Striking Distance Studios has just released an 11GB Update for The Callisto Protocol that adds a Hardcore Mode to the game. Furthermore, this patch optimizes enemy combat AI when there are multiple enemies surrounding the player, and brings some Ray Tracing improvements. Or at least that’s what the devs claimed.

To be honest, I don’t believe this patch addresses the single-threaded issues that have plagued this game. These issues surface the moment you enable its Ray Tracing effects, and will affect all PC configurations. Nevertheless, I’ll be sure to test this patch and update this story with our findings.

As usual, Steam will download this patch the next time you launch its client. Below you can also find its complete changelog.

The Callisto Protocol’s February 7th Update Release Notes

Hardcore Mode

A challenging take on The Callisto Protocol’s survival-horror experience, intended to push you to your limits, Hardcore mode is not for the faint of heart. Here’s what you can expect;

• Ammo, health and credits are harder to come by and not every Biophage will drop loot.
• Increased enemy damage
• Decreased Stun Baton damage
• Increased enemy mutation speed
• Reduced contraband value
• Hardcore Mode New Game+ (requires completion of standard Hardcore Mode playthrough)
• New Achievements / Trophies to hunt

Global

• Players that were not correctly granted the “The Protocol is About Life” achievement upon completing the game will be automatically granted the achievement
• Localization fixes for leveling and VO/subtitle mismatches
• Optimized enemy combat AI when player is surrounded by multiple enemies

PC Specific

• Ray tracing performance improvements

UPDATE:

As expected, there aren’t any major RT performance improvements. The game still drops below 40fps on an NVIDIA RTX4090 with low GPU utilization. So, make sure to disable the RT effects in order to enjoy a smooth gaming experience.