The Callisto Protocol Review
Initial release date: December 2, 2022
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Publishers: KRAFTON, Bluehole Inc.
Developer: Striking Distance Studios
Engine: Unreal Engine 5
Genres: Survival horror, Shooter game, Adventure game
Writer: R. Eric Lieb
Many gamers, youtubers, and gaming outlets REALLY hate The Callisto Protocol. Honestly, go on any social media platform or look at any review and you’ll see a lot of people talking about how it’s one of the worst games of 2022 and fails to live up to being the successor to the cult classic being Dead Space. While The Callisto Protocol and Dead Space do share the same creator and have a lot of similarities from the main characters suit and weaponry; they are essentially not the same at all. The Callisto Protocol isn’t Dead Space and honestly, it’s not trying to be and its honestly one of the most fun games I’ve played all year. I don’t have any nostalgia for the Dead Space series even though I’ve played and beaten them all, and due to that I think that’s why I was able to go into The Callisto Protocol and enjoy it for what it is and what it’s trying to be and do. So, let’s talk about The Callisto Protocol.
The story of The Callisto Protocol takes place in 2320 and follows Jacob Lee and his partner Max Barrow as they are doing cargo drops for the United Jupiter Company (UJC) aboard the UJC Charon. A terrorist group known as the Outer Way who are reportedly responsible for the numerous terrorist attacks on the civilians of Europa ends up boarding the UJC Charon and causes it to crash land on the UKC-operated Black Iron Prison on Callisto. After crash-landing on the moon, Jacob is imprisoned along with the leader of the Outer Way, Dani Nakamura. The two team up with Elias Porter, a prisoner who has an escape plan, and attempt to escape the prison, yet ultimately, they learn of the Callisto Protocol, a plan to find a way to advance human evolution as well as the biophages, and the role of Warden Duncan Cole in the plan. Along the way, they must also confront Captain Leon Ferris and learn the truth behind the events on Callisto.
The gameplay of The Callisto Protocol feels incredibly weighty, by that I mean that every movement carries with it a ton of momentum and by proxy, purpose. Jacob isn’t the fastest character in gaming and in many ways, he feels incredibly slow when it comes to dodging and general maneuverability especially with the games’ default sensitivity for the camera controls being set to 50 out of 100. I personally had to move the sensitivity up to 80 to have a better feeling for the camera, and I’d encourage you to change the camera settings if you pick up this game. Jacob can walk/sprint, dodge incoming attacks, melee with a pipe and stun baton, shoot from the various guns he gets, and crouch for those stealthy moments that include stealth kills. From a third person shooter perspective, The Callisto Protocol isn’t anything stellar, and from a survival horror perspective, the game isn’t at all groundbreaking or scary.
Like Dead Space, The Callisto Protocol shows Jacob’s health by way of the implant on the back of his neck known as a C.O.R.E. Device. You can replenish his health by way of injectable packs you find at medical stations on walls, by purchasing them, or by defeating enemies or opening chests.
If you love survival horror games and the way many give you a limited inventory, then you’ll find that The Callisto Protocol carries over a limited inventory and forces you to resource manage. When you start the game, you will have a very limited inventory allowing you to carry no more than 6 items at a time not including weapons. As time passes, you gain access to your powered suit that increases the amount of damage you can take along with vastly increasing your inventory space. Since there are no item boxes, you’ll either need to sell off items that you don’t need at the 3D printing station (more on that later) or drop them right where you are which is a call back to a mechanic featured in Resident Evil 0.
An important aspect to know about The Callisto Protocol is the game linear structure. This game is very much on rails from start to finish, but there are a lot of points for you to travel off of the beaten path and find hidden rooms with weapon schematics, high value sellable items, ammos, and more. These areas can be easy to miss yet they yield a lot of value for the time you will spend seeking them out.
Where The Callisto Protocol excels is in its take on combat, and in particular its take on melee combat since that is the core mechanic that sets this game apart from all others. When you encounter enemies, you often will have to face them head on (initially) and will need to put them down with either your gun or the pipe or stun baton. These encounters can contain many enemies at once, however these encounters almost always boil down to one-on-one encounters with the other enemies waiting their turn to attack you.
Enemies will swing at you for the most part while there are others who spit acid at you and others who will snatch you from across the room and try to drag you to them. Upon an enemy swinging at you, you can either hold left or right on the thumbstick or hold back of which will cause Jacob to either evade the attack in either direction or block the incoming attack. Some enemies will swing at you anywhere from 1 up to 3 or 4 times in a row; in these situations you are able to dodge all of these attacks or block them all (I don’t recommend blocking often) and once they finish you can then wail on them with you melee weapon which then opens up the ability to pull off a quick shot from your gun that will either heavily damage the enemy, or kill them in one hit. The dodging mechanic is pretty neat as you can chain several dodges together in what often feels like Mike Tyson’s Punch Out when the enemies fail to hit you. I can’t recall any other game that utilizes this same mechanic in recent memory nor pulls it off as well as this game does, and while yes it takes some getting used to, ultimately it can feel very exhilarating.
You get access to several weapons from pistols to shotguns to an assault rifle and more. Your base melee weapon is a steel pipe which goes on to be a stun baton. You will find weapon schematics in the various chapters of the game that you can take to the 3D printer and print them at the cost of some Callisto Credits which is the in-game currency. You can do several things at these 3D printers such as sell off items that you have in your limited inventory to both clear up space and get Callisto Credits, and you’re able to upgrade your weapons to give them various buffs such as increased damage capability, higher ammo capacity, alt-firing for some guns, and for your stun baton you can gain a stronger crowd clearing attack as well as gain the ability to break arms with the baton.
Once you down an enemy, you should always go over to them and do a stomp as that will often yield various things from health, Callisto Credits, ammo, and items that you can sell. Yes, the stomp is the same as it was in Dead Space in look and functionality. Considering that Callisto Credits are very scarce and trying to upgrade your gear can get expensive, I recommend focusing on upgrading your baton, pistol, assault rifle, and GRP.
Speaking of the GRP, that is another thing that makes this game stand out even though it is like a weapon that you get in Dead Space. This arm attachment allows you to essentially Force pull enemies and objects to you and then hurtle them away from you. This is really helpful for clearing out enemies as you can use this to grab and throw them into environmental hazards like spiked walls, spinning fan blades, off cliffs, and you can use it to pick up explosives and throw it at them which can often kill them instantly.
The Callisto Protocol really allows you to creatively handle almost any situation you get into, and that ends up being one of the most viscerally satisfying aspects of this game.
Graphically, The Callisto Protocol is one of the most beautiful games I’ve seen in years. The level of photo realism on the character models and environments is absolutely jaw dropping and puts a lot of AAA games to shame. Jacob Lee looks so close to Josh Duhamel that there were times I had to wonder if I was watching a real-life movie unfolding as the level of detail is just that high. Environments are equally stunning to look at with a wealth of details in every structure you see and elemental aspect like fire, pools of water, sparks of electricity, and snow. It’s just amazing to see no matter what platform you’re playing this on, however if you have the capability to play this on the PS5. Xbox Series X, or a high-end gaming PC then please do so!
Audio wise, the game is equally spectacular with its haunting and atmospheric ambience when walking down eerily dark and dank corridors that will set the hairs on the back of your neck on edge while also giving you that thrilling action movie pulse pounding soundtrack when the moments call for it. The sounds of the creatures you encounter and the sounds of the machinations on the derelict prison are done so well that you should definitely have a pair of high-end gaming headphone, audiophile headphones, or a surround sound set up to truly appreciate it all. The voice acting is great as well with Josh Duhamel being perfect in the role of Jacob Lee and even Resident Evil 3 and Village’s Jeff Schine being in the game add to its epicness. The way their minute mannerisms are relayed on the character models as well as their delivery of lines and cadence and tone is truly something to see and hear.
While I may have showered the game with praise, it isn’t without its set of issues that have hampered the experience. I initially played The Callisto Protocol on PC as I ran the game on my desktop that has an RTX 3070 rocking a i7 10700K with 32GB of DDR4 3200MHz on Ultra settings at 4K 120FPS – DLSS Quality and on my gaming laptop which is an ASUS ROG M16 with a RTX 3060 rocking an i9 11900H 16GB of DDR4 3200MHz on High settings – 1440P 120FPS – DLSS Performance with both having Windows 11. Let’s just say that my experience with the game on both my computers pre patches was godawful with me barely able to maintain60fps let alone 30fps with the game constantly dipping to below 25fps. Because of this I ended up buying a copy of the game for PS5 digitally and had the best experience with this game with no hiccups whatsoever.
It is frustrating that this game is so poorly optimized for PC especially ones with the latest RTX 4080 and 4090 graphics cards, even after all the patches, as I really wanted to enjoy this game on my rigs as well as enjoy it on the go on the Steam Deck which also struggles to run the game. So, my advice would be to pick this up on consoles if you plan on playing it as the PC experience is just not where it’s at.
The last part I want to bring up as an issue is the lack of New Game+; once you beat this game, that’s it. There is no way to start the game with any of your previously acquired gear or currency which ultimately makes this a one and done for the time being until further patches bring in post-game content and the upcoming expansion DLC for the story.
In wrapping up this review, The Callisto Protocol has been one of my favorite gaming experiences of 2022. Yes, the game has its buggy aspects of it and doesn’t run good on PC, is incredibly linear, has a learning curve to the combat mechanics, and it also isn’t a very scary game and honestly isn’t Dead Space at all. Regardless of all that, I still had a fun time with this game as it sucked me into its world from the moment I hit play. While I may not recommend you spend full retail value for this game, if you happen to find it on sale or have some trade in credits to get it discounted, then I suggest you give The Callisto Protocol a go!
Comments