Image: Microsoft Microsoft has poured cold water on any hopes of lower hardware requirements for Windows 11. With Windows 10 end of support approaching in October 2025, the software giant now says that its Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 requirement for Windows 11 is “non-negotiable.” In a blog post entitled “TPM 2.0 – a necessity for a secure and future-proof Windows 11,” Microsoft makes it very clear that it won’t lower Windows 11’s strict hardware requirements to encourage people to upgrade from Windows 10. TPM was a surprise requirement for Windows 11 when it was first announced in 2021, and now practically every modern PC ships with support for TPM 2.0. It’s a hardware-level chip or firmware capability that helps encrypt or decrypt data, confirm digital signatures, and assist with any other cryptographic operations. “TPM 2.0 plays a crucial role in enhancing identity and data protection on Windows devices, as well as maintaining the integrity of your system,” says Steven Hosking, a senior product manager at Microsoft. “TPM 2.0 also helps future-proof Windows 11. One way it does so is by helping to protect sensitive information as more AI capabilities come to physical, cloud, and server architecture.” Microsoft details how TPM integrates with new security features in Windows 11 like Credential Guard and Windows Hello for Business, as well as BitLocker disk encryption. TPM 2.0 also helps support Secure Boot, a key technology that secures the boot process from any unauthorized changes. Hosking says Microsoft has implemented TPM 2.0 “as a non-negotiable standard for the future of Windows,” so there’s no going back on the hardware requirements here. Microsoft also requires that Windows 11 devices are capable of virtualization-based security and hypervisor-protected code integrity (HVCI), which means Windows 11 is only supported on CPUs released from 2018 onward. Despite the requirements, there have been several workarounds over the years to allow Windows 11 to run on unsupported hardware. Microsoft didn’t apply a hardware-compliance check initially for virtualized versions of Windows 11, but the company has been gradually locking down the upgrade and setup process in recent years — especially with the 24H2 update. The improved compatibility checks with 24H2 have forced tools like Flyby11 to leverage a feature of the Windows 11 setup that uses a Windows Server variant of the installation to bypass the hardware compatibility checks. Businesses can also use Microsoft’s official Windows 11 LTSC 2024 release, which makes TPM an optional requirement but still enforces a list of compatible CPUs. Microsoft is now trying to convince Windows 10 users to buy a new PC with full-screen prompts. The latest prompts follow warnings about the Windows 10 end of support date earlier this year. Microsoft has used similar prompts like this in the past, with the company pushing Windows 10 upgrades for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users.

Image: Square Enix Fantasian was an easy game to recommend when it launched in 2021. Developed by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s Mistwalker studio, Fantasian was an approachable old-school roleplaying game that had a lot of clever ideas, along with an adorable aesthetic thanks to its world made out of hand-crafted dioramas. There was just one problem: it was exclusive to Apple Arcade, so anyone who wasn’t a subscriber missed out. Now, that has finally changed as the game launches this week on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and the Switch. The new port is called Fantasian Neo Dimension, but it’s mostly identical to the Apple Arcade version, aside from the very welcome addition of voice acting. (In a nice bit of circular storytelling, Neo Dimension is being published by Final Fantasy maker Square Enix.) In many ways, Fantasian is classic Final Fantasy in all but name. It stars a hero named Leo, who — with the help of a tough princess, a mysterious magic wielder, and a grizzled ship captain — gets pulled into a quest that spans multiple realms, as they attempt to thwart a mechanical infestation led by a tall, dark, and dangerous villain. There’s plenty that Final Fantasy fans will recognize: the amnesiac lead character, the playful love triangle, a world that blends fantasy and sci-fi, similar spells and items, and a beautiful soundtrack from famed composer Nobuo Uematsu. Hell, there’s even a character named Sid. The basis of Fantasian is Sakaguchi and his team working with the framework they know but building on top of it in interesting ways. So you’re left with a rock-solid RPG that makes some nice tweaks to the formula. The most obvious difference is the visual style, which is like a hand-crafted take on the old prerendered backgrounds from PlayStation-era Final Fantasy. It lends the game a very tactile aesthetic, and it’s surprisingly flexible; there are warm and cozy forests and cabins but also cold mechanical areas made of metal and old circuit boards. And while the game has its origins on mobile, it still looks sharp and clear on console. I’ve been replaying it on the Switch, and the only issue has been the occasionally long load time before a battle. Fantasian also makes some tweaks to the turn-based RPG formula that make it both more approachable and less frustrating. The first is a fun twist on combat that lets you aim many of your attacks, which can be incredibly satisfying when you line things up just right and hit a whole bunch of enemies in one shot. Even more useful is the awkwardly named feature Dimengeon — a portmanteau of dungeon and dimension — which takes the sting out of random battles. When you have it switched on, those pesky monsters are zapped to another dimension, where you can battle them at your leisure. The twist is that they accumulate. So when the device fills up and you have to finally fight them, you can get into a battle against a whole bunch of bad guys at once. These fights have a strategic, almost puzzle-like feel. Those seemingly subtle tweaks are more than enough to make Fantasian an easy recommendation if you’re looking for a classic RPG. Much like the recent remake of Dragon Quest III, a large part of the appeal of Fantasian is how traditional it is, while smoothing out the rough edges that can make the genre feel clunky and tedious. And as Final Fantasy itself continues to expand in different ways, Fantasian is a comforting look back at how things used to be. Fantasian Neo Dimension launches on December 5th on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and the Switch.

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