A game clearly designed for new consoles works on the old… just.
The Callisto Protocolis one of the most visually advanced games currently available.
So how did Striking Distance Studios manage to cram this game onto the PS4 and Xbox One?
Is last-gen Callisto serviceable, or do the cuts simply run too deep?
And if so, is this perhaps indicative of the beginning of the end for cross-gen development?
The first and most obvious difference lies in texture quality.
Across the board, the artwork has been hugely simplified.
The last-gen machines are simply way behind current-gen here, with smeared and low-detail 2D artwork.
Model geometry is similarly simplified.
Environments look significantly chunkier and often have a bit of a low-poly look.
Broadly speaking most aspects of the game environment have less geometric complexity on the last-gen console platforms.
Ground clutter can also see obvious cutbacks.
The next major difference is a big reduction in shadow quality.
Last-gen consoles have passable shadow coverage, but relative to the PS5 or Series consoles they are missing out.
Hair quality is reduced as well.
Larger volumes of hair look similar across current and last-gen, but sparse hair has a very different appearance.
The RT shadows make for a very obvious visual upgrade, in my opinion.
Self-shadowing looks much more detailed, relative to either last-gen console or the PS5 in performance mode.
RT reflections also have a pretty major impact on the visuals.
With older GPUs and slow mechanical storage, the full-fat Callisto Protocol experience is out-of-the-question on eighth-gen hardware.
The fundamentals are still here, with strong lighting and impressive character modeling.
Post-processing effects also improve.
Ultimately, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the biggest difference between the last-gen machines lies in rendering resolution.
Xbox One S is the console that exhibits the most variability.
One X and PS4 Pro are more curious.
But how does performance fare?
This is where the last-gen systems are truly taxed, unfortunately.
First though, we should get something out of the way - the cutscenes.
After the opening pre-encoded cutscene, the real-time sequence that follows runs at roughly 24fps across all last-gen consoles.
It clearly stutters and has an odd frame cadence of alternating 33ms and 50ms frames.
This holds true for all the real-time cutscenes in the game that I encountered.
To be fair, the One S can hit 30fps in more sedate areas when out of combat.
But it’s usually below 30fps and often well below.
The PS4, in contrast, is a much stronger performer.
That said, there are still stutters but at least PS4 delivers generally serviceable performance.
The PS4 Pro is a slightly stronger performer than the PS4.
Generally it’s a 30fps experience with small dips and of course those 24fps cutscenes as well.
Xbox One X actually manages to hit and hold 30fps in gameplay pretty consistently.
Perhaps the relatively conservative resolution target is helping here.
I wouldn’t say The Callisto Protocol performs especially well on last-gen consoles.
The performance woes on Xbox One S are harder to excuse, with severe and frequent frame-rate drops.
Callisto is a stark reminder of the hardware advantages inherent to current-gen tech.
The unfortunate exception is the Xbox One release, which is best avoided for now.
