Housemarque’s celebrated third-person roguelike shooter Returnal finally has a PC release date of February 15, 2023. In a PlayStation Blog post, Housemarque also revealed the game’s finalized system requirements and which PC bells and whistles fans can expect to see when Returnal launches next month.
Returnal’s PC port has been something of an open secret for PlayStation Studios and Housemarque for the past few months. Starting with leaks from Nvidia and Steam early last year to Housemarque itself showing the game running on a PC at GDC in September, fans were more or less just waiting for Returnal’s PC announcement at The Game Awards. Most recently, Returnal unveiled its initial “Minimum” and “Recommended” system requirements, requiring a hefty 16GB of RAM at the recommended configuration.
Today’s PlayStation Blog post put Returnal’s PC port front and center, announcing that the game will launch on February 15 on Steam and the Epic Games Store. Fans can expect to see both Nvidia’s DLSS and AMD’s FSR upscaling solutions to help boost performance, along with Nvidia NIS support for those who can’t run DLSS or FSR. Returnal’s ray-tracing feature set now also includes ray-traced reflections on PC, and the game also supports ultrawide resolutions of 21:9 and 32:9. Other features include 3D ray-traced audio using proprietary 3D audio solutions or Dolby Atmos. The port will also include full DualSense support on PC.
Additionally, Housemarque has updated its initial system requirements with “Epic” and “Ray Tracing” configurations. To play Returnal fully maxed out at 4K 60fps, PC gamers will require an Nvidia RTX 3080 or Radeon RX 6800 XT paired with an Intel i7-9700K or Ryzen 7 3700X. For ray tracing at 4K 60fps, fans will need an RTX 3080 Ti or Radeon RX 6950 XT with an Intel i9-11900K or Ryzen 9 5900X. PlayStation has also launched a Features Trailer for Returnal showcasing the game running at 4K with the new PC enhancements.
PC gamers are fresh out of a year filled with high-profile PlayStation Studios ports, and 2023 seems to be keeping that momentum going. Next month will see the long-awaited arrival of Returnal on PC, while shortly after that, the critically acclaimed The Last of Us Part 1 launches in March. Notably, both of those games are PS5 exclusives. So far, PC has mostly seen ports from some of the biggest PS4 games while PS5 titles have sat on standby. Hopefully, 2023 is the year Sony decides it’s time to launch older PS5 exclusives like Demon Souls and Ratchet & Clank to a new audience.
Returnal is available now for PS5. A PC version is set to launch on February 15.
