The Callisto Protocol PC Review

User Rating: 8

While I am not a big horror game player, there are some sci-fi horror games that I do play. One of those games is Dead Space. Striking Distance Studios, with a leadership team consisting of members from the original Dead Space team, has brought us The Callisto Protocol. A sci-fi horror third-person shooter, inspired by Dead Space but meant to be much more. It has the ambiance and the acting to be great, and this is our review.

This story-driven title is set sometime in the future and brings us into it as a pilot who delivers items from one planet in Earth’s solar system to another. Your ship is boarded by enemy combatants, and it takes all you can do to survive the encounter. Not before your ship plummets dangerously onto Jupiter’s moon, and our story truly begins. Callisto is the moon of Jupiter that houses a maximum security prison that has just had a big problem. You are Jacob Lee, who has just been imprisoned in the prison by error. Escape is your mission.

There are a few issues to clear up with The Callisto Protocol before I go all the way into the review not to mention it again. Upon launch, the PC version has been plagued with bad frame rates and areas where you slog along at a snail’s pace, and sometimes at a standstill. There has been a patch or two since launch to try and combat the issues but, as of this writing, I am still having temporary issues every once in a while, even with reduced graphics. Normally with my rig, I play everything in ultra-settings without issue. My rig is fitted with an AMD 5900x CPU, with a Gigabyte X-570 motherboard, 64 GB of 3200 MHz Ram, and a 2080 GPU from Gigabyte.

There are plenty of things to like about The Callisto Protocol. It has great acting, an ambiance that is fitting for a horror title, and a combat system that is just that much different from other types of games to make it interesting. The world-building that has been done is brought together with the musical score, all accompanying sounds, and jump scares. From the moment the game starts, Jacob is pitted against one situation after another. Unlike Dead Space, TCP loads the entire map together without transitioning between levels. I haven’t seen one section where you must wait for loading, except for the story-driven cut scenes.

The combat system is a complete change for me. I love games where you have to fight enemies with ammunition and tools as your primary source of carnage. In this title, you are forced to use your melee weapons with the projectile weapons as a secondary. Each different weapon has a tree of options that you can buy with Callisto Credits to improve their powers. At the crafting bench, you can make ammo for your weapons at the cost of credits and health stims as well. The tree gets pretty expansive for each weapon so make sure you find all the credits you can. Stomp your enemy and other breakable boxes throughout the game to earn more credits and health. As the story moves along Jacob gains access to an environment suit that offers protection from the elements, increased health, and increased inventory space. These will help you significantly later on.

Fighting off the transformed enemies is another story of its own. Using your joysticks or appropriately set up keyboard keys, you can push the stick left or right to dodge attacks, and pulling back on it will block some of the attacks. After you dodge, attacks can be made on the enemies and after you hit them several times, if you have a sidearm equipped it gives you the ability to take a quick shot. This shot will sometimes remove the targeted body part. Once you learn the dodge mechanics, it should be easier to progress through the melee fights. Of course, once you learn a pattern, then the baddies add another swing into their flurry. This gets frustrating at times. The transformed humans get progressively more difficult to fight as they mutate even further than we see at the beginning of the game. Some of these creatures don’t have any eyes so they are directed to you by sound and proximity. When you see these guys try to get behind them to stab them in the back with a stealth kill.

There are times in TCP when you are fighting a giant robot or one of these creatures, and shots or attacks seem to go through walls. Just something to watch for. Make sure you are hidden well when fighting the guard robots. As for the creatures, do your best to dodge every attack. Using melee is fine to a point. Once you are in a fight with three or four of these bad boys, you will wish you had chosen a different path. Using things found in the environment, like rockets on the ground or other explosive devices, can take out groups at a time with little damage to you. Little areas are all over the map that help defeat the transformed without hurting yourself too much. Watch for spinning metal rods with spikes you can throw or bash them into. There are also stationary spikes on the walls in some areas and you can do the same to the enemy in these spots as well.




Note: This review was provided by FortySeven PR on Steam for Review

Summary
Overall, The Callisto Protocol is a third-person shooter set on the moon of Jupiter with a horror and suspense-based story. Including well-known actors to aid the story was a good choice as it gets you more connected with them. While the PC port originally had some issues with stability, the issue seems to have been mostly corrected at this point and is playing well on my PC. If you are a fan of Dead Space I would give this a try. It is available for purchase now for Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Windows.
Good
  • Beautifully crafted world
  • Suspenseful atmosphere
  • Abundant jump scares
Bad
  • Before patches, the game would stutter very badly
  • Some enemies can attack through walls
8
Great
Written by
Long time game enthusiast and writer. I have beta tested a lot of Mmorpg's since I was thirteen including Star Wars Galaxies, Lord of the Rings Online, and Star Wars The Old Republic. Currently attending The Art Institute of Pittsburgh for a degree in Game Art and Technology.

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