UPDATE DECEMBER 5, 2022: An initial set of patches addressing performance have now been released for The Callisto Protocol’s PC and console versions.
The Callisto Protocol launched today to a hail of negative reviews that bring up severe stuttering affecting the game’s PC port.
The Callisto Protocol’s stuttering issues look fairly widespread, even giving players attempting to round the game on high-end hardware a hard time. They’re also a major part of why, at the time of writing, the game is sitting at a Mostly Negative rating on Steam, with only 29% positive reviews.
The Callisto Protocol Stuttering
Although its death animations and approach to combat have also proven divisive, you needn’t scroll down too far on its Steam page to find mentions of stuttering appearing at various points during gameplay or, indeed, one review that simply reads “The Stuttering Protocol”.
As some players express their disappointment, others have looked for any solutions that might help make the experience more fluid. Reading through online threads, the prime suspect seems to be Unreal Engine 4’s handling of shaders, which has caused similar issues in past titles.
Reddit user callme_e suggests limiting your frame rate to 60, enabling FSR on its performance setting, turning both motion blur and depth of field off, while choosing the game’s medium graphical preset.
Turning off ray tracing is also bound to help while lowering the resolution has reportedly helped reduce the amount of stuttering although, depending on your monitor, this may not be ideal.
Trying out different setting configurations might help to varying degrees, determined by the hardware you’re currently running.
That being said, it sounds unlikely that they’ll completely get rid of The Callisto Protocol’s stutters before developer Striking Distance Studios addresses the issue in a patch or hotfix.
At the same time, there are players who report encountering very few issues with the game, so your mileage may vary.
Picking up The Callisto Protocol’s PC version right now is best done with caution, due to the stuttering and performance issues that may affect you.
On December 3, developer Striking Distance Studios deployed a PC patch that addressed stuttering, which it confirmed was caused by the game’s approach to shader compilation. The game’s Steam user rating climbed to Mixed, with 56% positive reviews.
One day later, the console versions received patches that “fix frame rate and crash issues.”
For more on the game, check out its system requirements and currently active Twitch Drops.
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