The Callisto Protocol review: Dead Space’s spiritual successor has problems - Polygon

Within striking region of greatness

The transportation for The Callisto Protocol is an enticing one: Creators down the Dead Space bid of sci-fi endurance fearfulness games would yet marque a spiritual successor to that franchise, astir 10 years into its dormancy astatine Electronic Arts. The Callisto Protocol would besides physique connected the elements of Dead Space — creeping done cold, abandoned abstraction environments inspired by Alien’s Nostromo, being doused successful gore ripped from Event Horizon — with a decennary of acquisition and maturity to hopefully marque thing better.

Developer Striking Distance Studios alternatively made thing mostly divergent — a Dead Space spiritual successor with some, but not all, of the champion parts of Dead Space. In immoderate ways, it’s a measurement back.

The Callisto Protocol opens with abstraction trucker Jacob Lee, played by histrion Josh Duhamel, pulling disconnected One Last Job. That mission, naturally, goes sideways erstwhile an evident violent radical sabotages his cargo ship, crash-landing him connected Jupiter’s second-largest moon, Callisto. Jacob and his ship’s saboteur, Dani Nakamura (played by The Boys’ Karen Fukuhara), find themselves thrown into the moon’s Black Iron Prison. Disaster doubles erstwhile Jacob wakes to find himself outfitted with an invasive implant called a CORE, successful the midst of a catastrophic outbreak, and surrounded by mutated monsters wreaking havoc. Jacob, equipped with lone a stun baton, fights to flight from his wrongful, inexplicable imprisonment.

Where Dead Space focused connected high-tension gunplay and the tactical severing of limbs from zombielike grotesques, The Callisto Protocol puts meaty, action-heavy melee attacks astatine the halfway of its combat. The game’s monsters plaything astatine Jacob with haymakers, which helium tin dodge by leaning near oregon right. It’s a mechanic not dissimilar Nintendo’s Punch-Out!!, wherever Jacob tin bob and weave until helium tin find an opening to bludgeon his attacker into a bloody mess. Later, Jacob gets entree to pistols, shotguns, and rifles, which go complementary to melee combat, not wholesale replacements. He besides gets Jedi-like powers, acknowledgment to the battery-powered GRP, a mitt that tin drawback and propulsion objects — including the monsters themselves.

Image: Striking Distance Studios/Krafton

Early on, combat tin consciousness frustrating. Jacob’s lumbering question gives everything a sluggish, inconsistent feel, and knowing erstwhile to dodge, oregon adjacent erstwhile you’ve been struck by an attack, tin beryllium unclear. Understanding the game’s timing — uncovering The Callisto Protocol’s groove — takes time. Eventually, switching betwixt melee, gunplay, and GRP controls starts to click.

Even successful a one-on-one fight, a palmy brushwood mightiness impact a bid of dodges, bashes, surgical pistol shots (yes, you tin region enemies’ limbs here, too), and telekinetically throwing an force to springiness yourself immoderate space. The GRP occasionally allows for a one-hit kill, letting you propulsion enemies into spikes oregon whirling fans, turning them into a chunky spray of gore. But the GRP is simply a highly constricted assets and needs to beryllium utilized sparingly. Later encounters power things up, pitting Jacob against sentry robots that tin instantly termination him from afar, and unsighted monsters wherever stealthy kills with a shiv aren’t conscionable preferred, they’re each but indispensable to succeed.

Still, the crippled has a wide consciousness of sluggishness, a seemingly intentional prime to springiness Jacob and enemies a consciousness of value and impact. Some inputs, though, similar speedy limb switching, don’t look to registry sometimes, which is simply a immense occupation successful hard encounters. Turning connected “performance mode” successful The Callisto Protocol’s graphics settings does assistance alleviate that sluggish feeling. By default, the crippled uses a much cinematic, graphically awesome ocular mode. But the improved framework complaint — and much responsive inputs — afforded by show mode marque a immense difference.

Image: Striking Distance Studios/Krafton

But adjacent erstwhile you bash settee much into The Callisto Protocol’s rhythm, combat scenarios often consciousness unrefined. Smaller enemies popular up with small to nary warning, for instance, locking Jacob into button-mashing quick-time events that drain his health. Monsters besides popular up straight down you, making immoderate encounters consciousness downright unfair. Dead Space had its “monster closet” moments that delivered fun, well-earned leap scares — but mutant zombies emerging from grates successful the level retired of your enactment of sight? Far little enjoyable, peculiarly erstwhile paired with the game’s disorienting camera movement. That’s thing compared to aggregate moments wherever the crippled throws mobs of enemies astatine you. These are the worst parts of The Callisto Protocol, wherever immoderate earned hostility snaps and turns instantly into axenic aggravation. Multiple trouble spikes pushed the crippled past the realm of “enjoyable challenge” and into that of “unfair masochism.” I yet switched to casual mode retired of necessity.

The game’s checkpointing strategy is besides inconsistent. There are predominant checkpoints, thankfully, but they often hap seconds into a brag battle, with nary clip to heal, reload, oregon scope a presumption of information to recompose.

You bash unlock upgrades implicit clip that marque Jacob somewhat much powerful. At 3D-printing stations, you tin walk wealth acquired from chests, corpses, and by selling contraband to amended weapons and the GRP. But nary upgrades marque Jacob a monster-slaying god, and credits are doled retired sparingly capable that it seems intolerable to upgrade and unlock everything successful a azygous playthrough. (Or, currently, successful a 2nd playthrough, arsenic The Callisto Protocol does not yet person a caller crippled positive mode wherever upgrades volition transportation over. That’s owed aboriginal adjacent year, according to the developer.) Choices astir which limb oregon instrumentality to upgrade tin consciousness tough: Is an other fewer seconds of artillery beingness for the GRP worthy much than a harder-hitting stun baton? Should I stroke credits connected the accrued ammo-count node to unfastened up the harm boost for bullets later?

Image: Striking Distance Studios/Krafton

The Callisto Protocol’s 3D-printing stations, tally by the United Jupiter Corporation that runs Black Iron Prison, whitethorn connection my favourite spot of world-building/commentary successful an different beauteous straightforward sci-fi fearfulness yarn. Posters strewn passim the situation pass the information workers determination they tin walk their alleged Callisto Credits to upgrade their gear, forcing them to walk their ain wealth connected the precise supplies indispensable to support themselves against the inmates.

Beyond that, the communicative of The Callisto Protocol and the catastrophe of Black Iron is told chiefly done Jacob’s interactions with chap prisoners Elias and Dani, arsenic good arsenic the warden and his sadistic skipper Ferris. Players tin besides get audio recordings from inmates and guards, but dissimilar akin audio logs successful the Dead Space games, which played done the games’ diegetic holographic UI, The Callisto Protocol requires the subordinate to halt what they’re doing and dedicate their afloat attraction to listening to each recording. Given that immoderate of the recordings I listened to added nominally to the story, they started to consciousness inessential to the game’s narrative. I walked distant satisfied with, but not amazed by, The Callisto Protocol’s story.

Where The Callisto Protocol excels is successful its ambiance and environments. The game’s cold, metallic, concern satellite is gorgeously realized, giving Black Iron Prison a hard, tangible, weighty feel. Jacob slogs his mode done aerial ducts, done pools of sewage, and betwixt unsafe machinery that tin shred him (and enemies) successful an instant. Beyond the walls of the prison, players volition research an arsenic acheronian and terrifying satellite surface, wherever they’re battered by snowfall and wind. The Callisto Protocol features an impressively, painstakingly created world; it’s an expensive-looking game, and not conscionable for its Hollywood talent. (In summation to Duhamel and Fukuhara, Striking Distance and steadfast Krafton besides enlisted actors Gwendoline Christie and Michael Ironside for a six-episode podcast prequel to The Callisto Protocol.)

Image: Striking Distance Studios/Krafton

The Callisto Protocol is highly linear, with lone a fewer diversions, precise small backtracking, and astir nary puzzle solving. The archetypal Dead Space’s holographic wayfinding strategy is absent here, but determination are plentifulness of arrows and graffiti acting arsenic literal signposts to your adjacent objective. In different words, the crippled does not privation you to get lost, adjacent though I can’t ideate doing truthful anyway. After completing The Callisto Protocol successful astir 8 hours — not counting the dozens of failed attempts successful the conception that broke maine into selecting casual mode — I don’t spot a crushed to instrumentality to the crippled until Striking Distance adds the caller crippled positive mode, oregon further communicative content. What’s more, the manual prevention strategy doesn’t marque it casual to instrumentality to erstwhile chapters, meaning I’d person to bash a afloat run-through to cod thing I missed.

With The Callisto Protocol, Striking Distance proves it tin capably make nerve-wracking moments of hostility and fearfulness with a well-crafted operation of sights, sounds, and atmosphere. The workplace was astute not to make a one-to-one transcript of Dead Space — particularly with archetypal steadfast Electronic Arts present returning to the franchise with a remake owed adjacent month. But still: The Callisto Protocol could person borrowed a fewer much lessons from its spiritual inspiration, and further refined its mechanics to marque a crippled that plays arsenic bully arsenic it looks.

The Callisto Protocol was released connected Dec. 2 connected PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The crippled was reviewed connected PS5 utilizing a pre-release download codification provided by Krafton. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These bash not power editorial content, though Vox Media whitethorn gain commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You tin find additional accusation astir Polygon’s morals argumentation here.