Highly anticipated: FromSoftware's next RPG epic, Elden Ring, is on the way with an expected launch date of February 25, which is just a couple weeks from now. It's coming to PC, and fans have been eagerly waiting for the developer to release Elden Ring's official system requirements. That patience was finally rewarded yesterday when the studio updated the title's Steam store page with the Minimum and Recommended specs.
But that's where things get a little strange. First of all, the requirements were unusually steep for a FromSoftware game – Sekiro, a beautiful title by just about any standard, can run on a GTX 760 or a Radeon HD 7950, whereas Elden Ring apparently requires a GTX 1060.
According to Steam's annual hardware surveys, that's a fairly common card. Regardless, gamers with lower-end components worried their rigs wouldn't be able to handle the game at a playable framerate, even on the low settings Minimum requirements usually account for. It's by no means unprecedented for a game sequel to require better (sometimes substantially so) hardware, but still – it was odd.
Here are the alleged minimum requirements, if you're curious:
- OS: Windows 10 or 11
- CPU: Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 3 3300X
- RAM: 12GB
- GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTX 1060 3GB or AMD Radeon RX 580 4GB
- DirectX: DX12
- Storage: 60GB
You'll notice that we didn't include the "Recommended" requirements above, and that's because FromSoftware didn't upload them at all. In fact, even the Minimum requirements were quickly taken down, and if you visit the game's Steam page right now, all you'll see is a generic "TBD" under the Additional Notes field (which is typically reserved for small clarifications).
So... What's going on here, exactly? My theory is simple (and seems to be shared by several others): I think some intern at FromSoftware accidentally uploaded Elden Ring's Recommended requirements into the Minimum field, and simply forgot to include the other set of specs entirely.
Maybe Elden Ring is just a more demanding game, and a GTX 1060 really is the absolute minimum you'll need for a 30 FPS gaming experience (at low settings), but that just doesn't seem very likely to me.
In any case, it doesn't really matter. Elden Ring launches in less than two weeks, and FromSoftware will likely reveal the full requirements before then. You probably don't need to stress out about upgrading your rig before then, especially in the current era of overpriced hardware and never-ending scalping.