Especially if you own the games on Steam already
2K has clarified the upgrade process for BioShock: The Collection on PC ahead of next week’s launch. In short, if you already own the games on Steam, this is what you can expect to get for free:
- BioShock ➜ BioShock remastered including the unlockable video series, Director’s Commentary: Imagining BioShock
- BioShock 2 ➜ BioShock 2 remastered
- BioShock 2: Minerva’s Den ➜ BioShock 2: Minerva’s Den remastered
As a quick reminder, BioShock Infinite is present in The Collection, but that game was deemed new enough to not warrant its own remastered re-release on PC, so it isn’t a part of this upgrade process.
For most players, scoring the enhanced versions of BioShock, BioShock 2, and Minerva’s Den won’t require any extra effort. If you own any of these titles through Steam, you’ll see new “remastered” versions of them listed separately in your library beginning September 15, 2016 at 3:00pm Pacific. After that point, you’re free to install the upgraded games or continue playing the originals.
Folks who own BioShock outside of Steam, however, will need to put in a little more work to claim their free remaster. Essentially, you’re just verifying that you did, at one point or another, pay for the game. If you own a physical copy without a CD key, you can send your Steam profile and proof of purchase in a support ticket to 2K. For non-Steam copies of BioShock 2, you’ll need to find the Games for Windows Live key that came with your physical or digital purchase, and then redeem that on Steam.
See? Not too bad at all. 2K also shared the system specs for the remasters today.
Minimum Specs:
- OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64-bit. Platform Update for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
- Processor: Intel E6750 Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz / AMD Athlon X2 2.7 GHZ
- Memory: 4 GB
- Hard Drive: BioShock 25GB; BioShock 2 25GB; BioShock Infinite 20GB; Total for all three games 70GB
- Video Card: DirectX11 Compatible, AMD Radeon HD 7770 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Device
- Other Requirements: Software installations required including DirectX and Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 & 2012 Redistributable Package.
Recommended Specs:
- OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64-bit. Platform Update for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
- Processor: 3GHz Quad-Core
- Memory: 8 GB
- Hard Drive: BioShock 25GB; BioShock 2 25GB; BioShock Infinite 30GB; Total for all three games 80GB
- Video Card: 2GB ATI Radeon HD 7970, 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 or better
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Device
