The creator of Dead Space takes you to a creepy moon of Jupiter. But the follow-up to earlier successes suffers from design and technical problems.
“Why does this have to happen to me of all people?” freighter pilot Jacob asks himself as he heaves himself and his spacesuit through the dense snowstorm. Only a few centimetres of metal and plastic separate him from absolutely deadly sub-zero temperatures.
Except for a few scattered maintenance lights and the ominous crackling lightning bolts that cast light on the rugged rocky landscape, it is pitch black. He thinks he can make out human silhouettes on the horizon, but what peeks out of the darkness is not a rescue, but a veritable chamber of horrors.
He had believed that at least out here he would be safe from the bestial attacks of the biophages that have been mercilessly hunting him for hours. Now his only hope is that the mutants frozen in grotesque poses are as dead as this cursed moon of Jupiter.
You”ll experience scenes like this in The Callisto Protocol by Dead Space creator Glen Schofield – with plenty of goosebumps included. The creepy factor fits, but The Callisto Protocol not only shocks with jump scares and nasty monsters, but also with some design decisions. In our spoiler-free review, we find out whether it can still be considered the perfect horror entertainment for dark winter evenings.
Table of Contents
An ordinary day in space? Think again!
Our protagonist Jacob Lee leads a rather tranquil life in orbit of the gas giant Jupiter. He and his co-pilot Max supply some of the 80 moons orbiting the largest planet in our solar system with everything the colonies there need.
They have just taken a fresh load on board on Callisto, the second largest of the moons, and are on their way to their destination, when a dramatic event forces them to turn around and crash-land.
The warden of the only local settlement, the infamous Black Iron prison, doesn”t like this unscheduled return at all and Jacob promptly ends up behind bars. Harassed by a sadistic head warden and deprived of all his rights, one would like to think that this was already the negative highlight of his day.
But far from it, because a short time later he escapes from his cell only because a horde of bestial mutants attacks guards and prisoners. A fifteen-hour horror trip begins, which is clearly aimed at adult genre fans with its fountains of blood and gruesome shocker elements.
Shockingly beautiful
The developers at Striking Distance Studios make one thing crystal clear with their debut work: they are masters of the skilful use of light. Shadow and Sound. Rarely have we experienced a game that uses its lighting and soundscape so skilfully to guide us through the levels like a puppet and, at the same time, to teach us to be afraid.
The heart inevitably races as you grope your way through dimly-lit corridors or ominously flashing corridors that exude a wonderful sci-fi flair with their crisp textures and “Alien”-esque mix of futuristic and antiquated technology. Our screenshots provide an insight:
There”s always the groan of pipes or warping metal behind the walls. Just as we contort our faces when suddenly there is a bloodcurdling monster roar mixed in.
Then it usually doesn”t take long for the smoothly animated mutants to jump at us from a ventilation shaft, over a parapet or even camouflaged from the ceiling. While the hairs on the back of our necks stand up, anti-hero Jacob accepts the situation with an annoyed, sarcastic nonchalance that at least hints that this is not the first time he has fought for naked survival.
And this much in advance: the more consciously and intensively you can get involved in this atmosphere – preferably with headphones in a pitch-black room – the more you will enjoy The Callisto Protocol. But only if you are not affected by the technical problems that plague the PC version in particular!
Holy talk, Batman!
In contrast to related survival horror like the obvious role model Dead Space, Callisto Protocol relies on bloody hand-to-hand combat as the basis for all violent confrontations. With our electric truncheon captured from the guards, we get up close and personal with the enemy, breaking bones and crushing skulls. Even kicking once is part of the good tone, because that”s the only way prey falls from the carcasses.
We only survive the close encounters with our physically far superior opponents thanks to the integral block and dodge function, which we simply operate by alternately holding down the directional keys and which thus only requires a minimum of good timing.
This by no means means that survival is easy, but even inexperienced players should be able to wait out the attack patterns of two, three or four consecutive blows in no time and then calmly counter with their own series of blows.
This simple method of avoiding damage (even to bosses) ensures that the gradually increased enemy variety fizzles out a little, because in direct duels, more or less all enemies behave the same.
In addition, whenever several mutants pounce on us at once, the overview suffers. Unlike the Batman Arkham series, there is neither a warning nor a real response to someone stabbing us in the back during our own combo. All we can do is try to separate the enemies as much as possible and beat them up one by one.
With the mouse and keyboard, this works reasonably smoothly because we can turn and aim quickly. With the gamepad, however, Jacob controls himself as clumsily as a tank, which frustratingly often leads to death through no fault of his own. You know where the danger is coming from, but you simply can”t react fast enough.
But even with PC peripherals, the battles will only keep you entertained throughout if you can”t get enough of the massive chatter. If you were hoping for “tactical dismemberment” like in Dead Space or varied enemy behaviour like in the Resident Evil series, you will quickly get bored or even annoyed by the eternal dodging, blocking and slamming.
Munition or upgrades, that is the question here
If we land enough hits in a row, the opponent”s cover opens up for a particularly devastating hit with one of our many shooting irons. The repertoire ranges from the simple and automatic pistol to shotguns and an assault rifle with optional target-seeking salvos.
Callisto Protocol never becomes a full-fledged shooter, however, because our limited storage space and the initially steep price of the ammunition ensure that we use it rather sparingly. Especially since opponents previously softened up with a melee combo lay flat after only a third of the shots.
But shooting becomes almost indispensable when the monsters start to mutate under our blows. Then nasty wiggling tentacles sprout out of them, which have to be shot within a short time window. Otherwise we will have to deal with an evolved form of the mutant that attacks more strongly and more frequently.
Another reason to be economical with ammunition is that we usually prefer to invest the Callisto credits scattered throughout the levels in upgrades rather than new bullets. At regular upgrade stations we sell trinkets and upgrade our weapons.
Our conventional argument boosters thus get more oomph, explosive bullets or less recoil. However, the Dead Space-inspired gravity-manipulating armbar quickly becomes an overpowered Jedi force due to the increase in battery capacity and slingshot force, which we use to throw enemies down into fans or chasms.
Nervous Boss Recycling
This is mighty fun at first, but also wears thin quickly, especially when we later knock twenty grunts off the edge of a high-speed lift in quick succession. The inherently powerful gunplay of the various firearms also differs too little, despite numerous customisation options.
In combination with the simple dodging mechanics and the lack of overview in melee combat, Callisto Protocol has too little tactical variety, which doesn”t have to spoil the experience, but does waste an enormous amount of potential.
The plot shares this lack of depth and is limited to B-movie clichés that would have been conceivable in a trashy (cult) film of the 80s and 90s. Genre fans can simply smile this off, but the pale antagonists and the open ending lag behind the great role models.
There is increased potential for frustration especially with one of the two bosses (yes, there are only two!), which, to make matters worse, is recycled four times. Those who have specialised completely in close combat and the G.R.P. arm bar will look stupid here, because the two-headed colossus is immune to both. Then it”s a matter of frantically collecting the ammunition lying around and dodging, dodging, dodging.
At least the game sets a checkpoint immediately before such fights. Elsewhere, intervals of five to fifteen minutes are possible, especially if you explore a lot. Here, a silly mistake is enough to lose a lot of time and also all the sales and upgrades made in the meantime.
These design quirks, despite all the praise for the grandiose atmosphere, seem backward and the same must be said about the countless corridors, lifts and bottlenecks, which ultimately only conceal loading times and also stretch out the game time without serving any playful purpose.
The Callisto Protocol looks great and inspires with its atmosphere, but especially in direct comparison with Dead Space, it shows that a memorable horror experience needs more than just shocking. In purely gameplay terms, the new Schofield game clearly draws the short straw compared to its earlier path.
Editorial conclusion
After the preview event, I was incredibly fired up for my incarceration in the Black Iron prison, even though a certain dark foreboding accompanied me even then. My personal rating for The Callisto Protocol would be a little higher, because I can easily ignore playful weaknesses in favour of my immersion. But a GlobalESportNews rating cannot and must not ignore such weaknesses.
How much fun you have with Callisto Protocol depends entirely on where your main focus lies. If you devote yourself entirely to the excellent horror feeling in a darkened room and with headphones, then it will entertain you excellently until the end.
However, as soon as you shine a torch on the design flaws or hope for a deeper story level from the optional audio logs, you will be disappointed. The Callisto Protocol is a great horror show, but only a solid horror game.
