It's the most wish-listed strategy game on Steam. A blend of Crusader Kings-like aristocratic power plays, and detailed RimWorld-esque survival mechanics. A colony management/simulation fantasy set in an alternative medieval epoch. An epoch in which dysfunctional noble people model themselves on the cast of the Game of Thrones, while character-driven townsfolk take Umbridge to your charitable donation to plague-ridden neighboring serfs. (Or not, depending on the personalities involved).

Then we've got the nectar-addict peasants who keep showing up and causing havoc, and the decision of whether or not to dispatch an assassin to take out a rival nobleman. And that's not accounting for the day-to-day politics regarding taxes; military spending; the criminal justice system; foreign relations; setting the minimum wage etc. Oh, and don't forget the fleshwolves that prowl the streets looking for opportunities to attack. I think it's fair to say, a lot is going on!

Just be sure not to get so carried away with the intricacies of the high-level management and person-to-person social manipulation, that you lose sight of your ultimate goal: to control 12 provinces, dispose of the King, and defeat an inquisition army.

Norland is a colony sim that's full of surprises. We've certainly been having a lot of fun with it so far! For more details on gameplay, check out our preview: Norland Preview: A Medieval Rimworld... with a Twist.

For now, with the release date of July 18th knocking at our door, let's find out of your PC can run the game. Here is a run down of the Norland system requirements.

READ MORE: Norland on Steam Deck: How Does It Run?

Will Your PC Run the Norland System Requirements?

So, we've established that Norland is shaping up to be a pretty awesome territory and population management sim. Released in Early Access, it's already a lot of fun to play.

That's not to say it's perfect. I don't think we'd expect it to be, considering it's in EA. However, what stood out is that the game ended up chugging when there were lots of NPCs on the screen. (I'm talking a combat scene with a 50-man army running around the battlefield). We'd expect this to improve as EA continues, but I just thought I'd put it out there as a heads up. It certainly wasn't enough to put us off this compelling and feature-rich experience!

The next question then is, can your PC run the game? Here are the official minimum and recommended Norland system requirements:

MINIMUM:

RECOMMENDED:

Basically, as you can see, Norland is reassuringly accessible. To meet the minimum requirements calls for an Intel Core™ i5-4570T (dual-core), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (1 GB) graphics card, and 4 GB of RAM. Considering the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (1 GB) graphics card was released in 2011, PCs considered mid-range in the last 13 years should meet the specs without issue.

Having said that, given the nature of Norland's design, you may encounter lag and FPS issues if you do not meet a higher benchmark when it comes to CPU. That's to say, Norland will be pretty CPU intensive.

Indeed, the Norland recommended system requirements specify an Intel Core™ i5-4670 (quad-core) CPU; and 8GB of RAM. You'll notice that this isn't a considerable increase from the minimum specs, but it should allow for a smoother experience.

Furthermore, if you own a more modern processor, such as the Intel Core i5-12500 CPU, then you can feel pretty confident that this should be more that sufficient, no matter how big your kingdom grows.

One more thing to finish up with. Although the developer doesn't specify an SSD necessary, installing the game onto an SSD will further improve load times, as well as free up storage on your PC. It's a quick tip to bear in mind!

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It’s the most wish-listed strategy game on Steam. A blend of Crusader Kings-like aristocratic power plays, and detailed RimWorld-esque survival mechanics. A colony management/simulation fantasy set in an alternative medieval epoch. An epoch in which dysfunctional noble people model themselves on the cast of the Game of Thrones, while character-driven townsfolk take Umbridge to your charitable donation […]