With The Callisto Protocol, developer Striking Distance Studio wants to fill a gap left by the Dead Space-less game world. This is also the first game from the developer studio, which consists of many veterans of the scene.
Many thanks to KRAFTON for providing the review code.
The History of The Callisto Protocol:
In The Callisto Protocol, players slip into the role of the space supplier Jacob. However, while on a delivery mission, his ship is attacked and they have to make an emergency landing on one of Jupiter’s moons called Callisto. His colleague dies and suddenly robots come and arrest Jacob and one of the attackers, since there is also a prison on this moon. No one wants to tell him why Jacob is being arrested. A shave and the insertion of a device in the back of his head later, he finds himself in a prison cell. But even this circumstance does not last long, as soon there is total chaos in the prison. Many inmates transform into horrific creatures that attack anyone nearby.
Little by little, Jacob acquires new weapons to defend himself against the ever-evolving creatures, while also learning more about the events and their origins. There is always the opportunity to explore smaller optional paths, which occasionally contain further character voice memos, which once again reveals more about the story. In itself you have a well-rounded experience at the end, even if it seems as if the story of a secondary character was finished while the actual main story is still being expanded by DLCs.
Survive, Crawl, Fight:
In The Callisto Protocol you will always fear for your survival. Enemies do a lot of damage even on normal difficulty. If you let them meet you about three times, you’re usually done. There are all sorts of creatures waiting for you. While the normal infected people usually just run towards you to beat you wildly, there are also maggots, for example, who also like to live in chests in order to then jump, or creatures that become invisible suddenly attack from behind and then again try to disappear. The fights are varied due to the variety of opponents and the different enemy waves composed of them. There are also basically 2 different boss opponents, whereby you will encounter one four times in the story and unfortunately the fights don’t really differ except for one or two extra opponents. In order to be able to defend yourself against all these opponents, you have different weapons at your disposal. In addition to an electric stick in close combat, you will soon receive a pistol. In addition, you get the so-called G.R.P. This allows you to pull enemies or objects close and then throw them away again. You can use this to throw them into traps or chasms to end fights quickly. However, this has the disadvantage that you cannot loot them. However, you need the currency that you can get there to improve weapons or to produce them with the weapon plans you have found.
If you are not involved in battles, you explore the dark world of the Black Iron prison and the moon Callisto. There you can find healing items, ammunition or currency on every corner. Ammo is also relatively rare and should only be used when necessary. If you have enough money, you can also have more made on the 3D printer, where you can also improve the weapons. In the first half of the game, you often have to crawl through air shafts or squeeze sideways somewhere. This can make an impression when corpses are being dragged away in the background and you’re already waiting for yourself to be attacked. Although this decreases somewhat later on, it still occurs. Depending on the circumstances, you are on the road very slowly, which can seem a bit exhausting if a good three moments in a row happen without any real variety.
The world and sound of The Callisto Protocol:
The Callisto Protocol uses Unreal Engine 5, and that’s something to be proud of. Whether you look at the character models and see the sweat running down their necks, or the different creatures with their sometimes quite disgusting (in a good sense) design, everything looks beautiful and makes the gaming experience even more immersive. But Callisto and the Black Iron Prison are also extremely detailed. How snow behaves is also implemented extremely well here.
The sound of the game is also convincing. I played the game in the English synchro, which is really well chosen. But the music is also very dark and spreads exactly the mood that the game wants to convey. But background noises, such as the rumble in ventilation shafts, allow you to immerse yourself even more in the game world, as they also contribute to the gameplay. Thanks to the 3D audio of the game, you can also hear the rumble from which shaft the next infected person will jump.
The technical details:
I could almost have said that The Callisto Protocol ran without crashing during my test on the PS5, but before the last session it just crashed twice while loading the save. Otherwise I never had any problems or any stuttering. But what was weird and funny was that at one point a rat shadow kept darting across the screen, even though there were no rats anywhere. But since this didn’t affect the gameplay in any way, it was more fun than annoying. The game’s controls take a little getting used to at first, as holding the left analog stick lets you dodge left or right, and holding backwards blocks attacks. But as the game progresses you get used to it and then you can use it excellently. The DualSense is also used very well in the game. So you feel every shot and every hit, whether you hit or are hit. But you can also feel every little movement when running, crawling, climbing or in sequences.
Conclusion:
With The Callisto Protocol, Striking Distance Studio has created a compelling, if imperfect, horror experience. The atmosphere is really dark and oppressive once you get used to the graphics, design, music, dubbing and gameplay. You really feel like you have to fight for your survival here and as if there is danger lurking around every corner. Only Jacob’s often slowed pace and the repetitive boss fight reduce the experience a bit.
The Callisto Protocol - Rating
With The Callisto Protocol, Striking Distance Studio has launched a compelling first game. The game thrives on its dark horror atmosphere. This is only reinforced by the graphics, the design of the opponents and the world, the 3D audio and the music. Only the creeping passages that occur again and again spoil the atmosphere, if something doesn't happen there at least in the background, but horror survival fans can definitely access it here.
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