The Callisto Protocol Reviews
From the story to the enemy design and combat, The Callisto Protocol is copy-paste “horror”. I used the quotes around horror because the use of common tropes means that the title fails to provide the most important ingredient in a horror game – fear.
I enjoyed the game and the visuals as I found the look and story very engaging but I did have abundant frustration with the slow controls and combat which caused some segments to be replayed more than I wanted.
The Callisto Protocol is a beautiful audio-visual experience, but it is a hole in the water on both the gameplay and narrative sides. The game offers breathtaking settings, but this is not enough if the product lacks ideas and a well-calibrated combat system.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The true horror behind The Callisto Protocol is how much it wants to be Dead Space without directly being tied to the franchise. The Callisto Protocol’s style and gameplay feel like hollow shells of what it’s trying to emulate, without any genuine, risky attempts to make the formula feel distinctly unique.
Technical issues aside, The Callisto Protocol is mostly forgettable.
Overrun by mutants, Jupiter's moon is the setting for this spiritual Dead Space successor
The Callisto Protocol is about as close to Dead Space as it could possibly be without bearing the same name. And for many players that will be more than enough to leave them satisfied... Nevertheless, the more you play of The Callisto Protocol the more its flaws stand out.
Its a shame that the combat do let the game down when you face multiple enemies and you will face multiple enemies a lot. Otherwise the game is stunning, one of the best looking games out there, and story scenes are well directed with the aid of life-like characters.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
The Callisto Protocol seemed to be tailor-made for me based on the trailers and the information we had on it leading up to launch. Crafted by Glen Schofield, co-creator of the Dead Space series, it had all the right elements. Sci-Fi horror set in space, monstrous creatures that need to be dismembered to be killed, a gruff Josh Duhamel in the lead role, it had everything going for it. Unfortunately, none of those things were enough to save what essentially ended up being a re-treading of Dead Space with none of the charm or intensity that made that game so great.
While the game has the same creative forces behind Dead Space, and many of the features are retconned into the game, it’s not quite lived up to my expectations. The game strikes me as a conglomerate of ideas, like a novel approach to dodging, a similar but different storyline, tough combat borrowed from challenging games like Dark Souls, packed into a beautifully presented game. But here’s the thing: all of these ideas sound great in isolation. But the execution here in The Callisto Protocol makes for an inferior gaming experience compared to other titles. It’s almost like all the devs got into one room and pitched a bunch of ideas, smushed them together, without anyone really thinking about their practical application. Is The Callisto Protocol a bad game? No, it isn’t. But is it great? No, it isn’t. Is it worth playing? Yes. But not at this price point.
Despite providing rich atmosphere with its stunning visuals and anxiety-inducing sound effects, The Callisto Protocol’s gameplay is frustratingly designed and its story feels almost like an afterthought which was quickly churned out through an online ‘survival horror game’ story generator. At least the Dead Space remake is coming out in January.
Between exploring Black Iron Prison, and discovering the secrets that haunt, The Callstio Protocol is an atmospheric fright!
The Callisto Protocol is an exceptional horror adventure title. It will be hard for Dead Space fans to ignore the similarities, but it should be enjoyed on its merits. With slick combat, amazing aesthetics, and an incredible plot, this needs to be played.
The horror is the least scary thing…
Overall, it is a genuine sci-fi survival horror adventure that doesn't offer anything groundbreaking but does know how to please lovers of the genre. Despite its brief length, the game provides a satisfying survival horror experience in a range of settings, carried out by a superb cast. The Callisto Protocol may have been the finest horror game of the year if more effort had been spent fixing some of its issues.
The promise of The Callisto Protocol was left unfulfilled in one of the most unsatisfying horror games of the year.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Callisto Protocol is a stunning and terrifying sci-fi experience worth getting scared over.
Playing The Callisto Protocol made me feel like I'm wasting my time and I rarely feel that way when I play video games. With simple and repetitive combat and a world that's completely void of tension yet still filled with absurd amounts of violence, it can go suck an egg.
This game wants to be Dead Space really, REALLY, bad, but what’s interesting about that is I haven’t even finished the first Dead Space game and I can see it. Is this a bad thing? No, it’s really not as Callisto Protocol isn’t a trash game at all, they tried some new things with the controls and stuff some of it worked but for me a lot more of it didn’t. The game’s depiction of excessive violence is fun but even it wears on to the point of feeling overboard, especially when you think why they have giant grinding machines in the open like this in the middle of a prison. The story, while predictable, was an enjoyable adventure, but as far as graphics this game looks incredible. But as most of us know by now, looks aren’t everything and so it is with Callisto Protocol.