Dark Souls II Remaster on PC Will Cost You $20, $30, $40, or $50

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin's release is nearly here, as is its convoluted, tiered pricing system.

If you're planning to buy Scholar of the First Sin on Xbox One or PS4 (releasing April 7), the price is simple: $60. If you're on PC (releasing April 1), things are a bit more complicated, as there are four possible price points.

There are two different PC versions of Scholar of the First Sin: DirectX 9 and DirectX 11, each of which will have its own Steam store listing. The latter offers a variety of new features and--assuming your PC can handle it--is the more desirable version. As such, the DX9 version is priced at $40, and the DX11 version is priced at $50.

However, if you already own Dark Souls II and its DLC on Steam, and your computer can't handle DX11, there's no point in upgrading to the newer version, as an update released last month on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 will have already provided you with the full DX9 Scholar of the First Sin experience.

If your PC is DX11-capable, upgrading to Scholar of the First Sin costs $30. That is, unless you have all of the DLC already, in which case the price is $20.

In short:

• Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin Xbox One/PS4: $59.99
• Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (DirectX 9): $39.99
• Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (DirectX 11): $49.99
• DirectX 11 Upgrade price for existing owners of Dark Souls II on Steam: $29.99
• DirectX 11 Upgrade price for existing owners of Dark Souls II and all DLC on Steam: $19.99

As for transferring your save data over, that doesn't have a single answer, either. Players staying on Xbox 360, PS3 or the DX9 version can move their saves, whereas those going from any of those versions to the Xbox One, PS4, or DX11 versions cannot.

Additionally, these two groups of players (last-gen consoles/DX9 and current-gen/DX11) can't play with each other online due to changes that Scholar of the First Sin introduces, such as enemy spawns and item locations. For more about what's new, check out our chat with producer Atsuo Yoshimura.

Bandai Namco also provided minimum and recommended system specs for the DX9 and DX11 versions of Scholar of the First Sin, which you can find below.

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (DirectX 9)

Minimum System Requirements:

• OS: Windows Vista SP2 / Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8
• CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 555 3.2GHz / Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo E8500 3.17GHz
• Memory: 2GB RAM
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce 9600GT / ATI Radeon HD5870
• DirectX: 9.0c
• Network: Broadband Internet Connection
• Hard Drive: 12GB available space
• Sound Card: DirectX 9 sound device
• Additional Notes: Controller support: Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller for Windows (or equivalent) recommended

Recommended Specifications:

• OS: Windows 7 SP1 / Windows 8
• CPU: Intel Core i3 2100 3.10GHz / AMD A8 3870K 3.0GHz
• Memory: 4GB RAM
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 / ATI Radeon HD 6870 or better
• DirectX: 9.0c
• Network: Broadband Internet Connection
• Hard Drive: 15GB available space
• Sound Card: DirectX 9 sound device
• Additional Notes: Controller support: Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller for Windows (or equivalent) recommended

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (DirectX 11)

Minimum System Requirements:

• OS: Windows 7 SP1 64bit / Windows 8.1 64bit
• CPU: Intel Core i3 2100 3.1GHz / AMD A8 3870 3.6GHz
• Memory: 4GB RAM
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 465 / ATI Radeon HD 6870
• DirectX: 11
• Network: Broadband Internet Connection
• Hard Drive: 23GB available space
• Sound Card: DirectX 11 sound device
• Additional Notes: Controller support: Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller for Windows (or equivalent) recommended

Recommended Specifications:

• OS: Windows 7 SP1 64bit / Windows 8.1 64bit
• CPU: Intel Core i7 2600 3.4GHz / AMD FX 8150 3.6GHz or better
• Memory: 8GB RAM or better
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 (700 series) or better / ATI Radeon HD 7850 (7000 series) or better
• DirectX: 11
• Network: Broadband Internet Connection
• Hard Drive: 23GB available space
• Sound Card: DirectX 11 sound device
• Additional Notes: Controller support: Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller for Windows (or equivalent) recommended