The Callisto Protocol Review

Developed by Striking Distiance Studios, The Callisto Protocol is their debut game. The lead game designer here is Glen Schofield, who is responsible for the original Dead Space, among other things. I love the Dead Space series and played them all. Part 1 and 2 are two of my all time favorite horror games.

Of course I was very happy when this game was announced, but I still had my concerns. It will not be easy to follow in the footsteps of the great Dead Space, which was unique at the time and set standards in the horror genre. A Dead Space remake was also announced, which certainly increased the pressure on the developers of The Callisto Protocol.

Story:

Callisto is a large moon orbiting Jupiter. It is also called the dead moon. The game takes place on this moon. A prison called Black Iron has settled here. We slip into the role of Jacob Lee, who was given the face of the famous actor Jost Duhamel. With him we become part of a huge conspiracy. I won't tell you if there will be a happy ending.

The story is beautifully presented by the various well-known faces (Dani Nakamura, Sam Witwer), but remains predictable at all times. The setting is great. Also, some scenes are simply superbly staged. When you move through the snowstorm in the dark and lightning illuminates the surroundings atmospherically, everything "clicks". Other locations, on the other hand, are too similar to each other.

Gameplay:

The Callisto Protocol is a double-edged sword here. You can tell that the developers have deliberately dared to do something new and wanted to provide variety. In combat, a dodge system is used, which is controlled with the right analog stick. Here you hold the stick in one direction to dodge the attacks of your opponents. Skill is also the keyword here. I struggled with this system at first, but then once I mastered it, I really enjoyed it. This system will leave many players divided. You really have to get into this dodge system. If it "clicks", you can skilfully dance around your opponents, dodge attacks and hit back at the right moment.

The developers have focused on melee combat. With your so-called "Stun Baton" you can distribute powerful blows. The game often puts you in a melee situation. Here not only the absurdly disgusting monsters come into your face, but also the melee system. Every hit feels so powerful. There is also an additional impact with the haptic feedback of your Dualsens controller and it just feals awesome. 

The weapons also feel very good in the game. In my opinion, however, there are too few of these and no special ones.

The game is mostly linear. Every now and then you can take short branches in the other direction to take over various pieces of equipment here. There are no puzzles at all. I would have been very happy if the game had gotten a few puzzles here and there. 

Healing animation and also the weapon change take far too long. Death animations were something special back then in Dead Space and are back in this game. They are cruel, but still somehow "beautiful" to look at.

The variety of enemies could have been a little bigger. The bosses are also repetitive. All in all, there are many "little things" that keep The Callisto Protocol away from higher rating regions. (Update: In the meantime, several updates have been released, which have completely eliminated my points of criticism and this makes it a significantly better game).

Visuals:

Now we come to the absolute highlight of the game. My goodness the game just looks insane. On the PlaySation 5, this game is one of the best you can get in this area. Rarely have character models turned out so deceptively real. I played the game on an LG Oled TV and coupled with the absolute dark toning I had a visually unique experience. If you place a lot of value on the graphics of a game, I can only recommend this game to you.

Light and shadow play with each other, sweat flows from the pores of the characters and the respective monsters are bursting with details. The animations are also stunning.

Patches:

The developers listened to the community and delivered patches as quickly as possible that really improved the game. Animations and w eapon swapping are now faster. Death animations can now be skipped and much more.

Verdict:

Despite some criticisms, I still had a lot of fun with The Callisto Protocol.  It's doing some things right, but it's stagnating in certain areas and going the wrong way in others. I hope that we will get a second game because there is potential for something really big.

8/10

Code provided by PlayStation