The Callisto Protocol Review – It’s a Start (PS5)

The Callisto Protocol review

The Callisto Protocol set out with a lofty goal – to give the same kinds of thrills that the fan-favorite Dead Space gave gamers around a decade ago. With one of the co-creators of that series at the helm, it should be a no-brainer, right? Can magic strike again, or has the hype built up perhaps a bit too high for developer Striking Distance Studios’ debut horror title? Read our The Callisto Protocol review to see if this is a horror thrill ride worth experiencing or it needs to be shipped off-orbit.

Damn, the Future Looks Great

The Unreal Engine 4 was chosen for The Callisto Protocol, and it mostly stays up with the action. Some frame rate drops do occur when Jacob takes on more than a few enemies, however. A performance mode toggle is available on the PS5, and this helps things to run much more smoothly without sacrificing too much in the graphics department. Character models are great for the main cast, with facial animation that is surprisingly nuanced. Loading times are just a handful of seconds, most likely simply because of the PS5’s SSD speed. There are even a couple of gamma options to get a deeper level of black shades depending on what type of display you have your console hooked up to.

Graphically, The Callisto Protocol is a great-looking game. Besides the excellent character models, the environments have a good amount of detail. Jacob travels from the frozen surface of Callisto, to a large prison, an abandoned underground research colony, and a few other locations which look well-weathered or hastily left. There are only a few different types of enemies, however, so it’s a good thing the environments are interesting to look at.

Audio work is also great here, which makes sense when you consider some of the work was done at a Skywalker location. Beyond the voiceover work performed by Josh Duhamel as protagonist Jacob Lee, Karen Fukuhara as alleged terrorist Dani Nakamura, and Sam Witwer as antagonist Leon Ferris, there are also audio logs scattered throughout each level to be found and listened to. Though, there are only a few audio logs to find in each chapter, and these don’t really do a good job of expanding the lore – you’ll usually hear the person’s final moments as they curse someone they had a disagreement with before screaming as the enemy bares down on them.

You Can See the Twist From a Galaxy Away

This brings us to one of The Callisto Protocol’s main issues. The team at Striking Distance have done a good job of building out some interesting locations, but it feels a bit generic. Storytelling is one of the hardest things to get right in most games, but perhaps extra challenging in a setting where most people have died. There’s a weird shift in Jacob’s attitude towards Dani that occurs in the game’s third act, which occurs before he ends up knowing her true past. The ending also felt particularly rushed, when after spending several hours with survival as a core focus and hardly any story progression, suddenly there’s a race for a cure and multiple boss fights. In summation, pacing is an issue here.

Speaking of boss fights, there are only two major foes spread across five fights within the last two chapters of the story. It’s a bizarre choice that further reflects the wonky pacing towards the latter third of The Callisto Protocol. One powerful, two-headed enemy shows up in a pretty epic, hard-fought battle aboard a moving platform, and when all is said and done the enemy is clearly killed. But before much longer, you have to defeat this same type of enemy not once, nor twice, but three additional times. The epic battle quickly devolves into a fight against a bullet sponge, who never changes up their strategy. It would have been much more memorable if the two-headed baddie only showed up once, but it seems this was a way to pad some sections out.

Dodge This

The Callisto Protocol does try something new out with its combat system. While there is a decent amount of ammunition for Jacob’s multi-tool gun, it’s not unlimited, and so the game offers up a few melee strategies. Chief among them is the ability to dodge incoming attacks by holding the left analog stick either left or right (holding it back performs a block, which does still inflict some damage) in the opposite direction of incoming attacks. When done right, it feels and looks pretty slick, and against a single enemy it is manageable. But The Callisto Protocol seems to enjoy throwing multiple enemies at you, with almost all of them faster and stronger than you. When attacks can come from any side, it’s difficult to dodge everything, and some sections feel quite unfair.

Even on the easy difficulty setting, The Callisto Protocol is pretty ruthless. Jacob can be killed in just a few hits, health pickups are scarce, and there are some lockers or chests which are booby trapped with a worm-like enemy, with no way to tell if that is the case ahead of time. Also, despite the dodge mechanic being available for physical attacks, the same tactic cannot be used against incoming projectiles, such as the couple of enemies that like to spit at you. There’s also a stealth section which introduces blind enemies that far overstays its welcome, even forcing the player to go back through this entire section, with the only difference being that there are now regular enemies. Those blind enemies are also the most inconsistent of the bunch: they have super hearing, and you are told to crouch and not make any noise near them, yet when you stealth kill their buddies, which makes a ton of noise, they don’t seem to hear much of anything. There was some amusement in killing a group of around five of them at one point, all huddled together as they seemed to wonder just what was going on.

the callisto protocol sequel

Verdict

The Callisto Protocol is a good first shot at terrifying you in space. While not as scary as Dead Space, and lacking the same kind of satisfying combat, there is still fun to be had amidst the sometimes enragingly-unfair fights and odd story pacing. After just eight chapters, the adventure is over, as it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Things are also setup nicely for a sequel, should sales meet or exceed expectations, so with any luck Striking Distance will have another chance to deliver a more refined adventure that truly terrifies us.

Score: 7/10

Pros:

  • An audiovisual treat
  • Slick dodging…when it works
  • A few good scares

Cons:

  • Overwhelming numbers of enemies
  • Boss fight loses its edge with repetition
  • Mediocre story

The Callisto Protocol review code provided by publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.

Top Games and Upcoming Releases