How to improve FPS in Returnal (PC)
Returnal drops you on the alien planet Atropos in a roguelike shooting loop that demands both reflexes and a CPU capable of sustaining waves of projectiles without stutters. Housemarque's port arrived on PC in 2023 with optional RT, DLSS/FSR/XeSS, and a very complete graphics menu, but it carries a known traversal stutter issue and a minimum CPU requirement of 8 threads that leaves older processors out. This guide helps you squeeze out FPS without sacrificing the bullet-hell's readability.
This is what you'd gain with a NVIDIA RTX 4060
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Calculations based on our FPS model combined with the % gain of each setting (measured in public benchmarks).
1. Quick wins (no visual loss)
Start here. Each one adds a little, but together they give +38% free FPS.
Level of Detail
Reduces the distance at which high-resolution meshes and textures load for vegetation and alien structures on Atropos.
Vegetation Density
Controls how much grass, spores, and organic elements the engine generates in outdoor biomes.
Ray Tracing (reflections/shadows)
Enables reflection and lighting with ray tracing on alien and metallic ship surfaces.
Particle Effects
Adjusts the amount and fidelity of explosions, gunfire, and ambient effects of the bullet-hell.
Motion Blur
Camera and object motion blur.
2. Medium impact settings
Here's where most of the FPS is. Minor visual impact, major performance impact.
Shadow Resolution
Defines the sharpness of dynamic shadows cast by creatures and structures.
Texture Quality
Resolution of textures loaded into video memory.
Ambient Occlusion
Contact shading between objects and surfaces to add depth.
Volumetrics and Fog
Density of fog and volumetric light in biomes like Atropos' marshes.
Screen Space Reflections (SSR)
Reflections calculated via Screen Space Reflections on wet and metallic surfaces.
3. Upscaling (DLSS / FSR / XeSS)
The biggest gain in the game. Compatible with almost any modern GPU.
DLSS (NVIDIA)
+30% FPSReturnal integrates an early version of DLSS; in Quality mode it offers a good starting point, and in Balanced/Performance it's where it frees up the most FPS to sustain the bullet-hell without drops.
FSR (AMD)
+25% FPSThe game shipped with FSR1, more aggressive with sharpness than DLSS or FSR2; in fast motion it can introduce some ghosting on projectiles, so it's worth trying Quality mode before dropping further.
XeSS (Intel)
+25% FPSAn alternative available for Intel Arc GPUs and also usable on NVIDIA/AMD; in Returnal it offers a more stable image than FSR1 though with somewhat more performance cost.
4. Tips by GPU
NVIDIA
- •Enable DLSS before touching any other setting: it's the biggest FPS multiplier available in the game.
- •If your card has little VRAM, prioritize lowering Textures before Resolution to avoid micro-stutter from streaming.
- •Ray Tracing on mid-range RTX (low 40-series) rarely pays off in a game with this combat pace.
AMD
- •Use FSR in Quality mode to minimize ghosting on fast projectiles, typical of FSR1 in bullet-hell scenes.
- •Ryzen CPUs with SMT disabled might not meet the 8-thread minimum; verify it's enabled in the BIOS before reporting launch errors.
- •Disable Ray Tracing unless you have a high-end card (RX 7900 series): the FPS cost doesn't pay off against the visual contribution.
Sistema
- •Let the game precompile shaders on launch without interrupting the process: it avoids compilation stutter in your first runs.
- •Install the game on an SSD (NVMe preferably): streaming of biomes and enemies on Atropos benefits notably compared to an HDD.
- •Close background processes that consume CPU threads (recorders, overlays); with only 8 threads available, any competition shows up in frametime.
5. Known game issues
Traversal stutter when changing zones or loading new enemies
The most documented issue with the port: micro-stutters when entering new rooms or when waves of enemies with lots of simultaneous projectiles appear. It's reduced with a powerful CPU and SSD, but doesn't fully disappear even on high-end hardware.
The game won't launch or performs very poorly on CPUs below 8 threads
Returnal checks the number of available threads on startup; processors with 4 cores/4 threads or 6 cores without Hyper-Threading can get an unsupported-hardware warning or suffer severe FPS drops in combat.
Estado: Day-one patch (April 2023)
6. Frequently asked questions
Why does Returnal require a minimum of 8 CPU threads?▾
What causes the traversal stutter in Returnal on PC?▾
Is it worth enabling Ray Tracing in Returnal?▾
DLSS, FSR, or XeSS: which do I choose in Returnal?▾
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Enter your GPU and CPU in our calculator and measure the real impact of each setting.
Calculate FPS for Returnal →Calculations based on consensus of technical sources and our own FPS model. More about our methodology →