Right now, Callisto Protocol is available for free on the epic games store.
Looking at their marketing, it reminds me a lot of Dead Space. Starting from the immersive UI with the health bar on the players suit, to that sign in the trailer that tells me to shoot the limbs of the enemies. And I mean, the enemies don’t look that different, basically some kind of aggressive infected zombie thingies. And then, the whole setting seems so similar: a space outpost being overrun by some kind of zombie virus.
Did anyone here play both Dead Space and Callisto Protocol? Did you find them very similar?
It was good in many ways. And it expands on dead space in many ways mechanically, it just didn’t follow through in some aspects.
The guns are cool and there’s a very satisfying melee system.
But the melee system is overpowered, which means monsters are less scary. The sound-based stealth sections where you go through rooms full of blind monsters that allegedly react to sound, have the monsters being completely deaf to melee kills, which means you can just walk up to them one by one and clear the room.
And you’re right about the story. The game should have had LORE, but it’s just the bare minimum generic excuse to have a horror setting.
Oh I have no doubt the game is good.
It was just what I understood went wrong with the game.
That it’s a good game on it’s own premise, but when compared to the games it was supposed to be compared with, it just seemed mediocre. It’s just hard competing with an established franchise. Especially one that is as beloved as DS is, not to mention that DS’s own reboot also fell short as the OG games are still as grand as ever.
With exception of the graphics looking a little dated, Deadspace 1 holds up just fine even when compared to newer games. From atmosphere to mechanics, UI and story… It’s all perfectly within parameters for the type of game it is.
I think we’re likely gonna see some of same with the Silent Hill 2 Remake. There’s a lot of marks to hit. Even the old tank controls adds to what makes the game intense and updating the combat system to something less clunky could potentially take away from the game rather than improving it.
It doesn’t really even manage that. It’s not bad, there’s a lot to like, but playing it I ran into a lot of stuff I wish was there, but wasn’t.
The story was one thing, but it completely fails at bulding tension. DS1 fills you with adrenaline at regular intervals, but in Callisto Protocol the second I realized the “sound-sensitive” blind enemies don’t react to the noise of melee combat, it was like all the air went out of the balloon.
That’s a perfect microcosm of the whole game. Really neat ideas, really good execution, but only to 90%. And that last 10% matters. A LOT.
The combat system is great, but it doesn’t lean into it at all. The final boss is just a bullet sponge that makes no clever use of any mechanics, and the game is so obsessed with trying to be DS (and TLOU) with boring stealth sections and puzzles.
You end up spending a lot of time wishing combat was happening.
I feel like a Callisto Protocol 2 that leans into the things worked, and fixed just a couple small things that get near working, could be amazing.
That’s a good take.
I never played it myself. Just watched some Letsplays and heard some of the criticism. And ‘Let’splayers’ tend not to be too harsh.