Northgard Battlegrounds hits Early Access: PC requirements and Steam Deck verdict

Northgard Battlegrounds, a city-building auto-battler set in the Viking world of Northgard, enters Early Access on Steam on October 27. Funday Games is developing it and Shiro Unlimited is publishing. If you have a modest PC, this is good news: the game asks for a GTX 1050 at minimum, a GTX 1060 recommended, and only 2.2 GB of storage.

It follows a demo that got a lot of play during Steam Next Fest. According to the studio, more than 100k players tried the demo before and during the festival, and they fought over 5 million battles in less than a month. A fresh leaderboard opens with the Early Access release.

Northgard Battlegrounds PC requirements

These are the official requirements from the Steam page:

	Minimum	Recommended
GPU	GTX 1050	GTX 1060
CPU	Core i3-9100F	Core i5-9400F
RAM	8 GB DDR4	16 GB DDR4
Storage	2.2 GB	2.2 GB
OS	Windows 10	Windows 10

The biggest jump from minimum to recommended is memory, which goes from 8 to 16 GB. For now the game is Windows only: the Steam page lists no Mac or Linux version.

Which GPUs run it

Every popular GPU we checked clears the minimum. Here are the grades measured against the recommended requirement, assuming 16 GB of RAM:

GTX 1650: clears the minimum and grades C (Tight) against the recommended. It runs the game, with little headroom.
GTX 1060 6GB: this is the recommended card, so it grades B (Solid).
RTX 3050: grades A (Smooth).
RTX 4060: grades S (Overkill), like everything above it.

So a midrange card from a few generations back already reaches the recommended tier. An RX 580 is in the same spot as the GTX 1650: it clears the minimum and grades C.

If you want to try before you buy, the demo is still on the Steam page. It already includes over 50 structures, a hundred Fate Cards, and the Clan of the Wolf with its warchief, Egil.

What about Steam Deck?

Valve tested it and rated it Verified. You can find more details on the game’s Steam Deck page, and our Steam Deck games list shows what else plays well on the handheld.