The best Callisto Protocol settings will help bring the gorefest to life on your gaming PC, and they’ll prevent the horror game from turning into a slideshow. The spiritual Dead Space successor’s visuals are a huge part of the experience, so you’ll want to dial things in to strike a perfect balance.
Before attempting to escape the Black Iron Prison, it’s worth checking out The Callisto Protocol system requirements. Doing so will help prepare your rig for the wretched horrors that await, especially if you aren’t rocking the best graphics card around. That said, don’t sweat it if your system doesn’t match Striking Distance’s recommended specs, as settings tweaks can boost fps and make playing the best horror game contender more enjoyable.
Again, you don’t need the best gaming PC to run Callisto Protocol, and our handy settings guide will help survival horror shine. It’s worth noting that you should use the following options as a baseline, as you might be able to squeeze more frames and improve fidelity by experimenting.
PCGamesN test rig: MSI MPG Trident AS 11th gaming PC, featuring an Intel Core i7 11700F, MSI Ventus Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070, 32GB of DDR4 3,200MHz RAM, MSI B560 motherboard, and Windows 11.
The Callisto Protocol graphics Presets
Sticking with The Callisto Protocol presets is an easy way to balance performance, fidelity, and effects. In keeping with settings tradition, the game features low, medium, high, and ultra options, all of which automatically adjust each toggle.
The presets in question don’t quite translate the way you’d think, as most graphics options cap out at ‘high’. In other words, switching to ultra won’t necessarily ramp up settings, but it’ll switch things on like AMD FSR 2 ‘Quality’ mode, rather than ‘Performance’.
It’s worth noting that during testing, we ran into a few preset hiccups, as the game would selectively jump back to a previous preset after selection. Switching back and forth occasionally rectifies the issue, but it makes changing presets a bit fiddly.
Ultimately, presets are best served as a starting point rather than a comprehensive settings solution. You’ll see a big difference in frame rates when jumping between each, but adjusting each toggle separately will eliminate unnecessary compromises.
The best Callisto Protocol graphics settings
Here are the best Callisto Protocol graphics settings on PC:
- V-Sync: Off
- Framerate limit: Unlimited
- Fullscreen mode: Fullscreen
- Lighting: High
- Shadows: High
- Volumetrics: High
- Particles: High
- Textures: High
- Screen space reflections: Enabled
- Physical refractions: Enabled
- Depth of field: Enabled
- Motion blur: Disabled
- Subsurface scattering: Enabled
- Anti-aliasing: TemportalAA
- Film grain: Off
Lighting
Just like Dead Space, The Callisto Protocol’s sinister sci-fi setting is drenched in eerie lighting effects. It’s needless to say that sticking with ‘standard’ will help preserve the survival horror’s atmospheric effects, but switching to ‘low’ will free up frames. We’d consider this to be a last resort, as it’ll have an impact on the game’s intrinsic visuals. Nevertheless, the option is there if you’ve got fps woes.
Shadows
Lighting and shadows go hand in hand, so you’ll want to follow the same approach in terms of adjustments. However, you’ll be able to choose ‘medium’ this time around, which eliminates the previous all-or-nothing approach used by the previous setting. Still, opting for ‘high’ will produce the best visual results, and we’d only advise dialling down if you’re struggling to hit 60fps.
Particles
Experiencing jitters and frame spikes? Particle effects might be responsible, as blood splatters and weird floaty space things will challenge your graphics card. Choosing medium over high won’t dramatically affect overall fidelity, but if you’re a gorehound or you’re really into subtle details, you’ll likely notice a difference. Still, it’s worth doing if you’re experiencing temperamental performance, and it’ll contribute to higher frames.
Textures
Do you like sticking your character’s face up against walls to gaze at the detail? Then you’ll want to leave The Callisto Protocol’s texture settings alone. Just keep in mind that high-quality textures will potentially put more strain on your CPU and GPU than anything else within this guide, and the effect’s medium settings aren’t an offence to the eyes.
Resolution
Reducing resolution should always be the last resort, but it’ll help your rig churn out more frames in The Callisto Protocol. Naturally, if your setup includes the best gaming monitor, you won’t want to drift too far from native resolution, particularly if you’re using a 4K panel.
Ray tracing
Enabling ray tracing in The Callisto Protocol will pile the pressure on your PC, especially if you’re playing at 4K with ultra settings enabled. If you’re not fussed about fancy lighting, leaving it off will make hitting an acceptable frame rate easier, all while still enjoying full-blown settings.
But hey, The Callisto Protocol ray tracing looks pretty spectacular, so if you’re looking to fully embrace the tech, we’d suggest trimming your resolution down (providing you’re not using a 1080p display). You could mess with shadows and lighting to make some performance room, but if you’re that into visuals, you’re likely not the type to play with low settings enabled.
The Callisto Protocol accessibility settings
The Callisto Protocol has a dedicated accessibility settings menu, and it features the following categories:
- High-contrast
- Combat assists
- UI options
- Screen options
Splitting up each option into specific categories is a boon, as it makes accessibility functions easy to locate and enable. Whether you’re looking to reduce screen shaking or enable automatic assists, Striking Distance Studios has implemented a variety of aids that should help more players explore the game’s putrid prison with ease.
Still deciding whether to pick up Krafton’s sci-fi scarefest? Our Callisto Protocol review examines how it pays tribute to the legacy of Dead Space, despite falling short in the story department.