Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition PC Hardware Guide
Official requirements explained
The official minimum CPU is an Intel Core i3-2100 or AMD FX-6300. Both are more than a decade old and correspond to the oldest entry tier on our scale. The minimum GPU is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 or AMD Radeon HD 7950, roughly comparable to a GTX 1050 2GB in our reference tiers. The minimum asks for 4 GB of RAM and 25 GB of storage, and does not require an SSD.
The recommended level moves up to an Intel Core i5-2500K or AMD Ryzen 5 1400 for the CPU, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 570 for the GPU. That GPU is roughly in the range of a GTX 1650 4GB. Recommended RAM is 8 GB, and storage stays at 25 GB. The gap between minimum and recommended is mostly about memory and GPU generation, and the recommended tier gives you more headroom at mainstream resolutions.
The publisher does not list any higher tier, so the upper references here are for comparison only and are not official requirements.
Recommended builds for three budgets
For an entry budget, pair an AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 with a quad-core CPU such as the Ryzen 3 3100, and 16 GB of RAM. This sits comfortably above the recommended tier and suits players who want to run the game at 1080p on a modest budget.
For a mainstream budget, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super or RTX 3050 8GB paired with a Ryzen 5 3600 or Intel Core i5-10400 and 16 GB of RAM is a solid choice. It keeps the game steady at medium-high settings and leaves room for background apps and streaming software.
For a high budget, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti or RTX 4060 with a Ryzen 5 5600 or Intel Core i5-12400 and at least 16 GB of RAM gives you room for higher settings and upscaling. 32 GB is a reasonable upgrade if your budget allows, but it is not essential for this game.
Graphics settings with the biggest impact
In action-adventure games like this one, the settings that usually cost the most are shadow quality, volumetric lighting and fog, depth of field and reflections, and the density of crowds and effects. If you need to make cuts, lower shadows and volumetrics first, since these often change the picture less than they cost in performance. Lowering view distance, if the option exists, also eases the load.
Keep anti-aliasing and the main texture settings where you can, because they affect sharpness more noticeably than most effects. Ray tracing, if offered, is generally not worth enabling on entry or mainstream hardware because the cost is high.
Upscaling technologies such as DLSS, FSR and XeSS render at a lower internal resolution and reconstruct the image, which usually gives a good trade-off between image quality and performance. If your GPU supports one of them and the game offers it, it is worth turning on.
Laptops and handheld PCs
A laptop GPU often shares its name with a desktop part, but its real performance depends on the power limit and cooling design. A laptop RTX 3050 can perform noticeably below a desktop RTX 3050, so check the specific model's power and cooling rather than relying on the name alone.
Handheld PCs such as the Steam Deck or ROG Ally are portable PCs. In general, you should use a lower resolution and moderate settings, and lean on built-in or system-level scaling to balance performance and battery life. FrameScope has no Steam Deck verification data for this title, so we cannot give a rating for that device; check user reports and the official information for current compatibility.
On handhelds, using a balanced or performance power profile and avoiding long sessions at maximum load helps keep performance steady and battery life reasonable.
Storage and memory
The official minimum is 4 GB of RAM and the recommended is 8 GB. In practice, once the operating system and background programs take their share, 16 GB makes the experience more comfortable. If possible, confirm that your memory runs in dual-channel mode by using the correct slots, which helps data flow between the CPU and GPU.
The listed storage is 25 GB, but when installing you should leave extra room for updates and save files, at least a few gigabytes of headroom. An SSD is not required, but it noticeably shortens load times and scene transitions, so if your budget allows, install the game on an SSD. A hard drive will work, but loading will be slower.