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The Callisto Protocol best upgrades

The Callisto Protocol best upgrades endow your weapons with the essential firepower and utility required to survive the treacherous journey across Black Iron

The Callisto Protocol best upgrades: Jacob stands looking upwards, dressed in his Black Iron prison uniform emblazoned with his prisoner identification number.

If you’re looking for The Callisto Protocol best upgrades for your weapons, you’ve come to the right place. Upgrades in The Callisto Protocol can drastically change your weapon’s performance, opening up new possibilities and making riskier strategies a bit more viable. The reforger is your best friend on Callisto, but if you’re planning on picking up every upgrade that your credits can net you, it’ll cost you a pretty penny.

Unless you’re doing some serious inventory juggling, you’re likely to reach The Callisto Protocol ending without unlocking the best upgrades, which can put you in dire straits going up against the final boss. By prioritising the very best upgrades in our list below, you’re guaranteed to get the most bang for your buck in one of the best horror games in 2022. Let’s go.

Best Callisto Protocol upgrades to unlock

Here are the best upgrades in The Callisto Protocol. It’s worth noting that these aren’t strictly upgrades that furnish The Callisto Protocol weapons with damage; they also make your overall progress through Black Iron noticeably smoother. It’s a blend of utility, crowd control, and, yes, damage. They aren’t too expensive either, so you can set a few credits aside to shape your playstyle.

The Callisto Protocol best upgrades: Elias gesturing to the Reforge terminal in the watchtower, as Jacob stands holding the weapons receiver he's just been handed.

Baton – Damage upgrade

The Callisto Protocol fits you with an array of ranged weaponry, but the cramped conditions of Black Iron necessitate fighting in close quarters. Your baton is your best friend in these situations, but the time it takes to trade blows with one enemy can cause you to become overwhelmed. You can max out the baton’s damage output by shelling out for upgrade level two – but given that it costs a whopping 2,700 credits, we wouldn’t recommend it, especially in the late game when melee engagements with The Callisto Protocol two-head boss are liable to get you killed.

Baton – Block Break upgrade

The Block Break is indispensable for scrappy melee encounters, where even a lowly grunt can put up his arm and break your melee combo. No longer! With the Block Break upgrade, you can smash through their defences with ease. If you’re partial to swinging your baton around, this upgrade is guaranteed to save your life in tough encounters by giving your assailants no quarter.

Hand Cannon – High Capacity Magazine upgrade

You’ve got limited inventory slots in The Callisto Protocol, and ammo can quickly stack up. Thankfully, one simple way of freeing up space is keeping that ammo in your weapon’s magazine.

We actually recommend prioritising magazine upgrades for all weapons, especially heavy hitters like the skunk gun and shotgun. However, the hand cannon’s magazine upgrade is the one you’ll reap the most benefit from in the long term: not only does it allow you to get more shots off with the best weapon in the game, but it also frees up an extra slot for non-essentials that you can sell at the reforger, to unlock even more of the best upgrades faster than ever. If you’re struggling with your inventory slots, take a look at our guide on how to increase The Callisto Protocol inventory space.

GRP – Energy upgrade

Energy upgrades do what they say on the tin, increasing your energy so that you can get additional use out of your GRP before it needs recharging. The GRP glove is one of your most reliable tools in Black Iron prison, useful in both utility and combat. However, keeping its energy pool restricted results inevitably in soul-crushing moments where you try and fail to stop an enemy in its tracks. The medium upgrade will keep you comfortably topped up, while the max upgrade is for those who wish to make GRP a core component of their arsenal.

GRP – Recharge Speed upgrade

We’ve already mentioned the danger of getting caught short on GRP energy, so it should be no surprise we’ve also included a recharge speed upgrade on this list of Callisto Protocol best upgrades. Aside from its obvious benefits, the GRP recharge speed will also lighten your inventory’s load, since relying on your GRP to recharge on its own means you don’t need to worry about stockpiling battery packs, leaving space for more valuable resources to take to the Reforger.

The Callisto Protocol best upgrades: The Reforge interface depicting the weapon selected and its corresponding upgrade tree, along with how much the upgrade costs to purchase.

Shotgun – Explosive Rounds upgrade

Alternate fire mode may be unlocked at the culmination of each weapon’s upgrade tree, drastically changing how they perform. They require more ammo, but their power is unmatched, and allows you to respond better to the nastier threats later in the game. Explosive rounds require four bullets instead of one, but they detonate on impact and inflict damage upon any additional enemies caught in the blast radius, which is ideal for staggering fast-moving enemies that can pop up while you’re taking on a brute.

The Callisto Protocol best upgrades will comfortably see you through to the end credits. If you’re sweeping up achievements, be sure to check out how to uncover the mystery of The Callisto Protocol Kallipolis. Alternatively, if you’re wondering how to save the trapped worker in The Callisto Protocol, or whether The Callisto Protocol new game plus is an option, we’ve got all the answers you need.