The Mac App Store welcomed a slew of fantastic new apps, along with great updates to existing ones, in 2019. Start 2020 off right with some of our favorites.
Apps
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom’s intuitive design and powerful tools streamline the process of editing, organizing, and sharing photos.
Affinity Publisher
Whether you’re designing a company newsletter, school flyer, or book of poetry, this versatile app makes quick work of page layout.
BBEdit
Use this versatile text editor for everything from sparse source code to richly formatted blog posts. Features like regular-expression-enhanced search and automated text manipulation let BBEdit handle whatever you throw at it.
Complete Anatomy 2020
With over 17,000 interactive views of bodily structures, this comprehensive guide is thorough enough for med students yet accessible to anyone who just wants to learn more about their own body.
Hype
Hype makes it simple to create slick HTML5 animations—no special plug-ins or complicated software required.
LookUp
A richly illustrated dictionary for learning unfamiliar terms, building your vocab with a Word of the Day, hearing pronunciations, and more.
Luminar Photo
This AI-powered app makes photo editing a snap, letting you enhance portraits, bring out details, and more with a few clicks.
Microsoft Office 365
Working well means working together. Microsoft Office 365 brings a consistent experience and cross-platform compatibility to Mac, iOS, and Windows for seamless real-time collaboration.
Microsoft To Do
The beloved productivity app Wunderlist has been reborn as Microsoft To Do. New features include support for subtasks and special views like Today, which bubbles up only what requires your attention right now.
Pixelmator Pro
Pixelmator Pro has enough advanced photo-editing features for professional photographers to feel right at home. But machine-learning-enabled features like ML Enhance and the amazing Repair Tool let anyone perfect their photos with a few clicks.
Twitter
Twitter has brought everything you love about the social media service to a dedicated Twitter app for your Mac, with full support for the latest features.
Ulysses
This outstanding writing app is packed with features to help you focus on your writing—including organizational tools that let you spend less time searching for documents.
Games
Bad North
The challenging but delightful Bad North blends real-time strategy, roguelike genres, and tower defense like few other games. And the Jotunn Edition update only adds to the fun with more items, enemies, and buffs.
Civilization VI: Gathering Storm
Building your empire in Civilization VI has always been challenging. But the Gathering Storm expansion pack introduces climate change, transforming the environment into an active element to contend with.
DiRT 4
DiRT 4 isn’t just another racing game. Put your handling skills to the test in dozens of off-road rally tracks as you travel around the world and drive scores of cars from past to present.
Divinity: Original Sin 2
One of the boldest and most gripping role-playing games released in years, Divinity 2 transforms you into a Sourcerer chosen by the Seven Gods to rise and claim power. Branching story lines and multiple difficulty levels make each playthrough a new adventure.
GRIS
This spectacularly satisfying puzzle-platformer is a soul-stirring work of digital art—one that explores hope, grief, and the triumph of piecing a life back together after tragic loss.
Iron Marines
Iron Marines combines intense real-time strategy with comical animations and hilarious dialogue that’ll keep you laughing as you direct your troops in a galaxy-wide war.
Total War: Three Kingdoms
Master the arts of war and statesmanship as you journey to imperial China after the fall of the Han dynasty. Subdue warlords, restore order, and reunite China under a single banner.
While True: Learn()
In While True: Learn(), you answer the eternal question: What if your cat was a better coder than you? Solve puzzles, use visual programming, and study machine learning to create a cat translation app. Purr-l.
Wildscapes
Zack the zookeeper is in a pickle! His zoo is in disarray, and to restore it to its former glory you’ll need to master this mix of match-3 puzzles and sim—and enlist the help of one adorable panda.