How to play Defcon 5 on Mac

Game summary

The main game takes place in a first-person view inside the complex. Trams connect the maze-like living areas to a handful of manned turrets outside. You must shuttle between shooting down waves of fighters in the turrets, and scouring the base levels for card keys during the down time. A third consideration is the "Virtual Operating System" controlling all major base functions. You use this interface to repair damage from attacks, monitor intruders, and place robot sentries to guard key passages. As you find more access keys, you can increase the software's efficiency to the point that you can command turrets remotely, or set them to auto-attack with a high degree of success. As defending the base becomes more automated and efficient, you have more time to search the levels for keys. Your ultimate goal is to find the clearance to self-destruct the base, defend your escape shuttle, and get out alive.
First released: Nov 1995

Play Defcon 5 on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Defcon 5 on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

Defcon 5 installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install Defcon 5 like you would on any PC.
Did it work?
Help us improve our guide by letting us know if it worked for you.
👎👍