Should You Play Still Wakes The Deep in Quality or Performance Mode?

When jumping into a horror game, worrying if a shoddy framerate might bring your run to an end shouldn’t be on your mind. Let’s find out if you should play in Quality or Performance mode for your first playthrough of Still Wakes The Deep.

Should You Pick Quality or Performance Mode for Still Wakes The Deep?

Much like many current-generation titles, Still Wakes The Deep launches with several different options that you can switch at a whim. One of these options is that between Quality or Performance modes, which will prioritize either graphical fidelity or an enhanced frame rate, respectively. Without hesitation, I recommend picking Performance mode for this experience, and I’ll explain why.

Maybe it was pre-release jitters, but trying to play Still Wakes The Deep in Quality mode presented me with more than a few issues. While I played through for my review, the Quality mode suffered from poor frame pacing, making every movement and motion feel jittery. However, switching from Quality Mode to Performance Mode made things much more exciting and, generally speaking, playable.

Maybe I’m just hyper-sensitive to framerates, but playing through the opening section of Still Wakes the Deep in Quality mode was like trying to wade through waist-deep molasses. Turning the camera was jittery, uncomfortable, and just didn’t feel right. As The Chinese Room continues updating the game, I hope they can fix this issue, as the game is gorgeous in Performance Mode, and even more so in Quality Mode.

Quality Mode aims for a 30fps cap, while Performance Mode aims for a 60fps cap with small stutters in more demanding areas. As I stated above, there’s a chance that the jittery nature of Quality Mode may have been from pre-release bugs that weren’t representative of the final product, but as it stands, I would personally recommend playing in Performance Mode for the foreseeable future.

Still Wakes The Deep will be available June 18, 2024, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. It is available Day One on Xbox Game Pass.