I feel like the Callisto Protocol should be the easiest game in the world to write about and yet I'm struggling to figure out how I feel about it. I've never played a game more at odds with itself in absolutely fascinating ways.
To be honest, I was unsure about this game even before the very polarized reviews - I adore Dead Space 1 and 2, but I feel like any "spiritual successor" game is walking a very fine line where sometimes you get a good one like Bloodstained but more often than not you end up with clunkers like Mighty No. 9 or the original Yooka Laylee. Still, I was curious, so I asked for it as a Christmas gift. I should probably note this game is about 11 hours long and it took me a month to get through it - take from this what you will.
I think the most important (and most confusing) aspect of Callisto Protocol is the one thing it does completely differently from Dead Space - the melee combat. You ever played Punch-Out!!? Well, it's Punch-Out!! You dodge a strike, then dodge in the opposite direction, and then wail on the opponent as much as possible. It's totally fine. I would go as far as to say it was pretty satisfying once I got the hang of it and was able to duck, weave and smash my way through a wave of enemies without getting hit.
But that's also kind of the problem. A big reason why encounters in games like RE4 and Dead Space always feel so tense is because you never, ever want enemies to be close to you. But in Callisto Protocol, getting close and using melee on a zombie is often the best possible option, which means there's really no tension when a monster shows up. And
the game seems so hesitant to give you guns that you don't get most of your arsenal until the last quarter or so.
It seems the designers realized how good the melee is, but their solution is imperfect. Midway through, the game flips the script and introduces enemies that sprout tentacles after you melee them enough, at which point you must shoot them with a gun or risk them "evolving" into a considerably stronger enemy. While this is clearly designed to force you to use guns, you can still melee an enemy until they sprout tentacles and then it only takes a bullet or two to kill them. It adds a little more tension, but doesn't fix the melee being overpowered. Also, the camera will auto-target the last enemy that hit you, so if you get side swiped by a second enemy while trying to shoot the tentacles off the first one...well, you're just kinda boned. I can't help but think it would have made more sense just to make some enemies melee-only and other enemies guns-only.
This trend of the game's mechanics being at odds with difficulty balance is constant throughout the game. At one point, there are areas swarming with blind enemies that react to sound. But, if you crouch walk the entire time, they never react. Ever. You can literally crouch walk right in front of a blind enemy and nothing happens. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall during this game's development, because I have to imagine this section was originally way too difficult and they probably kept toning it down and didn't realize they went too far. I truly wonder if they had time to playtest the final version of the game or if they just had to skip a final polish pass to make the holiday deadline.
Despite all this, I can't say I hated Callisto Protocol. The game is certainly visually impressive, especially in the (unfortunately brief) outdoor sections. The melee is fun even if it feels like it's in the wrong game. Outside of few very frustrating isolated sections (including the absolutely dog-shit final boss), I didn't have a terrible time playing it.
And yet, I can't stop thinking about all of the mistakes made here, most of which feel very preventable. I'm playing Dead Space 2023 now, and I'm struck by how much more balanced the combat in that game feels. By adding melee, Striking Distance Studios tried to fix something that wasn't broken and instead introduced a whole host of problems that weren't there before.
Throughout development, the main pitch of The Callisto Protocol was that this was designer Glen Scholfield's true original vision for Dead Space with no compromise. Having played it, I'm more confident than ever in my opinion that sometimes the "original vision" isn't the best one, and that collaboration and compromise can often result in a better product.
Also, let's be honest: the mutant zombies in this game just aren't anywhere near as scary as Necromorphs.
To be honest, I was unsure about this game even before the very polarized reviews - I adore Dead Space 1 and 2, but I feel like any "spiritual successor" game is walking a very fine line where sometimes you get a good one like Bloodstained but more often than not you end up with clunkers like Mighty No. 9 or the original Yooka Laylee. Still, I was curious, so I asked for it as a Christmas gift. I should probably note this game is about 11 hours long and it took me a month to get through it - take from this what you will.
I think the most important (and most confusing) aspect of Callisto Protocol is the one thing it does completely differently from Dead Space - the melee combat. You ever played Punch-Out!!? Well, it's Punch-Out!! You dodge a strike, then dodge in the opposite direction, and then wail on the opponent as much as possible. It's totally fine. I would go as far as to say it was pretty satisfying once I got the hang of it and was able to duck, weave and smash my way through a wave of enemies without getting hit.
But that's also kind of the problem. A big reason why encounters in games like RE4 and Dead Space always feel so tense is because you never, ever want enemies to be close to you. But in Callisto Protocol, getting close and using melee on a zombie is often the best possible option, which means there's really no tension when a monster shows up. And
the game seems so hesitant to give you guns that you don't get most of your arsenal until the last quarter or so.
It seems the designers realized how good the melee is, but their solution is imperfect. Midway through, the game flips the script and introduces enemies that sprout tentacles after you melee them enough, at which point you must shoot them with a gun or risk them "evolving" into a considerably stronger enemy. While this is clearly designed to force you to use guns, you can still melee an enemy until they sprout tentacles and then it only takes a bullet or two to kill them. It adds a little more tension, but doesn't fix the melee being overpowered. Also, the camera will auto-target the last enemy that hit you, so if you get side swiped by a second enemy while trying to shoot the tentacles off the first one...well, you're just kinda boned. I can't help but think it would have made more sense just to make some enemies melee-only and other enemies guns-only.
This trend of the game's mechanics being at odds with difficulty balance is constant throughout the game. At one point, there are areas swarming with blind enemies that react to sound. But, if you crouch walk the entire time, they never react. Ever. You can literally crouch walk right in front of a blind enemy and nothing happens. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall during this game's development, because I have to imagine this section was originally way too difficult and they probably kept toning it down and didn't realize they went too far. I truly wonder if they had time to playtest the final version of the game or if they just had to skip a final polish pass to make the holiday deadline.
Despite all this, I can't say I hated Callisto Protocol. The game is certainly visually impressive, especially in the (unfortunately brief) outdoor sections. The melee is fun even if it feels like it's in the wrong game. Outside of few very frustrating isolated sections (including the absolutely dog-shit final boss), I didn't have a terrible time playing it.
And yet, I can't stop thinking about all of the mistakes made here, most of which feel very preventable. I'm playing Dead Space 2023 now, and I'm struck by how much more balanced the combat in that game feels. By adding melee, Striking Distance Studios tried to fix something that wasn't broken and instead introduced a whole host of problems that weren't there before.
Throughout development, the main pitch of The Callisto Protocol was that this was designer Glen Scholfield's true original vision for Dead Space with no compromise. Having played it, I'm more confident than ever in my opinion that sometimes the "original vision" isn't the best one, and that collaboration and compromise can often result in a better product.
Also, let's be honest: the mutant zombies in this game just aren't anywhere near as scary as Necromorphs.