Ubisoft's remake of the 2013 pirate classic launches July 9, and anyone expecting a light touch-up is in for a rude awakening. The official system requirements reveal a properly modern PC game that demands hardware closer to Assassin's Creed Shadows than a 13-year-old last-gen title. The minimum floor targets 1080p at 30 FPS on Low with ray tracing set to Standard and upscaling on Balanced.
That requires an Intel Core i7-8700K or Ryzen 5 3600, 16GB of RAM, and a GTX 1660, RX 5500 XT, or Intel ARC A580. The 65GB install must live on an SSD, an HDD will cause constant stuttering, according to testing from multiple outlets. For 1080p at 60 FPS on Medium, Ubisoft recommends an RTX 3060 or RX 6600 XT paired with a Core i5-10600K or Ryzen 5 3600.
That's a steep ask for a game many assumed would run on decade-old hardware. The 4K Ultra target with Extended ray tracing and an upscaler set to Quality requires an RTX 4090 or RX 7900 XTX alongside a Ryzen 7 5700X3D or Core i5-12700K. With component prices inflated by the ongoing memory pricing crisis, those specs will be out of reach for many.
Steam Deck Runs It, But Don't Expect 60 FPS
Ubisoft confirmed the game is Steam Deck Verified, with the company stating on Steam that the game "looks and runs great" on Valve's handheld and includes ray tracing across all platforms. Real-world performance is more measured.
Early testing on Deck suggests frame rates closer to 40 FPS with upscaling enabled, though the game uses a slightly older Anvil engine variant than Shadows, which could work in its favor.
One reviewer running a Ryzen 5 3600 and RTX 3060, a setup that straddles minimum and recommended specs, reported a steady 60 FPS at 1080p on Medium settings with frame generation turned off. The GPU was pegged at 100% usage while the CPU sat underutilized, a pattern common in modern PC ports.
The Triple-DRM Problem
PC gamers buying on Steam or Epic Games Store will need to handle three layers of DRM to launch. The game ships with Denuvo and requires Ubisoft Connect regardless of the storefront, meaning Steam opens Uplay, which then authenticates the license and launches the game. That "Full-Link" process can hang or throw connection errors.
There is a workaround: buying directly from Ubisoft Connect skips one DRM layer. The game also supports offline play after an initial online authentication, and cross-platform saves carry over through a unified Ubisoft account.
Preload Is Live, Unlocks July 9
PC preloads went live July 7 at 10 PM UTC+8. The 65GB download is followed by a CPU-intensive decompression phase that can take hours on older processors, especially without a fast NVMe SSD.
Ubisoft recommends updating to "Resynced Game Ready" graphics drivers from both AMD and NVIDIA before launch. The game is available through Ubisoft+ for £14.99 a month, which includes the Deluxe Edition, or as a standalone purchase with discounts showing up at third-party retailers before launch.
