The Returnal PC port is being co-developed by Housemarque and Climax Studios known for their work on Sudeki, Silent Hill: Origins, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, and Assassin’s Creed Chronicles, but they have also helped port many games to other platforms, including Castlevania: Lords of the Shadow and previous Housemarque games like Dead Nation and Resogun. The brief trailer for the Returnal PC port shown on The Game Awards confirms that Returnal is coming to PC but does not give a definite release date. However, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the game is finally coming to PC as numerous rumors were circulating around this particular port, and even a 53-second gameplay footage was also leaked hinting towards the Returnal PC port. Well, shortly after the confirmation of the news, the Steam page for the game went live, revealing the PC requirements for the game, and to say the least, they are interesting. The Steam page for the game also confirms that Returnal PC does not support cross-play with PlayStation 5. It should be noted that Returnal is entirely a next-gen game, and keeping in view, the game’s PC requirements are understandable except for one thing that stands out the most; the RAM requirements for the game to run at recommended settings. While the minimum requirements advise you to have at least 16 GB of RAM (which is already equivalent to the recommended RAM requirements for the recent games), the recommended RAM requirement for the game is a whopping 32 GB. You can have a look at the complete PC Requirements for Returnal below.
Returnal PC Requirements
Minimum:
OS: Windows 10 64-bit (version 1903)Processor: Intel Core i5-6400 (4 core 2.7GHz) AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (4 core 3.5GHz)Memory: 16 GB RAMGraphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB) AMD Radeon RX 580 (8 GB)Storage: 60 GB available spaceAdditional Notes: SSD Recommended
Recommended:
OS: Windows 10 64-bit (version 1903)Processor: Intel i7-8700 (6 core 3.7 GHz) AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (8 core 3.7 GHz)Memory: 32 GB RAMGraphics: NVIDIA RTX 2070 SUPER (8 GB) AMD RX 6700 XT (12 GB)Storage: 60 GB available space
The 32 GB RAM requirement is insane. For comparison, graphically demanding PC games, like Microsoft Flight Simulator, Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, Dying Light 2, and A Plague Tale: Requiem, do not suggest more than 16GB of RAM. However, it was previously reported that the game will support Nvidia’s DLSS and AMD’s FSR for ray tracing and upscaling for shadows and reflections. Even if it supports the latest graphical technologies, the hefty RAM requirement is not justified, but it will be too soon to conclude anything before there is any word from the studio. It will be interesting to see how Returnal PC will turn out as 2022 was packed with PlayStation exclusives coming to PC like Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, Spider-Man Miles Morales, God of War 2018, and Horizon Zero Dawn. So, what are your thoughts about Returnal’s PC requirements? Are they justified? Let us know in the comment section below.
