Contact Protocol is a starship job simulator taking place in a gritty, cassette-future. Humanity has spread throughout the solar system and started extracting its natural resources. You play as the security officer aboard PALE HORSE - a Galileo Corporation vessel carrying miners set for Ganymede, Jupiter's biggest moon. It’s your job to assess the intentions of approaching ships, decide their fate, and keep your crew alive. The company is watching.
Best gaming PC for Contact Protocol in 2026
Full buyers guide →Below are the four PC tiers we'd actually recommend for Contact Protocol today. These are our 2026 hardware picks, not the dated publisher minimums you'll find on Steam.
Budget
1080p · 60fps
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 5 7600
- GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB
- RAM
- 16 GB
- Storage
- 1TB NVMe SSD
Mid-tier
1440p · 60fps
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 7 7700
- GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super 12GB
- RAM
- 32 GB
- Storage
- 2TB NVMe SSD
High-end
1440p · 144fps
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB
- RAM
- 32 GB
- Storage
- 2TB NVMe SSD
Enthusiast
4K · 60fps
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
- GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 32GB
- RAM
- 64 GB
- Storage
- 4TB NVMe SSD
Official system requirements
These are the minimum and recommended specs as published by Cold Zephyr Games on Steam. They tend to be conservative — usually "what ran the game at 1080p when it shipped". For what you should actually buy in 2026, see the tier cards above.
| Minimum | Recommended | |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 | Windows 11 |
| CPU | Core i5 4690K or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 | Core i3 9100 or AMD Ryzen 3 1300X |
| RAM | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| GPU | Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 460 | Nvidia Geforce GTX 960 or AMD RX 470 |
| Storage | 5 GB | 5 GB |
| DirectX | 11 | 12 |
Verified 16 July 2026 against the Steam store page.
Can your PC run Contact Protocol?
If your CPU is roughly equivalent to Core i3 9100 and your GPU is at or above Nvidia Geforce GTX 960, you'll hit recommended settings at 1080p/60. For 1440p or higher, see the tier picks above.