The Callisto Protocol

This is a continuous problem with video games in the horror genre, but it needs to be said: blood, guts, and grotesque images aren't inherently scary.

What makes games like Dead Space and Alien: Isolation landmark successes within the horror genre is not the blood and guts spewed across the screen, but the genuine terror that comes with exploring the worlds they've created. It's the fear of being caught, wondering what it was that made that sound, or the outline of something disappearing into the shadows. It's not redundantly smashing a gross looking corpse with a hammer as it growls at you.

Callisto Protocol is...okay. The environment and setting? Love it. I'm a sucker for Science Fiction Horror. Cast? Good. Basic premise? Prison planet is a touch cliché but it can work. The story? Eh...I can forgive some of the more derivative plot points and how much it borrows from Dead Space. But what I can't forgive is the boring pacing and repetitive combat that the game forces you into.

Want to sneak past enemies? Nope. They pop out 1v1 and you beat them to death. Every time. Want to find creative ways to solve problems or avoid hordes of creatures? Nope. Go here, open this door, kill that thing, unlock that room, repeat. The environments and corridors begin to all look the same (splattered with blood, echoing with screams). The combat begins to feel like a chore (you're not afraid of the creatures, you're just annoyed you have to beat another one to death...again) and that's *if* the combat mechanics work. If any CP creator is reading this-please realize that I would rather have little to no combat (like a Dark Pictures Anthology game or Outlast) in which I'm just avoiding death versus a game where I stumble into a room and have to begrudgingly kill something so I can move to the next room and do it again.

Horror is not gore. We don't get scared of something gross that growls and vomits up junk. Maybe the first time you see them it's unsettling. The second and third time the shock wears off. By the third hour of gameplay you'll roll your eyes at how annoying and disinterring you find them-and this is one of the biggest draws of the game (there's no puzzles, no side quests, no real RPG elements).

CP focused on the frosting and forgot about the cake. It's lots of blood, shrieks, screams, and gross creatures, but without the underlying gameplay, combat mechanics, and tone that make a horror game worth playing, CP just ends up feeling hollow and never delivers on the terror that it promises.

Everyone expecting a new and updated dead space. Whoever tells the opposite Is lying.

Good try, but something Is missing and i'll tell you what :

1- the combat system : i think an horror game should scare. How can you be scared if you Need to physically kill Monsters with a sort of Hammer(?)

1a : the dodging mechanism Is ridiculous.

2- The good thing of survival Is having limited ammo and inventory. Why i had Always full inventory here(?)

3- too Much quantity. A beautifull game Is about different challenges. How should i have fun killing the exact same Monsters, 20 times in the same room, and in the same mode???

4-too Much "splatter" but not enough fear.

And Little bugs like the italian voicover not working at all and the framerate not stabile in various scenes.

In any case, fellings are good. A beautifull storyline ( that ends too fast, but ok ) and really good Graphics, followed by brilliant audio effects and quality.

Characters Image quality Is impressive and also the places like the prison and other.

So, summarizing - too Much focus on the "wow" Graphics made a good title missing The real Heart of dead space , but It remains a good game which you'll have fun with.

But not for 70 bucks.

This game is pretty fun. I like the atmosphere of it with the setting inside a prison. The actors do an awesome job playing their characters. There are a couple of issues with the game though. It feels like something is missing with it. It could have been amazing. Still, it is an entertaining horror game with plenty of blood and guts. It really goes crazy with the gore through the experience, I enjoyed that. The weapons are pretty cool. The locations in the game look good. There were a couple of areas that I really liked. The game is worth playing for horror fans. The Callisto Protocol is a solid fun ride.

I anticipated the arrival of the game.. When I played I enjoyed a lot of elements in it. Combat was both visceral and fun. The graphics were amazing... Then, as the game lagged on it started to show its flaws.

Combat became more and more clunky and obviously swayed in favor of the monsters.. meaning , Jacob could not execute the moves for the buttons I was hitting..it seemed I was doing something wrong... turns out .... I wasn't . It's the game. It became beyond challenging to carry out the simplest of combat moves... normally in a game it takes you a bit and you get the hang of it but here You will find yourself fighting the controls more than the monsters.. unfortunate outcome to this otherwise pretty cool theme.

Calisto beared some similarities to dead space but is hollow compared to the meaty gameplay of the grand daddy of space horror.

It makes me think this was the lamest of the dead space crew that came over to the new game company.. the guy that works on the controls part is laughing sitting over at EA... saying " let's see your game be good without my buttery controls scheme dbags" lol

Thankfully the new dead space came out shortly after and I was able to redeem my belief that good games CAN have it all... controls...graphics... and be entertaining. Forget this one guys. It's a bargain bin game.. get dead space the remake..it'll provide you with countless hours of horror fun and you won't have to fight the controls to be successful. 60 bucks wasted.

Boring enemies, sketchy combat controls and all round average game!

Every fight feels the same and I just find myself trying to get through the game as quickly as possible. Not worth the money paid.

At least give us a variation of combat scenarios, it feels like every enemy I kill is the exact same. The combat and dodging controls are awful and sometimes I find myself questioning the continuity of it all. The atmosphere is good and I can tell it's made by the same guys who did Dead Space but other than that there is not much to it. The scare factor is lacking and the storyline is pretty awful, I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone looking for an in-depth journey into a far away planet haha.