If it runs on Steam Deck, it runs on Wine and Wine can run on MacOS, although I really don't know the state of Wine for MacOS at this moment.
And if you don't want to pay the game just to make a test, well, I don't want to be direct but ๐ฆ๐ดโโ ๏ธ, anyway I guess you will buy it if you can make it run on it.
I wouldn't count on it, tbh. MacOS is such a miniscule percentage of the gaming community (though I'm sure that part of it is a self-perpetuating cycle of there not being much Mac gamers because Studios don't develop for MacOS because there aren't enough Mac gamers, etc.)
The studio's previous game Craftopia, which has been out since 2020, still doesn't have any Mac support, and doesn't look like it ever will, so I doubt Palworld will get a MacOS release, either. Honestly, between developing for the PC, Linux/SteamOS, and XBox platforms, and with the game being in early-access, I doubt that they could justify spending the time, let alone the money.
That being said, there are some sites detailing ways to play on MacOS using virtualization tools like Crossover and there are also some people saying that they're trying to access XBox games via gamepass - apparently Palworld is on there as a "game preview"?
Also, here's a YouTube video with some positive feedback in the comments titled How to install Palworld on Mac Good luck, and I hope it works out for you! :)
The game engine was switched from Unity to Unreal Engine 5.
With Unreal Engine 5.2 it looks like Epic is bringing additional support for macOS, although there's still some work that needs to be done.
https://primagames.com/tips/what-engine-does-palworld-use-answered
Not on mac, but does this work? https://youtu.be/C5Xev8XMRKE?si=vJOMet7wmZQUN_Rn
If there was a demo version, or something free I would give it a try. But I am not willing to purchase the game in hopes it works. Thanks for the link however.
You can try pirated version BTW.