The tone of The Callisto Protocol is enticing: The creators behind the Dead Space series of sci-fi survival horror games would finally become a spiritual successor to that franchise, nearly 10 years after it lay dormant at Electronic Arts . Callisto’s protocol would also draw on elements of Dead Space, crawling through abandoned, cold space environments inspired by Alien’s Nostromo, with a decade of experience and maturity to do something better.
Instead, developer Striking Distance Studios did something very divergent: a spiritual successor to Dead Space with some, but not all, of the best parts of Dead Space. In some ways, it’s a step backwards.
The Callisto Protocol opens with space truck driver Jacob Lee, played by actor Josh Duhamel, performing One Last Job. That mission naturally goes sideways when an apparent terrorist group sabotages their cargo ship and lands it on Jupiter’s second largest moon, Callisto. Jacob and his ship’s saboteur, Dani Nakamura (played by The Boys’ Karen Fukuhara), are thrown into the black iron prison on the moon. Disaster doubles when Jacob wakes up to find himself fitted with an invasive implant called CORE, in the middle of a catastrophic outbreak and surrounded by mutated monsters wreaking havoc. Armed only with a stun club, Jacob struggles to escape his inexplicable and unjust imprisonment.
Where Dead Space focused on high-voltage gunplay and tactical limb-splitting of grotesque zombies, The Callisto Protocol puts intense, flesh-and-blood melee attacks at the heart of its combat. Monsters in the game confront Jacob with haystacks, which he can dodge by leaning left or right. It’s a mechanic similar to Punch-Out!! from Nintendo, where Jacob can move and weave until he finds an opening to slam his attacker into a bloody mess. Later, Jacob gains access to handguns, shotguns, and rifles, which become complements to hand-to-hand combat, not wholesale replacements. He also gains Jedi-like powers, thanks to the battery-powered GRP, a gauntlet that can pick up and throw objects, including monsters themselves.
Image: Striking Distance Studios/Krafton
At first, combat can seem frustrating. Jacob’s heavy movement gives everything a slow and inconsistent feel, and knowing when to dodge, or even when you’ve been hit by an attack, can be unclear. Understanding the timing of the game, finding the groove of the Callisto protocol, takes time. Finally, clicking switches between melee, shooter, and GRP controls begin.
Even in a one-on-one fight, a successful encounter can involve a series of dodges, punches, surgical pistol shots (yes, you can remove enemies’ limbs here too), and telekinetically throwing an enemy to give you some of space The GRP occasionally allows one-hit kills, allowing you to hurl enemies into spikes or spinning fans, turning them into a thick spray of blood. But GRP is a very limited resource and should be used sparingly. Later encounters change things up, pitting Jacob against sentry robots that can instantly kill him from afar, and blind monsters where stealth kills with a shiv are not only preferred, but almost necessary to succeed.
Still, the game has an overall slow feel to it, a seemingly intentional choice to give Jacob and the enemies a sense of weight and impact. However, some inputs, like quick weapon switching, seem to not register at times, which is a big problem in difficult encounters. Enabling “performance mode” in the graphics settings of the Callisto protocol helps alleviate this feeling of slowness. By default, the game uses a more cinematic and graphically stunning visual mode. But the improved frame rate (and more responsive inputs) that Performance Mode offers make a big difference.
Image: Striking Distance Studios/Krafton
But even once you settle more into the rhythm of Callisto Protocol, the combat scenarios often feel unrefined. Smaller enemies appear with little or no warning, for example blocking Jacob in quick button events that drain his health. Monsters also spawn directly behind you, making some encounters seem downright unfair. Dead Space had its “monster closet” moments that delivered fun and well-deserved scares, but mutant zombies emerging from floor grates out of your line of sight? Much less enjoyable, especially when combined with the game’s disorienting camera movement. This is nothing compared to several times when the game throws hordes of enemies at you. These are the worst parts of the Callisto Protocol, where any tension gained breaks and immediately turns into pure aggravation. Multiple difficulty spikes pushed the game beyond the realm of “pleasant challenge” and into that of “unfair masochism.” I finally switched to easy mode out of necessity.
The game’s control system is also inconsistent. Fortunately, there are frequent checkpoints, but they often occur seconds into a boss battle, with no time to heal, recharge, or reach a safe position to regroup.
Over time you unlock upgrades that make Jacob a little more powerful. At 3D printing stations, you can spend money acquired from chests, corpses, and selling contraband to upgrade weapons and GRP. But no upgrade makes Jacob a monster-slaying god, and the credits are spread thinly enough that it seems impossible to upgrade and unlock everything in one playthrough. (Or, currently, in a second playthrough, since The Callisto Protocol still doesn’t have a new plus game mode where updates will continue. That will be early next year, according to the developer.) The options on what weapon or device can they upgrade Feel tough: Is a few extra seconds of battery life worth more to the GRP than a stronger stun staff? Should I take credits from the increased ammo count node to unlock the damage increase for bullets later?
Image: Striking Distance Studios/Krafton
The Callisto Protocol 3D Printing Stations, run by the United Jupiter Corporation that runs the Black Iron Prison, may provide my favorite bit of world building/commentary in a sci-fi horror yarn, on the other way, pretty simple. Posters scattered throughout the prison inform the security workers that they can spend their so-called Callisto credits to upgrade their equipment, forcing them to spend their own money on the supplies needed to protect themselves from the inmates.
Beyond that, the story of The Callisto Protocol and the Black Iron Disaster is primarily told through Jacob’s interactions with fellow prisoners Elias and Dani, as well as the Warden and his sadistic Captain Ferris. Players can also acquire audio recordings from prisoners and guards, but unlike audio recordings similar to the Dead Space games, which were played through the games’ diegetic holographic user interface, the Callisto Protocol requires that the player stops what they are doing and gives their full attention. to listen to each recording. Since some of the recordings I heard only nominally add to the story, they started to feel inessential to the game’s narrative. I walked away satisfied, but not surprised, by the history of the Callisto Protocol.
Where the Callisto protocol excels is in its atmosphere and environments. The cold, metallic and industrial world of the game is beautifully realized, giving Black Iron Prison a hard, tangible and heavy feel. Jacob fights his way through air ducts, through pools of sewage, and between dangerous machinery that can shred him (and enemies) in an instant. Beyond the prison walls, players will explore an equally dark and terrifying lunar surface, where they are buffeted by snow and wind. The Callisto Protocol features an impressively and meticulously crafted world; it’s an expensive-looking game, and not just because of its Hollywood talent. (In addition to Duhamel and Fukuhara, Striking Distance and publisher Krafton also enlisted actors Gwendoline Christie and Michael Ironside for a six-episode podcast prequel to The Callisto Protocol.)
Image: Striking Distance Studios/Krafton
Callisto’s protocol is extremely linear, with only a few deviations, very little backtracking, and almost no puzzle solving. The original Dead Space’s holographic search system isn’t here, but there are plenty of arrows and graffiti that act as literal signs of your next target. In other words, the game doesn’t want you to lose, even though I can’t imagine doing that anyway. Having completed The Callisto Protocol in about eight hours, not counting the dozens of failed attempts at the section that led me to select easy mode, I see no reason to return to the game until Striking Distance adds the new more game mode. or additional story content. Also, the manual save system doesn’t make it easy to return to previous chapters, meaning I’d have to do a full playthrough to pick up anything I missed.
With The Callisto Protocol, Striking Distance proves that it can create moments of suspense and nerve-wracking horror with a well-crafted combination of sights, sounds and atmosphere. The studio was smart not to create a standalone copy of Dead Space, especially with original publisher Electronic Arts now returning to the franchise with a remake due next month. But still: The Callisto Protocol could have taken a few more lessons from its spiritual inspiration and further refined its mechanics to make a game…