The Callisto Protocol Filled With Technical Issues For Some Users

The Callisto Protocol follows the chronicles of an unfortunate man who is wrongfully branded as an inmate. The Black Iron prison soon ends in chaos, with monsters prowling the darkened hallways and the protagonist. However, something more terrifying is causing tension in the players, making the experience way too realistic.

Major Rundown

• The Callisto Protocol launched with critical acclaim earlier today, and the reviews started pouring in for the game.
• However, the title is plagued with horrendous performance and optimization issues causing stutters and sharp frame rate drops.
• The players are review-bombing the game because of hindrances. The score has dwindled to “Mostly Negative” on Steam and stands in the mid-70s on Metacritic.
• The players are struggling to get a smooth experience, and Krafton’s stocks have also taken a hit because of the scores.

The game is unfortunately riddled with performance and optimization issues, causing the reviews to take a dip that no one anticipated. The game is currently withholding the review scores of mid-70s reviews on Metacritic. The Steam storefront feels more uninviting to players, where The Callisto Protocol stands at “Mostly Negative.

The player experience is also severely affected, and most players feel the game is unplayable, as witnessed on various forums like Reddit. One gamer, JasonY95, using RTX 3090 Ti and AMD Threadripper pro 5995WX, is experiencing “severe stuttering” and toiling hard just to get 30 FPS at medium settings. 

PC performance. Seriously? from TheCallistoProtocol

Another user, Kharazidusk, noted the same hapless bad optimization, citing, “This’ll probably either get buried or deleted, but the PC performance is truly bad. Hitching in the first 15 minutes of the game was so poor, I refunded and decided to buy on PS5. Running on a 3060ti/12600k with plenty of RAM to spare as well.”

The Steam page also features plenty of negative reviews detailing the dreary instances of constant stuttering and frame rate drops, even on high-end GPUs.

One user, Buttered Steak, iterates in the Steam page’s comments, “It is a stuttering mess than runs poorly as of day 1. I will update if they fix it and then maybe talk about game play. The PS5 version also drops frames apparently but no where near this maybe buy that one instead if you can.” 

Another user, ASM Havoc, utilizing a 3080 GPU elaborates, “Currently I can’t even walk through the opening area and turn a corner without stuttering on a 3080 with ray tracing off. Performance is not good at all right now.” More players using similarly powerful GPUs have discussed the same issues, showing frustration.

The PlayStation 5 port appears to be performing better, but even that is not viable enough for a game of such a big ambition. The Striking Distance Studios reportedly had to overwork to develop the game, and users are now questioning whether it was worth it. Until an official update, we can fine-tune the settings for a better experience.

Turning the ray tracing on can be a gamble for even the well-built setups; we suggest turning it off to alleviate some of the performance issues. Moreover, players have reported that disabling the v-sync and motion blur can highly soothe the constant stutterfest stalking The Callisto Protocol.

The player experience for PlayStation 5 and especially PC has been unsatisfying following technical issues with the game. Krafton’s stocks have also declined sharply following investors’ dissatisfaction with the game’s review score on Metacritic. Many users opted to refund The Callisto Protocol, for now, hoping for a better future.

The Callisto Protocol is an excellent horror experience with a well-executed and dynamically-lit environment and gory enemy design. The game shines with innovative and satisfying combat and unique player movement. It is definitely a worthwhile experience if The Striking Distance Studios can tackle the hindrances.

We hope the developers notice and fix the crises felt by the players so that everyone can enjoy the spiritual Dead Space successor. The review scores may also eventually improve as the team tackles the stutterfest to satiate The Callisto Protocol’s community.

What are your thoughts about The Callisto Protocol failing to match players’ anticipations and declining fast due to stuttering issues? Have you also encountered stuttering and jarring gameplay moments that hindered your experience? Do let us know your opinions in the comments below.

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