Yesterday, a little more than a week ahead of the release of Stalker 2, we reminded everyone as a public service that it's going to eat up a whopping 150GB in storage space, so you'd best either make some room or get out there and buy some.
Today, the situation has changed somewhat: GSC Game World has released newer, finalized system requirements, and whoops, it's gonna be even bigger than that.
The somewhat larger footprint—160GB instead of 150GB—is small enough that it's more amusing than a genuine headache. A more notable change is an increase in the minimum RAM requirement, which has gone up from 8GB to 16GB.
The previously "recommended" spec is now listed as "medium," while the high system requirement, which is "recommended," is significantly higher. For those who want to roll at 4K/60 fps, there's also a new "epic" specification, which is epic indeed.
So, to the new numbers:
Low (1080p, 30 fps):
- CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB, AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB, or Intel Arc A750
- RAM: 16GB
- Storage: 160GB SSD
Medium (1080p, 60 fps):
- CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super / RTX 4060 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
- RAM: 16GB
- Storage: 160GB SSD
High (1440p, 60 fps):
- CPU: Intel Core i7-11700 or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti / RTX 4070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
- RAM: 32GB
- Storage: 160GB SSD
Epic (4K, 60+ fps):
- CPU: Intel Core i7-13700KF or AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 or AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
- RAM: 32GB
- Storage: 160GB SSD
That's some seriously heavy hardware, and it's prompted a small amount of mild consternation among some followers on X. There's also a bit of sweat to be seen in the Steam discussions, where one user wrote, "Crysis is giving you a sideways look." Others have noted the absence of any mention of upscaling options—GSC Game World said in a reply post that DLSS and FSR will both be supported, but provided no details beyond that.
Frankly, I'm feeling a little bit nervous about running Stalker 2 on my own rig. It's been rock solid for a good many years, but that bump in the minimum spec really has me thinking about just how many years it's been. It's all speculative until the full game drops and we can see how it performs on PCs of various capabilities—that's set to happen on November 20.
