The Riftbreaker PC Hardware Guide
Official requirements explained
The Riftbreaker was developed by EXOR Studios and published by EXOR Studios and Surefire.Games, with a release date of October 14, 2021. The official minimum calls for an Intel i5 2nd generation or AMD Bulldozer processor with four cores, an Nvidia GTX 750 2GB or AMD R7 265 2GB graphics card, 8GB of RAM and 12GB of storage. The publisher states that an SSD is not required. By today's standards, the GTX 750 Ti sits in the older entry-level band, and a 2nd generation Core i5 is very old, so the minimum is about getting the game to run rather than delivering a comfortable experience.
The official recommended tier lists an Intel i7 2nd generation or AMD Ryzen processor, an Nvidia RTX 2080 8GB or AMD Radeon 6800 graphics card, 12GB of RAM and the same 12GB of storage, again without a required SSD. The RTX 2080 falls in the upper-mainstream band today. The gap between the two tiers is mainly in the graphics card, so if you want smoother play at higher settings, the recommended tier is the realistic target. The recommended CPU entry does not name a generation, so it is best read as a general Ryzen-class requirement.
Note that the publisher does not list anything above the recommended tier, so the build suggestions below are our estimates built upward from the recommended level, not official performance promises. For RAM, 8GB minimum and 12GB recommended are both awkward sizes in practice, so 16GB is the simpler choice, as explained further down.
Recommended builds for three budgets
The entry build suits players who want to keep costs down and are willing to play at lower settings. It pairs an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4GB with an AMD Ryzen 5 3500X and 16GB of RAM. This combination is clearly above the official minimum and should reach the basics of the recommended tier, which makes it a reasonable choice for 1080p at low to medium settings. It meets the recommended baseline, but it will not feel effortless at high settings or higher resolutions.
The mainstream build is for players who want higher visual quality at 1080p on a moderate budget. It uses an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and 16GB of RAM. This level has real headroom above the recommended tier, so medium to high settings are a realistic goal, and it handles late-game situations with many units on screen more comfortably. At 1440p this tier is noticeably more relaxed.
The high-end build suits players who want high settings, higher resolutions or extra headroom for the future. It combines an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, an Intel Core i5-12400 and 32GB of RAM. This configuration is well above the recommended tier and is suited to 1440p or beyond, with more visual options enabled and upscaling available if you need it. The 32GB of memory gives room for multitasking, mods and recording, which the game itself may not fully use.
Graphics settings with the biggest impact
In a game that mixes base building, action and large numbers of enemies, the settings that usually cost the most are shadow quality, volumetric lighting and fog, ray tracing, scene detail and object density, and view distance. Shadows and volumetric effects are often expensive for a modest visual gain, so they are the first things to lower. Texture quality mainly uses graphics memory, so if your card has enough VRAM, you can usually keep textures high without a big performance cost.
Whether ray tracing is worth enabling depends on your graphics card. If your card is only at the recommended level, ray tracing will usually cost a lot, so it is best to turn it off or use a light setting and spend that budget on core quality. Only higher-end cards make a stronger case for it.
Upscaling technologies such as DLSS, FSR and XeSS work by rendering at a lower internal resolution and reconstructing the image at your target resolution. Done well, they can improve smoothness with a small loss in image quality. If your card supports one of these, a quality or balanced mode is a sensible starting point. Results vary by game and setting, so compare the image and the smoothness yourself before deciding.
Laptops and handheld PCs
A laptop graphics chip shares a name with a desktop card but is not equivalent. Laptop versions are limited by power caps and cooling, so their real performance is often lower than the desktop part of the same name. When matching a laptop against the official requirements, judge it by its actual power level rather than the name. If the laptop throttles under long sessions because of heat, performance and stability will suffer, so check the cooling, keep the charger connected and use the high-performance power mode.
Handheld PCs such as the Steam Deck or ROG Ally are general-purpose devices. We have no Steam Deck verification data for this game, so we cannot give a rating. In general, handheld graphics and processing power sit below a mid-range desktop of the same era, so start with a lower resolution and lower settings and use the built-in power and frame-limit options. Battery life and heat are also factors to consider during play.
If you plan to play on a laptop or handheld, first check that the device reaches the recommended graphics tier and memory level, then tune the settings from there.
Storage and memory
The official minimum is 8GB of RAM and the recommended tier is 12GB. Since 12GB is an unusual capacity and dual-channel configurations give better memory bandwidth, 16GB in dual channel is the practical starting point, and it is the minimum used in all three builds above. If you run other programs, a browser or streaming software alongside the game, 32GB gives more breathing room. Make sure the memory is installed in dual-channel mode, such as two 8GB sticks or two 16GB sticks, since a single large stick usually performs worse.
The official storage figure is 12GB, but you should leave extra space for updates, temporary files and save backups. The publisher says an SSD is not required, so a traditional hard drive can run the game. An SSD, however, shortens loading times and keeps data streaming smoother, which is most noticeable during scene loads and fast travel. If your budget allows, install the game on an SSD.
Whatever drive you use, keep plenty of free space. A nearly full drive can cause failed updates and slowdowns, so clearing out unused files regularly keeps the whole system running smoothly.