Watch Dogs Legion’s system requirements might send you CPU shopping

As the Watch Dogs Legion release date draws near, it may be time to take stock and see if your PC is up to the task of running Ubisoft’s next big hack-happy open-world game. The software giant has now published the Watch Dogs Legion system requirements, and it’s a detailed breakdown of what you’ll need to play at several different graphics settings.

Watch Dogs Legion’s system requirements are broken out into minimums for 1080p with low graphics settings, 1080p on high settings, 1440p on high, and 4K on ultra. There are also requirements listed for Nvidia’s proprietary RTX On technology, which enables ray-traced lighting effects, for both 1080p / high and 4K / ultra.

Hardware mavens will notice that Watch Dogs Legion appears to be more demanding on CPUs than the average triple-A game these days, and that’s been the case for several of Ubisoft’s big open worlds like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey over the past couple of years. The crowded urban environment of near-future London is going to need a lot of processing power to handle all the countless characters you can recruit and play as in Legion.

Watch Dogs Legion system requirements

Watch Dogs Legion RTX On requirements

As you can see, you’ll want to have at least an Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 for high settings at 1080p, and if you want those flashy RTX On features, you’ll need a newer Core i5-9600K or a Ryzen 5 3600. At ultra settings with RTX On and 4K, that bumps up to a bleeding edge Core i7-9700K or Ryzen 7 3700X.

If you’re coming up short, browse our guides to the best CPU for gaming and the best graphics card available to buy right now. You’re sure to find the right part for your budget.

Ubisoft says Watch Dogs Legion will take advantage of Nvidia’s forthcoming 30-series cards with features like ray-traced reflections and DLSS Ultra Performance mode. So if you’re thinking of upgrading, you might want to hold off until the new GPUs to hit the shelves.