Can I Run Dark Souls III on My PC / Laptop?

The official minimum is an Intel Core i3-2100 or AMD FX-6300 processor, a GeForce GTX 750 Ti or Radeon HD 7950 graphics card, and 4 GB of RAM, running DirectX 11 on 64-bit Windows. That gets you 1080p on low settings, and you should expect occasional dips below the 60fps cap in busier fights.

Recommended is a Core i7-3770 or FX-8350 processor, a GTX 970 or a Radeon R9-series card, and 8 GB of RAM. At that level you should hold the locked 60 fps at 1080p on high settings in nearly every area.

CPU, more than people expect for a game this old. Because the frame rate is capped at 60 anyway, a strong graphics card runs out of things to do quickly, while the CPU keeps working through enemy behavior, physics, and the engine's single-core-heavy processing. Owners of high-end GPUs still report drops in CPU-heavy areas like Irithyll of the Boreal Valley, and raising CPU clock speed is the fix that actually works there, not a GPU upgrade.

There's no official option to remove it. Community tools such as SaucyX's DS3 FPS unlock, built on the game's Mod Engine, can push past 60, but the engine ties movement speed and some animation timing to frame rate, so going much beyond roughly 80 fps can make you sprint and roll faster than intended. Most people who use it still cap themselves in the 60s or 70s rather than running fully uncapped, and it's a single-player-only trick since it touches game memory.

The most common cause that has nothing to do with your specs is a known engine quirk: the game re-scans Windows' Device Manager whenever it detects a hardware change, like a USB headset reconnecting, and that scan briefly freezes rendering for about a second. A small tool called FromStutterFixUpdated stops this from happening. If your frame rate is otherwise stable and you still get random freezes, try that before assuming your PC is underpowered.

The official minimum is 4 GB and recommended is 8 GB. 8 GB is genuinely enough since this is a 2016 game with a modest engine. Going to 16 GB or more helps your Windows background tasks and browser more than it helps the game itself.

Yes, for the minimum tier. The official minimum card, the GTX 750 Ti, ships with 2 GB, and that's enough for 1080p on low to medium settings. Cards with 4 GB or more, matching the recommended GTX 970, give you comfortable headroom for high or ultra textures with no VRAM-related stutter.

Steam asks for 25 GB of free space, though the actual installed size is closer to 18 GB, with the rest reserved for patches. An SSD isn't required, the game's own data throughput needs are light, but it makes a real difference to load screens, cutting them from over a minute on an old hard drive down to a few seconds, which matters in a game built around dying and reloading often.

DirectX 11 at minimum, with DirectX 12 also supported on the recommended tier and above. Any Windows 10 or 11 PC built in the last several years already has both.

No. Both DLC packs run on the same engine and save data as the base game and aren't listed with separate requirements anywhere, including Bandai Namco's own pages. If your PC runs the base game, it runs the DLC areas too.

Probably not, unless your PC falls below the minimum GTX 750 Ti and i3-2100 tier. This is one of the least demanding games you're likely to check requirements for, and since the frame rate is capped at 60 regardless of hardware, spending on a much stronger GPU specifically for this game has almost no payoff.

Use the checker above with your exact CPU and GPU model for a direct answer. As a general guide, if your PC is younger than about 2016 and has any dedicated graphics card, it very likely clears the bar.

No. It predates both technologies by several years and has never been patched to add them. There's no upscaling option in the settings menu at all, native rendering only.

Those spots combine a lot of enemies, particle effects, and lighting at once, which leans hard on a single CPU core in this engine. It's a CPU bottleneck rather than a graphics one, which is why even players with top-tier GPUs report the same dips there.

Yes, and that's exactly why the 60fps cap exists and why removing it is risky. Movement speed, roll distance, and some animation timing are tied to frame rate in this engine, so an uncapped or badly modded frame rate can genuinely change how the game plays, not just how it looks.

Not officially. FromSoftware never built a native Linux version, and Bandai Namco does not list Proton support anywhere in its own documentation. In practice it runs well through Steam Play's Proton compatibility layer, the same technology behind its Verified rating on Steam Deck, so most Linux desktop users just enable Proton in their Steam settings rather than wait on official support that is not coming.

Yes, with no extra steps. The official minimum only asks for 64 bit Windows 10, and the game runs the same on Windows 11 since nothing about the engine changed between the two. If you hit an issue, it is more likely the Device Manager freeze bug covered above than anything specific to Windows 11.

No. Only the original Dark Souls got a remaster, released in 2018 as Dark Souls Remastered with updated resolution and frame rate support. Dark Souls III has never been rereleased or remastered, so the system requirements you find for it today are the same ones FromSoftware published at launch in 2016.

For sure. The RTX 3050 outpaces Dark Souls III's recommended card, leaving you high 1080p now and 1440p whenever you like.

Yes, though keep expectations modest. The GTX 1650 clears Dark Souls III's minimum, so plan on 1080p at low to medium and trim a setting or two for a steady frame rate. A steady 60 fps at 1080p high, comfortably above the official recommended GTX 970.

Easily. With the GTX 1060 6GB you are past Dark Souls III's recommended tier, which means high settings at 1080p and a genuine shot at 1440p. A steady 60 fps, the game's cap, at 1080p high, with 1440p staying close but not guaranteed in every area.

Yes. On the RX 580, Dark Souls III runs at high settings in 1080p and scales up to 1440p without much fuss. Locked 60 fps at 1080p high and mostly steady at 1440p high, matching the official recommended card.

Yes. The RTX 4060 has headroom over Dark Souls III's recommended card, so you can push 1080p high and move to 1440p when you want. Locked 60 fps at every resolution up to 4K ultra.

Plenty of power here. The RTX 3060 is above Dark Souls III's recommended tier, so high 1080p is smooth and 1440p is a fair target. Locked 60 fps at 1080p and 1440p, and mostly holds 60 at 4K ultra too.

Yes, with room to spare. Dark Souls III recommends less than the RTX 2060 offers, so expect smooth 1080p high and a playable 1440p. Locked 60 fps at 1080p and 1440p ultra without effort.

That is more than enough. The GTX 1660 clears Dark Souls III's recommended requirement, so aim for high at 1080p or step up to 1440p. Locked 60 fps at 1080p ultra and mostly steady at 1440p high.

For sure. The GTX 1660 Super outpaces Dark Souls III's recommended card, leaving you high 1080p now and 1440p whenever you like. Locked 60 fps at 1080p ultra with headroom for 1440p high as well.

You are well set. The RX 6600 exceeds Dark Souls III's recommended card, so 1080p high is easy and 1440p is realistic. Locked 60 fps at 1080p and 1440p ultra with plenty of headroom to spare.

Yes. The GTX 1660 Ti has headroom over Dark Souls III's recommended card, so you can push 1080p high and move to 1440p when you want.

Yes. On the RTX 3060 Ti, Dark Souls III runs at high settings in 1080p and scales up to 1440p without much fuss.

Plenty of power here. The RTX 4050 is above Dark Souls III's recommended tier, so high 1080p is smooth and 1440p is a fair target. Comfortably holds the locked 60 fps at 1080p high, since Dark Souls III is a light load even for a laptop GPU.

Good enough to play. The GTX 1050 Ti sits at Dark Souls III's minimum, so expect 1080p low to medium and a bit of tuning for smoothness. Close to a locked 60 fps at 1080p medium, with brief dips in effect-heavy boss arenas.

Yes. The RTX 4070 has headroom over Dark Souls III's recommended card, so you can push 1080p high and move to 1440p when you want. Locked 60 fps at 4K ultra. The cap, not the card, is what limits you here.

Not natively. There has never been a Mac version of Dark Souls III, so an M-series MacBook can't run it on its own. Cloud streaming through a service that supports your Steam library, or running Windows through a virtualization tool, are the practical ways to play it on a Mac.

It depends on the chip. Older integrated graphics, like Intel's UHD 620 or 630 found in many laptops, sit below the GTX 750 Ti minimum and won't run it well. Newer integrated GPUs, such as AMD's Radeon 780M or recent Intel laptop chips, can clear that low bar and hold 60 fps at 1080p on low or medium settings, since this is an undemanding decade-old engine by today's standards.

Not locally. A Chromebook doesn't have the hardware or the Windows compatibility to run it directly. Cloud streaming through a service that supports your Steam library, or remote play from a gaming PC you already own, are the ways to play it on one.

Yes. This is one of the least demanding games you'll check requirements for. A PC at or slightly above the official minimum, a GTX 750 Ti-class card, an i3-2100-class CPU, and 4 GB of RAM, will run it at 1080p on low settings, with the CPU being the part more likely to hold you back than the GPU.

A modern i3 or Ryzen 3 handles it fine, and even the official minimum, a Core i3-2100 from 2011, is listed as sufficient. Since the game leans on single-core speed more than core count, a recent budget CPU with decent clock speeds will outperform an old higher-core-count chip here.

Poorly out of the box. On a native 21:9 or 32:9 display you'll see stretched UI elements and cropped cutscenes. Community mods like SoulsUnsqueezed and Proper PC Experience fix the aspect ratio and field of view, and are widely used by ultrawide players since FromSoftware never patched proper support in.

Not for the game itself, 8 GB covers it comfortably. It's worth it if you're also running a browser with dozens of tabs, a Discord call, or recording software alongside it, since that extra headroom goes to your background tasks rather than the game.

Close, but not comfortably. Intel Iris Xe, built into 11th and 12th generation Core laptop chips, sits near the official minimum GTX 750 Ti in real world performance and can manage roughly 30 to 45 fps at 1080p on low settings, short of the game's 60fps cap. Dropping to 900p or 720p closes most of that gap.

Yes. AMD's Vega 8 graphics, built into Ryzen 4000 and 5000 U series laptop chips, clears the GTX 750 Ti minimum comfortably and holds close to a locked 60 fps at 1080p on low to medium settings, since Dark Souls III is a light load for hardware from the 2020s.

Yes, easily. AMD's Radeon 780M, found in Ryzen 7040 and 8040 series laptop chips, performs well above the recommended GTX 970 for a game this old, and holds a locked 60 fps at 1080p on medium to high settings without effort.

Usually not well. Older Intel HD Graphics chips, the 2000 through 5500 series common in laptops from around 2010 to 2015, sit well below the GTX 750 Ti minimum and typically cannot hold a stable 30 fps at 1080p even on low settings. Dropping to 720p helps, but this class of chip is genuinely underpowered for it.

Yes, and then some. The recommended GTX 970 ships with 4 GB, which covers ultra textures at 1080p and 1440p with no VRAM related stutter. Since this is a 2016 game, even cards released years later with 4 GB have far more headroom than Dark Souls III actually needs.

Yes. It released on PS4, and PS5 runs that same version through backward compatibility at a full 1080p and 60 fps without needing a separate patch. This page covers the PC version specifically.

Yes, through backward compatibility with the Xbox One version. Microsoft's FPS Boost feature removed the original 30fps cap, so it now runs up to 60 fps, but the resolution stays capped at 900p even on Series X, a notch below the PS5 version's 1080p.

No. Only the original Dark Souls got a Switch port, as Dark Souls Remastered. Dark Souls III has never released on any Nintendo platform.

Yes, comfortably. Valve rates it Verified on Steam Deck, and it holds a steady 60 fps at the Deck's native 800p on medium to low settings with normal battery life for the device. A ROG Ally or Legion Go, both more powerful than the Deck, run it just as well or better.

Cloud streaming is a practical option for anyone without a capable PC, since a title this old and light is an easy fit for most services that carry your Steam library. Check the specific service's current catalog before assuming it's listed, since availability changes.

Yes. Because the frame rate is capped at 60 regardless of resolution, a card around an RTX 2060 or RX 580 8GB comfortably holds 60 fps at 1440p on ultra settings, and something in the RTX 3060 to RTX 4060 range does the same at 4K.

Capping the frame rate to 40 or 30 in the Deck's quick settings, alongside lowering shadow and effects quality in-game, stretches battery life noticeably on a game that doesn't need the Deck's full power to hit 60 fps in the first place.

Most popular mods, like the Cinders overhaul, item and enemy randomizers, and Seamless Co-op, run fine on hardware that already meets the recommended specs, since they change content rather than add graphical load. Framerate-unlock mods are the ones that can cause the animation and physics issues covered above, not content mods.

No. Like the rest of the series, PC, PlayStation, and Xbox players are kept on separate servers, so multiplayer and invasions only happen within the same platform.

Yes. Bandai Namco took PC online play offline for about seven months in 2022 after a remote-code-execution exploit was found, but servers for PC, PS4/PS5, and Xbox have been back online since August 2022, and the game still has an active PvP and co-op community.

Yes, well above what it needs. The GTX 1070 clears the recommended GTX 970 by a wide margin and holds a locked 60 fps at 1080p and 1440p on ultra settings without any tuning required.

Yes, comfortably. The GTX 1080 holds a locked 60 fps at 1080p, 1440p, and most of 4K on ultra settings, though the fixed 60fps cap means you will not see any benefit over a cheaper card like the GTX 1070 here.

Yes, with plenty of headroom. The RTX 2070 locks in 60 fps at 1080p and 1440p ultra and mostly holds it at 4K ultra too, since Dark Souls III's demands have not scaled with newer hardware.

Yes. The RTX 3070 locks a steady 60 fps at 4K ultra with room to spare, well beyond what this game needs even at its highest resolution.

Yes, but it is overkill. The RTX 3080 hits the same locked 60 fps at 4K ultra as an RTX 3070 or even an RTX 2060, since the game's frame cap, not the card, decides the number.

Yes, though buying one specifically for this game makes no sense. It is still capped at the same locked 60 fps as much cheaper cards like the RTX 4060, so an RTX 4090 offers zero visible benefit here.

Yes, easily. The RX 6700 XT locks a steady 60 fps at 1440p and 4K ultra, matching Nvidia equivalents like the RTX 3070 for a game this light.