The Caligula Effect 2 was a game when I originally played it I wanted more from its performance on the Nintendo Switch. When it was announced to come to Steam, I knew I would be in for the graphical boost I was waiting for. Everything was improved, which isn’t hard to believe, but the way you can control the experience of entering this world makes wanting to play a lot better.
Improvements from mainly the graphical side of things brings refreshed graphics from consoles that lacked more than the standard 30fps cap. How does this ultimately stack up to the consoles and what improvements have been made? Find out in our The Caligula Effect 2 PC Port Report.
The Caligula Effect 2
Developer: Historia Inc.
Publisher: NIS America
Platform: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows (Reviewed)
Release Date: October 19, 2021, June 23, 2022 (Steam)
Players: 1
Price: $49.99
Firstly, the settings menu gives you options of what you can adjust for your system. By default, the settings are based on your system and set automatically. You can toggle settings between Fullscreen, Windowed, and Borderless modes which some games lack and I’m glad it’s a part of this.
You can choose your screens resolution including 4K with whatever framerate you want. However, the framerate options do cap out at 144fps and there is no option for uncapped frames. While this isn’t a huge negative it’s somewhat disappointing to not have it as an option since it’s done well so far.
Other options include texturing for character models and the world like post-processing and texture quality. The options included are Low, Normal, High, and Optimal, which gives your computer a percentage based on hardware. These settings and the game are well optimized enough that it will run on almost any machine, including the Steam Deck, with excellent results.
The weird jaggies you get from low resolution have disappeared since this can utilize better hardware a lot more effectively. The team at History Inc. were very careful it seems to make something that would keep it’s aesthetic and improve upon it with better texture quality and lighting.
χ, a virtual idol in the game, as well as other characters, are better looking than their console counterparts. A thing I would have preferred in the PC port is slightly improved character animations or variations in NPC interactions but it stays faithful to the previous console versions in this regard.
Sound is only slightly better and you may not even notice it if you played this originally on PlayStation 4 over the Nintendo Switch version. The game will sound more enjoyable over the Nintendo Switch but this sound isn’t a huge point of improvement since it’s mostly tied to performance and graphics.
Overall enjoyment can be had at the fluidity of the game and how it can take true advantage of hardware outside of the almost mobile port on the Nintendo Switch.
Like other previous games that were ported to PC like God of War (2018) and Monster Hunter Rise, it’s easier to play and look at for longer periods of time because of the improvements made software side for better hardware.
Besides some of the other obvious improvements in the game from graphics, this, like most other PC games, will allow for the use of controllers or mouse and keyboard. I didn’t have any issues or crashes and it seemed stable every step of the way, and the various improvements it’s been handed have never been better.
Historia Inc. did the math to bring over a game that could flourish with it’s cool aesthetic that I liked quite a bit on the Switch. The art style remains the same but it’s brought into the true HD era it should have been in from the beginning.
The Caligula Effect 2 PC port is launching on June 23rd via Steam and the Epic Games Store. The sequel has been available since October 2021 for both Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. In case you missed it, you can find our thorough review on the original release here.
