Ghost of Tsushima recommended PC specifications promise high-performance haiku-writing samurai sim action

A silhouetted figure plays a flute against a setting sun backdrop.
(Image credit: Sony)

Take Assassin's Creed. Subtract a few Templars. Add a handful of Mongol soldiers. Plus a haiku riff or three. And what you'll have is Ghost of Tsushima.

Formerly a PlayStation-only title, it's coming to the PC on May 16. And now we have the full system requirements. Happily, they're not too scary.

That's despite the fact that it has been one of the better lookers in the PS stable since its inception on the PS4 in 2020 and in updated form for the PS5 in 2021. It all bodes pretty well for the PC given the range of tweaks and updated mooted for our favourite gaming platform. 

Developer Nixxes Software says it has been "working hard to bring the Sucker Punch in-house engine technology to PC," and promises PC optimisations including "unlocked frame rates, a variety of graphics settings and presets, and customizable mouse and keyboard controls." 

Helpfully, Nixxes has broken down the system specs into four tiers, from "Very Low" representing 720p at 30 fps right up to "Very High" and 4K 60 fps:

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Ghost of Tsushima recommended system requirements
Row 0 - Cell 0 Very Low | 720p @ 30 fpsMedium | 1080p @ 60 fpsHigh | 1440p @ 60 fps / 4K @ 30 fpsVery High | 4K @ 60 fps
CPUCore i3 7100 / Ryzen 3 1200Core i5 8600 / Ryzen 5 3600Core i5 11400 / Ryzen 5 5600Core i5 11400 / Ryzen 5 5600
GPUGTX 960 / RX 5500 XTRTX 2060 / RX 5600 XTRTX 3070 / RX 6800RTX 4080 / RX 7900 XT
RAM8 GB16 GB16 GB16 GB
Storage75 GB HDD75 GB SSD75 GB SSD75 GB SSD

Of course, that's all assuming the actual game performance lands roughly in line with the recommended specs. Which isn't exactly always the case, especially with console ports. But here's hoping for some sweet 1440p action on an RTX 3070 or some 1080p fun courtesy of an RX 5600 XT.

What we do know is that it will support all three existing flavours of upscaling out of the box, so that's NVIDIA DLSS 3, AMD FSR 3, and Intel XeSS. Indeed, it could be among the first to offer FSR 3.1 and the latest revision of AMD's frame generation technology, something Nixxes is working on across a number of their titles, including Horizon Forbidden West.

All of which means this almost certainly won't be one of those lazy, buggy console ports with poor performance. Nixxes has form when it comes to nicely optimised game migrations from console to PC.

For the record, the PC is getting the full Director's Cut version complete with the Iki Island expansion and the cooperative online multiplayer Legends mode.

What with the likes of Horizon Forbidden West and, of course, The Last of Us Part 1, chalk this latest release up as yet proof of the PCs unbeatable prowess as a cross-platform gaming destination.

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Jeremy Laird
Hardware writer

Jeremy has been writing about technology and PCs since the 90nm Netburst era (Google it!) and enjoys nothing more than a serious dissertation on the finer points of monitor input lag and overshoot followed by a forensic examination of advanced lithography. Or maybe he just likes machines that go “ping!” He also has a thing for tennis and cars.