Welcome to my review of The Callisto Protocol. This game is brought to us by developers Striking Distance Studios and publishers Krafton. The game is also directed by Glen Schofield who is a co-creator of the Dead Space series of games. It’s a survival horror game that sets the atmosphere from the moment you start playing. I purchased this game on the PlayStation 5 so, of course, that’s the version I have reviewed. It is available now on PC (Steam, Epic Games Store), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
Welcome to Black Iron Prison
Continue reading to find out my thoughts on The Callisto Protocol as well as why I’ve given it the score I have. You can also read our previous reviews.
The Game
We start off by being introduced to contract freight transporter, Jacob Lee and his partner Max Barrow on their UJC ship, Charon. Jacob Lee is played by actor Josh Duhamel (Major Lennox – Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), and Max Barrow is played by Jeff Schine (Chris Redfield – Resident Evil Village).
They are both in transit to transport unlabeled volatile cargo from Europa to Black Iron Prison which is situated on Callisto. It’s a UJC (United Jupiter Company) operated prison. Not far from clearing the security perimeter for Callisto, a terrorist organisation known as The Outer Way boards the Charon. After a bit of a ruckus between Jacob and Outer Way leader Dani Nakamura (Karen Fukuhara – Kimiko Miyashiro – The Boys), Max is killed which in turn forces the ship to crash land planet side on Callisto.
Both are recovered and taken to Black Iron Prison by security head Captain Leon Ferris (Sam Witwer – Deacon St John – Days Gone). Jacob awakens to find himself locked up inside a cell in Black Iron Prison, but that’s not all. The entire prison has been overrun by biophages, inmates who have been infected by an unknown disease that has caused them to mutate into horrific monsters waiting to tear Jacob limb from limb.
Enter Elias Porter (Zeke Alton – Ferros Financier – Legends of Runeterra) who is locked in another cell. Elias tells Jacob he has an escape plan that can help them both get out of the god-forsaken prison… And that’s all you’re going to read about the story. I don’t want to go into too much detail and reveal some big spoilers.
I’m sorry for mentioning Dead Space below
So onto the actual gameplay. Dead Space fans rejoice. The game reminds me so much of the aforementioned but at the same time, The Callisto Protocol is its own game and could stand face-to-face with Dead Space quite easily. Yeah, there are some similarities, but there most definitely will be as it’s made by Glen Schofield as mentioned up top. Am I thankful for how the game is set and the similarities to Dead Space? Yes. Do I think it should have been completely different from how it is? No.
Jacob has had a device attached to his neck which is known as a “Core Device”. This shows your health gauge at all times. Again, similar to how the health is displayed in Dead Space on the back of Isaac’s suit.
Now the gore. Wow. The level of detail when you are killed is insane. You get your head ripped clean off, leaving blood, meat, and god knows what else on screen for you to see. Tasty.
The combat in the game felt good to me. Melee combat is a simple tap of the R2 button and away you go, bash in the heads of those biophages! Gunplay is fun, whip out your weapon and pop those limbs off. There’s quite a variety of guns, we start with a basic pistol that can be upgraded and converted to other weapons, a shotgun, and more. But you’ll need to find those out for yourselves.
The story in this game is absolutely brilliant. From the start to the finish it keeps you on the edge of your seat as you await the next twist or turn in the story. It was most definitely one of those games that when I finished it, I wanted more of it.
Look & Sound
The graphics are very, very good. The game runs at 4K30fps on the PlayStation 5 but the graphics are truly something special indeed. Everything from the model detail on characters and aliens to level and asset design. Textures are also of very high quality and you will not be disappointed.
The audio in the game is eerily atmospheric and really sets the mood. The musical score fits perfectly into the scenarios that each chapter plays out. The voice acting in the game is phenomenal.
Length & Replayability
The game took me around 22 hours to finish. This was on Maximum Security difficulty, at the time of writing this is the hardest mode. I had missed some collectibles and at the time of writing, there was no chapter selection to go back through to pick up the missed items. There was also no New Game Plus mode but I believe the devs are bringing that to the game via a free update / DLC.
The game also has 27 trophies for collectors to acquire should they wish to.
Conclusions
The Callisto Protocol is an absolutely fantastic game, but not without its faults. There were a few glitches in my PS5 playthrough. However, these were resolved with a quick load of my last autosave. I also found that whilst playing the game on Maximum Security, it got a little boring/frustrating when dying often and not being able to skip the death scene or intro to a boss. For example, if a boss climbed over a wall and roared, you’d have to watch that every time, with no way of skipping it.
For the reasons above, I score The Callisto Protocol a 9/10. It would have been a perfect 10 if it wasn’t for the lack of a skip option.
