress my MacBook Pro at all.

One final hint: the soundtrack and voice acting are both stunningly good. They deserve to be listened to via a decent set of headphones.

Now sod off and play the game. You’re going to love it. Once you get past the weird start…