For survival horror and sci-fi fans, The Callisto Protocol sounded like a dream come true. Dead Space was a game that shook the industry upon its release. Nearly mastering the 3rd person over the shoulder gameplay that its main inspiration, Resident Evil 4, introduced years prior. Having an immersive UI that never takes you out of the gameplay, and giving an in universe reason for doing so. Not to mention even having the no cuts style game long before God of War 2018 made it cool.

Dead Space was way ahead of its time and I'm not saying all of this to get you hyped for a "Dead Space sequel in all but name." Because the Callisto Protocol is not that. And despite what the marketing might tell you, it was never trying to be that. I'm telling you all this because I want you to understand the heights this team are capable of. To put into further context the criticisms I am about to give this game that I was extremely excited for, but ultimately let down by. Let's get into it.

I want to start off the review by diving into the story. Callisto Protocol begins after a Pilot, Jacob gets boarded by a supposed terrorist group, The Outer Way. Causing the ship to crash on the Dead Moon of Jupiter, Callisto. Callisto is home to Black Iron Prison, a maximum security prison where you can only assume they send the worst people that the solar system has to offer. You're very quickly discovered by "BIP" Captain Ferris (Played by Sam Witwer) and rather than being rescued, you're put in cuffs and put under arrest due to "Warden's orders." Que title card.

Jacob is administered with a neck implant that will allow you to communicate with other prisoners as well as view your health and GRP power in game. Jacob passes out from the pain, wakes up in a cell to find that during his nap the prison has gone to absolute hell. Prisoners and guards alike are running around or attacking each other, fellow inmates have been torn limb from limb, the entire cell block is on fire.

And its clear that you're only goal is to escape Black Iron Prison. The game starts off pretty strong with a pretty gripping introduction, but after that Callisto's story follows a pretty predictable path. Offering not a lot of new ideas and retreading ground much of Dead Space's ground, but not improving on any of its tropes. You'll journey to one destination only to find the door is locked and you need a key card, or to reroute power. After rendezvousing with your partner, you will almost always be separated from them due to a collapsing platform, an explosion, etc.

I never felt like I needed to know what was going on at the Black Iron Prison. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the mystery just didn't intrigue me the way that other survival games of the past have. I just didn't find the "Biophages" interesting enough to care and that really disappointed me.

Apart from that, this game is pretty atmospheric. The sound design is brilliant and one of the best aspects of the game. Black Iron creaks like an old house settling during the witching hour. Pipes burst, enemies run through vents in the walls around you and if you're wearing headphones, you can hear them moving around you which is pretty chilling.

I wish that I could post screenshots in this review, because some of the scenes in the is game are fantastic. One of my favorites is when you enter a completely dark hallway with a burst pipe at the end. The light coming from the door at the end of the corridor illuminates the fog into a brilliant white cloud. Preventing you from making out what's on the other end. As you slowly creep towards it, you hear a gurgled growl and a Biophage bursts through the mist sprinting at you with it's arms raised ready to bring his arms down on you. Then another bursts through a vent behind you. This sequence was probably my favorite in the entire game. It was beautifully eerie and although I knew there was a monster on the other end of that fog, seeing the shadow grow as it creeped through was a terrifying sight to behold.

I don't want to spoil the entire game for those who haven't played it, so I'll wrap up the story section by summarizing my thoughts on it.

Callisto's story doesn't do anything new. The characters are likable enough to carry you through the game and I did thoroughly enjoy the performances from the cast. Sam Witwer's Captain Ferris was a stand out for me. Ultimately, the story serves its purpose and not much more than that. If you're coming to this game looking for a survival horror roller coaster, you'll be disappointed.

Protocol's gameplay is where things get really interesting and where I have the most to say.
Its gameplay is very unique in its genre. It blends tank controls, with meaty melee combat, gunplay and dodging. The guns are incredibly fun to shoot. On a PS5 controller, each gun offers different haptic feedback and trigger pulls that further enhances the experiences. The shotguns can stagger and throw lighter enemies to the ground if you hit them right. The hand cannon can take off heads and limbs at a distance if you can dial in your aim.

The melee combat starts off frustrating at first. You don't do a lot of damage at first, and your attacks are a basic light attack. But as you upgrade the stun baton at the 3D printer and I HIGHLY recommend putting most of your points into the stun baton, it quickly becomes a viable way to dispatch enemies. Each upgrade feels worth the credits and makes a genuine difference during the combat.

But that is where my praise for the gameplay comes to an end and now we need to discuss the dodge mechanics. Dodging is integral to this gameplay in the same way that blocking and dodging are in FromSoftware's Souls Games. Dodge, dip, duck, dive and dodge or you will be brutally and I mean BRUTALLY murdered in this game. Over, and over, and over. Which is why it is so unfortunate that dodging can get you killed, just as much as it will protect you.
The way this mechanic is mapped is interesting. The way you dodge is you hold back on the left stick, either right/left to dodge or back to block. Seems easy enough, but there are several reasons that this becomes an issue. The first and most obvious is that the dodge button is mapped to the same that your basic movement is mapped to. This creates scenarios where you are completely surrounded by enemies instead of running, you are locked in this constant cycle of dodging attacks. Because they are routed to the same input, it forces the player to compromise their positioning in favor of dodging an attack.

Secondly, because it is mapped to the stick, it can be a bit finicky when it decides to dodge rather than block. The cutoff isn't as decisive as if it were a button prompt. Leading to blocking when you wanted to dodge or vice versa. This may not sound like a big deal, but when you are swarmed by enemies and trying to get away, you're using the left stick to run away. Your movements have to be quick and decisive with little room for error and this mapping allows a lot of room for error.

Thirdly, because a dodge only activates when an enemy swings at you there is no way to dodge projectiles. One of the main enemy types hocks goo at you from a distance. This was also a main enemy type in Dead Space. In DS, you can deal with these enemies in a variety of ways. There were plenty of spikes and explosive barrels around at all times that you could pick up and throw at them. If there weren't you can rip the arms of enemies and use those instead, If you were quick you could even snatch the projectile acid out of the air and throw it back at them.
Aside from an occasional explosive barrel, none of those options are present here. Making multi gang combat feel even more like a chore.

Lastly is that this mechanic completely falls apart in multi enemy combat scenarios. Where you can only dodge one attack at a time, but enemies can attack you from multiple directions at once. This became absolutely infuriating during boss fights. The bosses will always one hit kill you and they have a very long reach due to their size. Starting with the second boss, more basic enemies will come into the arena to attack you as well. And I died a handful of times because the mob swung first, and while I was stuck in the dodge animation (Moving away from both enemies) the boss swung down and caught me. Killing me instantly.
This happens a lot throughout the gameplay where you end up getting caught taking damage due to the mechanics limitations. It makes the game feel cheap, rather than like the odds are stacked against you.

The closest comparisons I can draw to Callisto's dodging is that from The Last of Us Part II. Where you used the left stick to dictate which way you wanted to dodge but initiated it with another button press. Letting you prioritize your positioning first, and quickly dodge out of the way when needed. It still felt tanky, slow and chaotic. But it worked much better than Callisto Protocol's.

I've spent a massive chunk of this review highlighting the flaws in this mechanic. I chose to do so because I feel it is so critically flawed but despite this, Striking Distance Studios chose to build their entire combat system around it. Callisto Protocol suffers from other issues, but the dodge mechanic almost single handedly drags this game down into the mud.

Callisto Protocol's gameplay is agonizingly slow. From the way weapons are designed, to the down right SHOCKING amount of gap shimmying, vent crawling and crouch sequences. It is not hyperbole to say you will sit through these sequences more often than you will walk through a door in Callisto Protocol. It is ridiculous. Both God of War 2018 and Ragnarok are also filled with these sequences. But they use the rock climbing and boat rides to tell interesting stories, use character dialogue to build up the world or the relationships between the characters. Callisto Protocol has very little to none of that and instead it only serves to rip control away from the player. Making them sit there while they hold forward on the left stick in silence for the hundredth time.

Callisto Protocol's weapons are designed around modularity. At the beginning of the game, you are given a weapon frame. That you take to the 3D printer and make a hand cannon out of. Later on, you can find more schematics like a tactical pistol and a hand held shotgun. These are all created from the same frame, meaning that when you need to switch to the skunk gun from the hand cannon, you need to pull up the quick menu, scroll down to select it, then watch the animation as Jacob pulls the attachment out of his pocket, swaps the attachments puts the other one back in his pocket and then he's ready to fire. Later on, you get another weapon frame that allows you even more to fumble with in the heat of the moment. If you are a Last of Us fan, imagine you run out of ammo mid combat so you have to pull out your back pack and select a different weapon mid combat. Imagine the original Resident Evil 4, needing to swap weapons by pulling up the inventory screen. Only that it didn't pause the game.

Healing is the same case. In resident Evil you pause the game, eat a quick herb and you're back in it. In Dead Space you hit the B or O button to use a heal that will apply automatically. In Callisto Protocol: You hold down on the D pad, Jacob crouches down, pulls out a health injector, stabs it into his neck, slowly injects the fluid, stand back up, tosses it aside and then you're back in it. This simply just isn't possible to do in combat. Making it so that whatever amount of health you go into combat with, is what you're stuck with til the end.

I hope I've thoroughly illustrated how frustrating this game is to play. How much of a slog it is from start to finish. How agonizing it is to pop out of a gap in the wall, only to have to crawl through a vent a few moments later.

I am a massive fan of survival horror, Dead Space and Glen Schofield's past work. I tried really really hard to love or even like The Callisto Protocol. But aside from its stellar presentation, it has disappointed and frustrated me at nearly every turn. And without a new game plus, worthy unlockables, or a way to skip cutscenes or the vent crawling sequences, I doubt that I will be returning to this game again.