With the Cyberpunk 2077 expansion "Phantom Liberty" set to launch on September 26, CD Projekt has made changes to the game's system requirements "to give players a better understanding of what it takes" to run the game at an acceptable performance level to "give players a better understanding of what is required" for the game to run at an acceptable performance level. The changes reflect the evolution of PC gaming hardware in the three years since the original game's release, including support for new GPU hardware that was not available at the time. [CD Projekt added, "The changes to the minimum requirements reflect our new requirements criteria, which we believe better represent the minimum PC configuration needed to run the game at 1080p and maintain an average of 30 FPS at low presets. The reason we are making these changes is that updating the requirements is an important part of the game improvement process, leading to new enhancements and additions."

One of the most important changes, at least symbolically, is the end of hard disk drive support: while storage capacity remains unchanged, the new minimum specs now require SSDs rather than recommendations. CD Projekt has been working to ensure that while hard disks will continue to work (and in general Cyberpunk 2077 will continue to run on older minimum hardware), but active support will end and future updates will no longer be tested on HDD-based setups.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the second game to move to SSD minimum requirements in the last few days: Starfield's minimum system requirements also require SSDs; Starfield's minimum system requirements also require SSDs; and Cyberpunk 2077's minimum system requirements also require SSDs. I initially thought it was a mistake when Starfield's hardware requirements were announced, but it appears that developers are simply embracing the many benefits of solid state technology. [I am not a hardware professional, but I can tell you from personal experience that adding even a moderate SSD to a rig can make a huge difference.

Here are the latest specs:

Minimum (ingame graphics preset low, 1080p resolution, expected fps 30)

Recommended (ingame graphics preset high, 1080p resolution, expected fps 60)

Super ( (In-game graphics preset ray tracing ultra, resolution 2160p, expected fps 60)

Minimum (In-game graphics preset ray tracing low, resolution 1080p, expected fps 30)

Recommended (In-game graphics preset ray (In-game graphics preset ray tracing ultra, 1080p resolution, fps 60 expected)

Overdrive (In-game graphics preset ray tracing overdrive, 2160p resolution, fps 60 expected)

Due to changes in the SSD, the stated minimum RAM requirement has been changed from 12 to 12 MB. Note that with the SSD change, the stated minimum RAM requirement is now 12 GB and the recommended is 16 GB. The CPU and GPU recommendations have also been significantly increased, so as long as there is some compromise in visual quality, the GTX 970 should perform well. Overall, it's not a huge leap, but it's something to keep in mind, especially if your PC is on the bubble with its initial specs

: I got to touch a bit of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty at Summer Game Fest over the weekend, It looks pretty good in its pre-release phase: maybe the cyberpunk will rival "Blood and Wine," the excellent conclusion to "The Witcher 3."