The Callisto Protocol review: Dead Space’s spiritual successor has problems

This is the pitch The Callisto ProtocolThis is a tempting offer: The Dead Space creators of horror sci-fi games will finally create a spiritual successor, almost ten years after the franchise was discontinued by Electronic Arts. The Callisto Protocol would also build on the elements of Dead Space — creeping through cold, abandoned space environments inspired by Alien’s Nostromo, being doused in gore ripped from Event Horizon — with a decade of experience and maturity to hopefully make something better.

Developer Striking Distance Studios instead made something largely divergent — a Dead Space spiritual successor with some, but not all, of the best parts of Dead Space. In some ways, it’s a step back.

The Callisto ProtocolThe film opens with Jacob Lee, a space trucker, played by Josh Duhamel. He is completing One Last Job. That mission, naturally, goes sideways when an apparent terrorist group sabotages his cargo ship, crash-landing him on Jupiter’s second-largest moon, Callisto. Jacob and his ship’s saboteur, Dani Nakamura (played by The Boys’ Karen Fukuhara), find themselves thrown into the moon’s Black Iron Prison. Jacob wakes up to discover that his body has an infected implant, a CORE. He is also surrounded by mutant monsters that are wreaking havoc. Jacob fights for his freedom from the wrongful and inexplicable confinement he was placed in with only a stun gun.

Dead Space specialized in high-tension gunplay, and tactical severing limbs from zombielike grotesques. The Callisto ProtocolIts combat puts action-packed melee attacks in the middle. The game’s monsters swing at Jacob with haymakers, which he can dodge by leaning left or right. It’s a mechanic not unlike Nintendo’s Punch-Out!!Jacob has the ability to move around and can even weave his way into an opening in order to batter his attacker. Jacob is later granted access to rifles, shotguns, pistols, and shotguns. These weapons are not replacements but complement to melee combat. He also gets Jedi-like powers, thanks to the battery-powered GRP, a glove that can grab and throw objects — including the monsters themselves.

Striking Distance Studios/Krafton

Combat early can seem frustrating. Jacob’s lumbering movement gives everything a sluggish, inconsistent feel, and knowing when to dodge, or even when you’ve been struck by an attack, can be unclear. Understanding the game’s timing — finding The Callisto Protocol’s groove — takes time. Once you get used to switching between melee, gunplay and GRP, it will become easier.

Even in a one-on-one fight, a successful encounter might involve a series of dodges, bashes, surgical pistol shots (yes, you can remove enemies’ limbs here, too), and telekinetically throwing an enemy to give yourself some space. Sometimes, the GRP allows you to kill enemies with one hit. This is possible by throwing them into whipping fans or spikes, which turns them into chunky gore. The GRP is an extremely limited resource that should be used carefully. Later encounters switch things up, pitting Jacob against sentry robots that can instantly kill him from afar, and blind monsters where stealthy kills with a shiv aren’t just preferred, they’re all but necessary to succeed.

The game does have a feeling of slowness. This is a deliberate choice, to give Jacob an impression of his weight and potential impact. Some inputs, though, like quick weapon switching, don’t seem to register sometimes, which is a huge problem in difficult encounters. Turning on “performance mode” in The Callisto Protocol’s graphics settings does help alleviate that sluggish feeling. The default visual mode of the game is more dramatic and visually impressive. But the improved frame rate — and more responsive inputs — afforded by performance mode make a huge difference.

Striking Distance Studios/Krafton

However, even if you are happy to settle in more The Callisto Protocol’s rhythm, combat scenarios often feel unrefined. For example, Jacob may be locked into quick-time button-mashing events that deplete his health and cause smaller enemies to appear without warning. Sometimes encounters with monsters are downright unfair due to their proximity. Dead Space had its “monster closet” moments that delivered fun, well-earned jump scares — but mutant zombies emerging from grates in the floor out of your line of sight? Far less enjoyable, particularly when paired with the game’s disorienting camera movement. That’s nothing compared to multiple moments where the game throws mobs of enemies at you. These are some of the worst aspects of The Callisto ProtocolThis is where all earned tension quickly turns into aggravation. Multiple difficulty spikes pushed the game past the realm of “enjoyable challenge” and into that of “unfair masochism.” I eventually switched to easy mode out of necessity.

The game’s checkpointing system is also inconsistent. Although there are many checkpoints available, they can often be found right after a boss fight, leaving no time for healing, loading, or reaching safety.

Jacob’s power can be increased by unlocking upgrades that are available over time. To improve your weapons or the GRP, money can be spent at 3D-printing stations by buying contraband, selling corpses and chests. Jacob is not a monster-slaying God, as no upgrades are available and credits can be spent sparingly so that you cannot upgrade or unlock all the features in one playthrough. Or, at the moment, in a second. The Callisto ProtocolThe game does not have an upgradeable mode. That’s due early next year, according to the developer.) The decision of which device or weapon to upgrade is difficult. Are a couple extra seconds of GRP battery life worth it? Or a more powerful stun baton that hits harder? To get a bullet damage increase, should I spend credits to upgrade the ammo count node?

Striking Distance Studios/Krafton

The Callisto Protocol’s 3D-printing stations, run by the United Jupiter Corporation that runs Black Iron Prison, may offer my favorite bit of world-building/commentary in an otherwise pretty straightforward sci-fi horror yarn. There are posters all over the prison that tell security guards they can use the so-called Callisto Credits in order to improve their gear. They force them to buy the supplies needed to keep themselves safe from the inmates.

This is just the beginning of the story. The Callisto Protocol and the disaster of Black Iron is told mainly through Jacob’s interactions with fellow prisoners Elias and Dani, as well as the warden and his sadistic captain Ferris. Players can also acquire audio recordings from inmates and guards, but unlike similar audio logs in the Dead Space games, which played through the games’ diegetic holographic UI, The Callisto Protocol requires the player to stop what they’re doing and dedicate their full attention to listening to each recording. Given that some of the recordings I listened to added nominally to the story, they started to feel inessential to the game’s narrative. I came away happy with the experience, although not surprised. The Callisto Protocol’s story.

Where The Callisto ProtocolThe atmosphere and the environments are where Black Iron Prison excels. The game’s cold, metallic, industrial world is gorgeously realized, giving Black Iron Prison a hard, tangible, weighty feel. Jacob works his way through dangerous machinery and air ducts that could easily fend off enemies. Beyond the walls of the prison, players will explore an equally dark and terrifying moon surface, where they’re battered by snow and wind. The Callisto Protocol features an impressively, painstakingly created world; it’s an expensive-looking game, and not just for its Hollywood talent. For a prequel podcast, which will feature six episodes and include Duhamel and Fukuhara as well as Striking Distance publisher Krafton, Gwendoline Christine and Michael Ironside were also involved. The Callisto Protocol.)

Striking Distance Studios/Krafton

The Callisto ProtocolThe game is very straight-forward, with very few divertissements and little backtracking. There are almost no puzzles. The original Dead Space’s holographic wayfinding system is absent here, but there are plenty of arrows and graffiti acting as literal signposts to your next objective. In other words, the game does not want you to get lost, even though I can’t imagine doing so anyway. Complete the task. The Callisto Protocol in about eight hours — not counting the dozens of failed attempts in the section that broke me into selecting easy mode — I don’t see a reason to return to the game until Striking Distance adds the new game plus mode, or additional story content. What’s more, the manual save system doesn’t make it easy to return to previous chapters, meaning I’d have to do a full run-through to collect anything I missed.

With The Callisto ProtocolStriking Distance is able to create terrifying moments of terror and tension with its well-crafted mix of sound, images, and atmosphere. The studio was smart not to create a one-to-one copy of Dead Space — especially with original publisher Electronic Arts now returning to the franchise with a remake due next month. But still: The Callisto ProtocolIt could have learned a lot more from the spiritual inspiration and refined its mechanics further to create a game that is as enjoyable as its visual aesthetic.

The Callisto Protocol On December 2, the game was available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (Windows PC), Xbox One (Xbox One) and Xbox Series X (Xbox Series X). Krafton provided a prerelease code for the game. The review was done on PS5. Vox Media is an affiliate partner. They do not affect editorial content. However, Vox Media might earn commissions for products bought via affiliate links. Here are some links to help you find. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.