![]() Instead, Callisto leans into Dead Space’s original ideas and competes with them directly, even down to the release timing - the Dead Space remake is due out just eight weeks after Callisto. To be honest, I almost expected more out of The Callisto Protocol - more growth since Dead Space, a new perspective on horror, a stronger attempt to be different than that iconic game. Overall though, the preview was a haze of sci-fi gore, action and surprise, and I’m excited to play the full game when it comes out on December 2nd. It isn’t a terrible concept, but personally, I don’t need any more on-rails sequences in my games. Only one segment of my playthrough sticks out negatively in my mind: The protagonist essentially finds himself on a water slide, and players have to navigate the concrete pillars and other obstacles in his path. The Striking Distance crew clearly know how to make a game feel tense and horrific and satisfying, and with Callisto, they’re just showing off. The Callisto Protocol is a fully formed concept executed with proficiency. Each detail blends smoothly into the futuristic surroundings, only standing out when a horde of Biophage are breathing down your neck. Callisto is a video game for video game people, offering little actual direction while relying on the environment to communicate escape and attack opportunities - a suspiciously red canister in the middle of a long walkway, a ladder rung dangling just within reach, a box barely big enough to duck behind. (The death screens are numerous and reach Mortal Kombat levels of brutality in the best possible way.)Īll of these details result in a rich sense of strategy, with explodables, ammo drops and escape routes secreted around each combat area. Enemy spawn points are not randomized, a fact that I discovered after dying a few times in a row in a single room. The twist is that all of the infected humans, or Biophage, will mutate in front of the player’s eyes when they’re not killed quickly enough, growing stronger in their evolved form. The early game features a variety of enemy types - rushing monsters, tall spitters, leather-daddy tanks and invisible beasts with too many legs, to name a few - and they’re each difficult to kill in their own special ways. One early level even has a vignette with the phrase, "shoot the tentacles" scrawled across the wall in blood, riffing on the classic Dead Space blood tag that read, "cut off their limbs."īy subscribing, you are agreeing to Engadget's Terms and Privacy Policy. And there are plenty of similarities to go around: Callisto stars a lone space dude fighting through rooms of mutated humans headshots are less effective than shooting extremities and tentacles there’s no UI and the protagonist’s health is displayed on the back of his neck stomping enemies is the best way to ensure they’re dead there’s a gravity gun that functions like a kinesis ability and the death screens are particularly gruesome. However, once the weirdness wore off, playing The Callisto Protocol just felt good.Ĭallisto is the first game out of Striking Distance Studios, a team led by Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield - so yeah, all the references are coming straight from the source. Playing The Callisto Protocol, I found myself trapped in a world between old and new. While playing a preview of The Callisto Protocol on PlayStation 5, I was reminded of that scene from Wayne’s World where the boys are looking down on a film set that looks like Wayne’s basement, but it’s not actually Wayne’s basement, and Garth says, "Isn’t that weird?" They all agree it is. Its mechanics, environments and monsters are deeply familiar, unapologetically feeding off the immersive sci-fi horror concepts of Dead Space. The Callisto Protocol is a new game from a studio with zero releases to its name, but playing it feels like coming home.
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