System Requirements

System Requirements

Nivalis is a PC-exclusive title releasing on Steam (App ID 1488490) and the Epic Games Store. No console versions have been announced. No Mac or Linux versions are planned. The game runs on Unreal Engine 5 with Nanite and Lumen technology, which means it has meaningful hardware requirements, particularly for the GPU. Below are the minimum and recommended specifications based on the official Steam store page.

Hardware Specifications

Specification Notes

The 16 GB RAM requirement at both minimum and recommended tiers is worth noting. This is a firm baseline rather than something you can squeak under. Unreal Engine 5 games with dense environments tend to be memory-hungry, and Nivalis, with its detailed voxel art style and vertically layered city, is no exception. If your system has 8 GB of RAM, you should expect performance issues or an inability to run the game at all.

The GPU requirement jumps from 6 GB VRAM at minimum to 8 GB VRAM (with an RTX 2070 or equivalent recommended) for the recommended tier. The difference between these two tiers is not just resolution; it is the quality of the lighting. Lumen, Unreal Engine 5's global illumination system, is responsible for much of the game's visual atmosphere. Running at minimum settings will likely mean reduced lighting quality, which in a game where neon-lit nights and rain-slicked streets are a major part of the experience, is a significant trade-off.

Storage is listed at 30 GB for both tiers, but the recommended spec calls for an SSD rather than a traditional hard drive. This is primarily about loading times. The game's 19 hand-crafted districts contain a lot of unique geometry and texture data, and an SSD will reduce the time spent waiting during transitions and initial load.

Platform Availability

ION LANDS has indicated that Steam Deck compatibility is under exploration, but no official compatibility rating has been announced. Given the hardware requirements (16 GB RAM, 6 GB VRAM minimum), running Nivalis on the Steam Deck's APU will likely require significant graphical compromises if it is supported at all.

Steam Features

Nivalis supports several Steam platform features.

Full controller support means you can play the entire game with a gamepad, including menus, the business management interface, and cooking interactions. The game was designed with both keyboard/mouse and controller inputs in mind, so neither input method feels like an afterthought. Ultrawide monitor support is confirmed, which is worth noting for a game with detailed environmental art; the extra horizontal field of view should enhance the sense of being inside the city's dense lower levels.

Offline play is supported. Nivalis is a singleplayer-only game with no online functionality, so an internet connection is only needed for initial activation and updates. Cloud saves through Steam keep your progress synced across machines if you do play on multiple PCs.

Supported Languages

Nivalis supports 11 text languages at launch. Voice acting is in English only.

All 11 languages include full text localization for the game's roughly 200,000 words of dialogue. The voice acting, which covers 135-plus characters with distinct performances, is English-only. Given the scope of the recording (over 8,000 auditions for 100-plus roles), localizing the audio into additional languages would have been a significant additional investment for a studio of ION LANDS' size.

Additional Details

Performance Expectations

Because the game has not yet released, detailed performance benchmarks are not available. However, based on the hardware requirements and the engine, players should plan for a GPU-intensive experience. Unreal Engine 5 games with Nanite and Lumen tend to lean heavily on the graphics card, and the dense, detailed environments of Nivalis, especially the lower-city areas with their layered neon lighting and atmospheric effects, will likely push hardware harder than open sky or sparse environments would.

Players on minimum-spec hardware should expect to run the game at lower settings and resolutions. Those hitting the recommended spec (RTX 2070 class GPU with 8 GB VRAM, SSD) should be able to enjoy the game at medium to high settings with stable frame rates, though exact numbers will depend on ION LANDS' optimization work prior to release.