Doom: The Dark Ages PC system requirements ask for a ray tracing supported GPU at a minimum

PC gamers will need a hefty PC to run Doom: The Dark Ages later this year. Even the minimum system requirements want ray tracing supported GPUs.

Microsoft and id Software just unveiled more details about the gameplay, world, and story of Doom: The Dark Ages, the upcoming prequel entry to the hugely popular first-person shooter franchise. Alongside it, the developer also dropped the official system requirements for the game, and it's a rather eye-watering reveal.

Doom: The Dark Ages' newly revealed specifications ask for a lot more horsepower than the last entry, Doom Eternal, which began things asking for a GTX 1050Ti/RadeonR9 280 at the least. This time around, id is asking for gamers with at least an RTX 2060 Super/RX 6600 to play the game.

Here are the system requirements in image and text form:

MINIMUM (1080p/60 FPS/Low Video Settings)

OS: Win10 64Bit / Win 11 64Bit
CPU: AMD Zen 2 or Intel 10th Generation @3.2Ghz with 8 cores / 16 threads or better (examples: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X or better, Intel Core i7 10700K or better)
GPU: NVIDIA or AMD hardware ray tracing-capable GPU with 8GB dedicated VRAM or better (examples: NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super or better, AMD RX 6600 or better)
System RAM: 16GB
Storage Capacity: 512GB or higher NVME SSD (100GB Available)

RECOMMENDED (1440p/60 FPS/High Video Settings)

OS: Win10 64Bit / Win 11 64Bit
CPU: AMD Zen 3 or Intel 12th Generation @3.2Ghz with 8 cores / 16 threads or better (examples: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X or better, Intel Core i7 12700K or better)
GPU: NVIDIA or AMD hardware ray tracing-capable GPU with 10GB dedicated VRAM or better (examples: NVIDIA RTX 3080 or better, AMD RX 6800 or better)
System RAM: 32GB
Storage Capacity: 512GB or higher NVME SSD (100GB Available)

ULTRA 4K (2160p/60 FPS/Ultra Video Settings)

OS: Win10 64Bit / Win 11 64Bit
CPU: AMD Zen 3 or Intel 12th Generation @3.2Ghz with 8 cores / 16 threads or better (examples: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X or better, Intel Core i7 12700K or better)
GPU: NVIDIA or AMD hardware ray tracing-capable GPU with 16GB dedicated VRAM or better (examples: NVIDIA RTX 4080 or better, AMD RX 7900XT or better)
System RAM: 32GB
Storage Capacity: 512GB or higher NVME SSD (100GB Available)

The reason behind the much higher requirements is said to be the "all-new dynamic interactive ray-traced lighting and shadows" that are a part of the studio's updated idTech8 engine.

Xbox fans may remember that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle followed the same path for PC specifications, which uses idTech7. The MachineGames-developed new experience asked for a dedicated ray tracing-supported graphics card at a minimum to play the adventure game with a playable frame rate.