Hogwarts Legacy's system specs seem pretty reasonable for what's on offer

Alongside its big preview at Gamescom, Hogwarts Legacy's Steam page has been updated to include its suggested system requirements. While our peers at GamesRadar are right to wonder how this thing will ever run on Nintendo Switch, its PC requirements strike me as pretty reasonable for a big budget, open world RPG.

Hogwarts Legacy minimum requirements (1080p, 60fps, low settings)

• OS: Windows 10
• API: DirectX 12
• Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 or AMD RX Vega 56
• Storage: 85 GB available space (SSD preferred)
• Upscale Performance Setting

Hogwarts Legacy recommended requirements (1080p, 60fps, high settings)

• OS: Windows 10
• API: DirectX 12
• Processor: Intel Core i7-8700 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 1080 Ti or AMD RX 5700 XT
• Storage: 85 GB available space (SSD preferred)
• Upscale Quality Setting

I initially had a bit of sticker shock at the GTX 1070 as a minimum graphics choice, the same as Elden Ring's suggested minimum, but that's not really fair. The 1070's over six years old now, quite long in the tooth for a mid-high tier card. The fact that it will apparently push 1080p resolution and 60fps performance in a 2023 AAA release is actually pretty stunning. 

“Minimum” performance has come a long way since the horrendous, Games For Windows Live, 720p/30fps-locked Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition port. Thrifty gamers out there might be able to squeeze more resolution/frame rate-compromised experiences out of Legacy with even older hardware.

The game's performance seems like it'll be helped along by image reconstruction tech—the “Upscale Quality/Performance Setting” mentioned in the requirements. It seems to be Avalanche's own solution or AMD's FSR, as Nvidia DLSS would not work with the older GTX and Radeon cards in these specs.

I'm a bit puzzled by the proverbial half-step up for the game's recommended settings⁠—1080p, 60fps with High settings on a similarly withered i7-8700/GTX 1080 Ti combo. This space might have been better used to suggest hardware for higher resolutions, but this is a decent enough start and a strictly theoretical conversation for the time being. We'll have to wait until February 10 to see how Hogwarts Legacy actually performs.