the callisto protocol

The Callisto Protocol has been marketed as a “spiritual successor” of sorts to Dead Space - the marinaded-in-despair 2008 sci-fi nerve-shredder - but in reality the relationship is a lot more reminiscent of the film Single White Female… so blatantly and aggressively does this debut release from Striking Distance Studios attempt to mimic the much-lauded survival-horror classic at almost every turn (which isn’t entirely scandalous, given that it was directed by Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield, after all). But while imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery in most walks of life, in the gaming space imitation is, well… mostly just imitation.​

Set in the year 2320, the story follows cargo pilot Jacob Lee (Josh Duhamel) - the sort who’s entirely content to do his job without asking the kind of nosy questions that shouldn’t be asked. When his transport freighter is attacked by a terrorist sect called the Outer Way (led by Karen Fukuhara of The Boys fame), he ends up crashing on Jupiter’s moon Callisto - an otherwise barren rock that houses the notorious Black Iron Prison (not the most imaginative name, but it gets the point across - don’t bother to visit). No sooner has Jacob clambered out of the wreckage than he’s seized by head of security Captain Ferris (Sam Witwer of Days Gone and Star Wars: Force Unleashed), processed as a common prisoner, and unceremoniously shoved in a cell. But Jacob barely has time to dwell on *that* unfortunate turn of events before the prison is plunged into a full-scale, facility-wide biophage crisis that starts mutating his fellow inmates into slavering, raging monstrosities.

Dead Space’s DNA is deeply encoded in almost every facet of the ensuing game - the outbreak-driven premise (which even has vague allusions to some sort of religious cult)… the chunky, slightly cumbersome movement… the curb stomp mechanic (handy for smashing crates or delivering a satisfyingly emphatic coup de grace)… the deliberately minimized HUD (a strip grafted across the back of Jacob’s neck displays his health, much like the spine of Isaac Clarke’s spacesuit)… the telekinetic GRP glove you acquire, which enables you to grip immobilized enemies in midair, then fling them with Jedi-like precision (good thing the prison was designed with such a random plethora of spiked walls to take advantage of)… the designated upgrade stations that allow you to spend your acquired credits and upload weapon schematics… the abundance of audio log backstory and exposition… the tactical suggestions helpfully scrawled on the walls in blood, etc… etc… etc… etc… etc… etc... etc... etc... etc... etc... 

What the game doesn’t have is anything as innovative as Dead Space’s targeted dismemberment approach to combat (in which you take down Necromorphs by severing their spindly limbs, rather than targeting the head/torso). The Callisto Protocol’s enemies are fairly bland from a design standpoint, and noticeably lacking in diversity - grotesquely fleshy (and toothy) yet visually generic brutes, for the most part… a few of which spit acid for variety’s sake (eventually, around the midpoint, they start sprouting tentacles and taking on even more misshapenly steroidal forms if you don’t dispatch them swiftly enough). Combat - which is erected on a foundation of melee attacks with your trusty riot baton - has been a sharp point of contention for many gamers, though bludgeoning enemies feels weighty and satisfyingly brutal… each swing has genuine heft, every impact accompanied by a haptic judder through the DualSense. The larger issue is the game’s sudden Bambi-On-Ice awkwardness and frustrating lack of precision when forced to juggle multiple attackers at once - particularly when confined within claustrophobic areas - which seriously taxes the dodge mechanic and more often than not devolves into hope-for-the-best button-mashing mayhem (in theory, the strategic idea is to cover your six and avoid getting surrounded, but that’s easier said than done when there’s little room to maneuver and the camera keeps getting locked in melee animations while struggling to maintain any form of spatial awareness).

The Callisto Protocol is, if nothing else, a terrific looking game - polished with a striking sheen of next-gen visual muscle. The detailed character models and motion-capture performances by its three leads are first rate (if, for some reason, you don’t particularly like Josh Duhamel, well - you’ll get to see the Transformers and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton star die… a lot… in spectacularly gory fashion (seriously - the death animations are almost vindictively over-the-top as Jacob gets his eyes gouged out, his limbs torn off, and his head crushed like an overly ripe watermelon)). It’s an undeniably impressive AAA showcase for a new studio literally shipping its first title… though the cutting-edge presentation tends to mask some rather dated game design, as you’ll mostly be funneled through a parade of linear corridors and spend an inordinate amount of time crawling around vents and squeezing/shimmying through tight spaces. Some of the decisions are downright head-scratchers - the first time one of the phallic-looking bloodworms strikes from out of nowhere, latching onto you and siphoning off a bit of health with an unavoidable attack, it’s a decent jump scare; by the seventh or eighth time, it’s simply cheap and irritating (ditto the oversized grubs lurking obnoxiously in innocent-looking supply chests). ​

It’s also telling that, for a survival horror game, The Callisto Protocol is curiously bereft of tension. It could be that the would-be scares are telegraphed with such clockwork regularity or the enemies simply don’t inspire much of a visceral reaction, but the game rarely produces the sort of moments that were so commonplace in Dead Space… the sort of moments when a hard lump of dread starts to calcify in the pit of one’s stomach, awash in waves of gastric acid. Certain sequences do stand out - such as a high-speed tram ride in which the platform is rapidly swarmed by hostiles from all sides - but these are relatively few and far between. Likewise, the potential creep-out factor of the game’s extended stealth sequence - in which you descend deep into the subterranean bowels of the prison - is undercut by the relative ease with which the visually impaired creatures you encounter can be picked off, virtually without repercussion. The clickers from The Last of Us these suckers definitely ain’t.

The functional storyline is well-paced over the game’s eight chapters, though it’s debatable whether the appreciably lean & mean 8-12 hour campaign necessarily warrants paying a full $70 freight (audio logs buff out the lore to an extent and while piping them through the controller’s built-in speaker is always an atmospheric touch, few of them offer significantly more creativity or insight than “What the hell is that?! Oh my God - AAAAAA!”). While Witwer is an excellent baddie (deserving of far more screentime), the villainous Warden Cole and the titular plan he's put into motion mostly inspire hazy indifference. Black Iron Prison remains a visually evocative setting - with its almost tactile pus-and-rust, grime-and-gore coated surfaces - but The Callisto Protocol itself is a game of two minds, torn between action and horror without ever finding a seamless balance between the two. It hints at potential greatness on its (graphical) surface, but the teeth of the gameplay gears grinding beneath never quite lock smoothly into place.