The Callisto Protocol Reviews
Dead Space comparisons are impossible to avoid - but while The Callisto Protocol's missing some of the depth and tension, it makes up for it with production value and bloody-minded fun.
Gory and moody, The Callisto Protocol doesn't mess with the survival horror formula, instead embracing all its beats and clichés to tell a grim sci-fi tale that drips with menace.
The Callisto Protocol is an excellent game while it lasts, but it's missing important features that would have propelled it to the next level.
The Callisto Protocol is a satisfyingly gory spiritual successor to the Dead Space series, but it’s ultimately more of a striking modern mimic than a scary new mutation.
It's a shame that The Callisto Protocol is so uninteresting at its core. Though it looks gorgeous on the surface, a dozen hours of nothing special can have a clarifying effect.
A fantastic looking game that builds a great sci-fi world only to trash it with an unenjoyable combat challenge.
Dead Space 4 in all but name, except with no puzzles and surprisingly little suspense. The Callisto Protocol has plenty of gritty action but that's not quite enough to sustain interest for its entire duration.
If you wanted anything more out of this second crack at making a new sci-fi IP in survival horror, or something markedly different that acknowledges just how far gaming has come since 2008, The Callisto Protocol is not your answer.
Though it starts off on a strong note, The Callisto Protocol's focus on action-heavy spectacles fails to adequately explore its horror and overcrowds its weak combat mechanics.
The Callisto Protocol could have borrowed a few more lessons from its spiritual inspiration, and further refined its mechanics to make a game that plays as good as it looks.
I consider The Callisto Protocol one of the most ambitious games I played this year, maybe even the most next to Elden Ring (though I think Elden Ring is in a league of its own—I don’t know if anything will be able to approach its depth and sophistication for a long time). Its thoughtful attention to environment, sound, and touch is what, I think, next-gen gaming should be like: an experiment with the senses and with story. The game has its issues, too, which can’t be ignored. But at least it feels human.
Slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy them a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled.
The Callisto Protocol is a game that loves fear from tradition; From strictly following the expression: "If something is not broken, do not fix it". The future of the space horror genre is more than assured with the first forceful step of a work that does not hide when looking at the past; of a game that is fully sincere about showing openly from the sources from which it is inspired. Something horrible lurks deep in the cosmos, but with games like this it's nice to come face to face with its darkest horrors.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Callisto Protocol is the game fans of space "survival horror" have been waiting for years. It´s not a revolution in the genre, but a solid addition, full of scary moments and with a deep (and brutal) combat system.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Callisto Protocol is a deeply immersive sci-fi horror experience that firmly grabs you at the start and doesn’t let go. While this immersion shows its cracks during the transition into new areas, it’s not enough to ruin the overall experience.
A horror that does not bring new elements to the genre and suffers from several conceptual problems, although not so serious as to reject the experience as a whole.
Review in Italian | Read full review
This isn’t to say there isn’t a good game oozing within the sticky flesh of this Frankenstein, though; it just feels like it’s not what Striking Distance wanted it to be. It’s not the next step in horror gaming, the evolution of Dead Space, or a proposition unlike anything you’ve seen before – it’s the opposite. An amalgam, less than the sum of its parts, whose main focus becomes overwrought and frustrating by the time you’re halfway through its short run-time. The scariest thing about The Callisto Protocol, sadly, is all the potential that’s been wasted on a small moon in Jupiter’s orbit.
This breakout horror game stumbles occasionally, but it still stands tall as a thrilling survival-horror experience.
Confused, contradictory and all too reliant on what came before, fantastic visuals that may stand as one of the current-gen's best can't save what's a terribly underwhelming release with The Callisto Protocol. A game that tries so desperately to be acknowledged for its own identity, all while relying on its most blatant and obvious of call-backs.