DISCLOSURE: This game was reviewed on the following platform: PC – Check out our Review Policy page for more information.
Glen Schofield’s intellect is responsible for The Callisto Protocol, which is a next-generation twist on the survival horror genre. The Callisto Protocol is a game that immerses players in a tale that has them on the edge of their seats by combining atmosphere, suspense, and violence with terrible moments of powerlessness and humanity. The story takes place in a world where unimaginable evils await every turn.
Here we shall be giving it a clean and unbiased review based on our personal and other players’ experiences. We will be splitting it up into a Pros and Cons section so that it will be far clearer for you to understand what this game has to offer. Let’s get started.
Is It The Next Dead Space?! – The Callisto Protocol Review
The Callisto Protocol is a game that really resembles Dead Space and basically, we can call it the spiritual sequel to it since it feels very close to it. You will be getting a lot of horror and brutal elements in it and when combined with the third-person camera you will be able to actually get a feel of the overall ambiance around you too.
It is a survival horror game which means that you will have to go around and pick up resources for upgrading and becoming better with time to be facing deadlier and scarier enemies.
Pros
We shall start off with the good sides of the game and see if it lives up to the Dead Space releases.
Visuals & Graphics
We don’t really have to say anything about this matter because the pictures and even the trailer can speak for themselves. You will be getting your money’s worth and it will live up to your expectation of a AAA title.
You’ll see a lot of very small details on both your character model, but mostly on the enemies that you will be facing. You can actually feel the weight of the enemies because of how clean and sharp the graphics are. They are made so that you’ll be scared and get into a panic once something happens all of a sudden, while at the same time wanting more time to look at everything.
Since it is a horror sort of a Dead Space game, the lighting is very important to be spot on. Well luckily for you, the lighting is absolutely fantastic in The Callisto Protocol. You will get dark environments and light as well. You won’t feel as though anything is out of place with either of them.
Sounds & Ambience
Because sometimes you will be completely in the dark you shall need to focus on your hearing a lot to be able to orientate yourself so that you can survive. Thankfully the devs have gone ahead and given us an outstanding sound system.
Because the sounds are so good, you will actually be immersed in the whole scenario and setting where and how the game takes place. The music is also placed in certain types of situations to either get your blood pumping or to sadden and feel with certain types of characters.
Gameplay & Horror Element
The best way how we can actually explain the gameplay would be intense horror–like combat, with a lot of inconsistent combat and scenery that can be found in the middle. Something that you would expect from a Dead Space game, just toned down by a bunch.
The whole purpose and premise of it are to get you at the moment and make you on the edge of your seat, something that the game does well. You will also at times be scared without having moments that push it in your face. Something also that The Callisto Protocol does decent.
Although the gameplay is in the Pros, it does have its flaws if one does not look in-depth about it. We shall discuss it further in the sections down below.
Cons
What are the bad sides of this game and are those negative reviews really legit?
Save System
Something that you will notice right away is how the save system isn’t at all functional. It is basically there, it saves your progress, but the spaces that are set between the save points is downright useless and plain painful, especially in the early stages of the game where you are still getting the hang of the combat system.
There are so many encounters that will push you to the limit because logically it is a horror game and you should feel vulnerable. But with that being the case, you would expect at least some form of method to give you a safe opportunity.
Well in The Callisto Protocol that is nowhere to be found. The saving checkpoints are placed in awkward positions and are too spread from each other. You will be getting sent back maybe 5 minutes of gameplay with each death because of it.
Optimization
Even though at the time of this writing the devs have gone ahead and tried and actually did some good fixing, the optimization is still not that good because some players are getting really bad performance on their monster rigs too.
You will get random stuttering at explosions or some areas that have more going on in the background. Even if you drop the overall settings down to Low on a machine that can keep Cyberpunk on Ultra, you will get very weak performance.
There are a few late-game areas where you will be literally under 30 at all times. This is a problem that is most likely to be fixed, but as it is right now it is a big Con.
Plot Point & Story
If you have played Dead Space and you’ve loved it, especially the first game, you will more or less know the whole premise of this game too. There’s not anything out of the ordinary or that will make you surprised or remember for the days to come.
It is still a horror plot and most of these plots aren’t interesting, to begin with, but still, don’t expect anything more than a plain `meh` from the story and the cast here.
Same Things
Especially in the second part of the game, you will feel like the devs clearly got lazy and started just placing things inside that you have already done before.
The enemies are basically the game and feel like a copy and paste. The mini–bosses that you will encounter will be coming at you over and over again, and again, especially in the second part of the game. You will get the same mini-boss 4 times in the span of an hour or two!
The final boss is also plain boring and the build-up to it does no justice at all.
Pathing
There aren’t that many places for you to explore at all. The game also doesn’t help you out and never distinguishes a clear path for you to follow.
This is absolutely terrible because once you get into the main path by mistake, you will never be able to go back and see that side path for something extra. Of course, you can reload the save but this isn’t something that you should be doing at all in-game.
Combat
It feels as though the devs didn’t plan that you will combat more than 1 enemy at a time. This is just an overall feeling that a lot of the players got. It is a combat system of dodging at the right time with a lot of animations. You will be dealing with mostly the same enemies and plus on top of all that, you will be getting a total of 2 animations at most.
It isn’t necessarily that bad especially if you are new to these kinds of games, but it isn’t anything to write home to.
The Callisto Protocol
Summary
The Callisto Protocol is a fine sci-fi survivor horror game. It definitely isn’t the Dead Space sequel that was awaited by a lot of people. There are some elements that it does manage to do better, but a lot of things that do way worse than it. The whole gameplay and combat is basically a loop and dealing with the enemies just feels like a chore. Still, you might enjoy it if you give it a try, but we do recommend waiting for a sale first.
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