The Callisto Protocol - From the developers of Dead Space

[Articles and Nudes]

Apparently its a very smooth experience on consoles, although the ten hours completion time is putting me off. Nobody seems to be talking about replay value or extra content.

And GManLives is ear poison.

 

[2ndBest]

Apparently the game is really bad. Good thing I didn’t buy it.
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Fucking up that bad is impressive.

After back 4 blood I think people should be a bit more careful with games that try to “be like” other franchises.

It keeps getting worse, over 3k negative reviews (some which may be positive, but the negative outweighs the positive immensely). Supposedly runs like ass on PC, and having Denuvo certainly doesn't help. I'm glad I refunded this when I did.

 

[Articles and Nudes]

No NG+ until Feb, no extra game modes until then either.

Starting to think this embargo was I'm place for a reason...

 

[ProfDongs]

Played about 2 hours on normal so far, enough to still be able to get a refund and an okay idea on what's in the game. Stuttering is a massive problem, any time it has to load an area or load in a new shader you are going to notice, usually 5-10 seconds. The framerate has been fine other than the stuttering (don't want to downplay that), if the game has nothing new to load in then it generally seems to run at 60. The first hour was the worst for the stuttering, the ship and the beginning of the prison you'll notice it every new area and cutscene. After Medical it hasn't been egregious but its still noticeable. No crashes at all.
Combats fine, instead of running around like Dead Space you can weave left or right and block. I don't know if its the case for all guns, but at least with the pistol you can get a quick shot in after doing a melee string. Smaller enemies go for longer combo strings it seems like, fat ones like to block, and ranged ones sit around spitting at you until you get close enough. Since the main focus is on melee enemies don't seem to solely dogpile you if there are multiple, the ranged guys will keep spitting at you during the encounter if that is the case though. I think there are 5 types of guns in the game, got a pistol and shotgun so far. You also get your telekinetic glove you can use to throw objects at enemies, it seems like most objects can do some form of damage. You can also lift small enemies and throw them for distance and some environmental kills, you can probably lift the bigger guys later. There's an upgrade tree for each weapon and your glove.
Level design has been linear, there was a second path in Medical that I didn't take so I don't know if it lead to a dead end or brings you to the same area. At most there have been small rooms attached to hallways, or a smaller office in a bigger room, not much in terms of looking around and exploring. There are audio tapes scattered about but it seems like you have to listen to them in the menu though which is baffling, and there are also schematics that can be lying around that you can miss because of a full inventory.

I'm leaning towards refund but I want to see if/how they handle the next few days since I am still enjoying it. If Dead space was a 9/10, this would be a 6-7 so far.

 

[Mega Black]

If I pick it up it will only be at a stiff discount and with the NG+ update. Launching with less features than the game you're aping, released a decade prior no less, is fucking pathetic.

The Dead Space remake looks like refried ass too. I'm just going to reinstall 1/2.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Making a melee focused horror game is one of the stupidest design choices I've ever heard, being able to kill something without expanding resources and without fearing close range removes all tension.

Besides that it just looks like a reskin of Dead Space with an excuse plot so why bother with a lesser copy?

 

[Buddy Booth]

Combat is dogshit. You can literally keep pressing on A or D to dodge, no timing required at all, you just need to make sure to alternate them if the enemy decides to do a combo. If they back up you can keep A pressed down and they will never, ever hit you. And it all falls apart if more than one enemy is present.

Also the fact that it's established that you can just beat these things to a pulp in melee makes the enemies not scary at all. Like, I thought the necromorphs were threatening. Those things have blades that can cut steel, if you try to punch them you'll get fucked up. The enemies in this game are just schizos that sprout tentacles from time to time.

There is no map, probably to obfuscate the fact that the level design is completely linear with a few branching paths for goodies. Except the waypoint system from Dead Space is also gone so there is 0 way to know if I'm going the right way towards, say, a point of no return or if I'm going down a side path.

Performance is a mess, dunno if because of UE4 shenanigans or because of Denuvo.

Also there is an upgrade system. One of the upgrades for your handcannon is a foregrip and 1) who the FUCK would put a foregrip on a HANDGUN and 2) the character doesn't even bother to use it! So you just aim your gun with a normal ass grip and there's this fucking thing just hanging there, right beneath the barrel, like a big turd!

I'm not even American and this last point gives me conniptions! Fuck!

 

[Mega Black]

Making a melee focused horror game is one of the stupidest design choices I've ever heard, being able to kill something without expanding resources and without fearing close range removes all tension.

Besides that it just looks like a reskin of Dead Space with an excuse plot so why bother with a lesser copy?

The melee emphasis seemed very strange to me too, and it doesnt look like you even have to worry about durability or anything like that. It seems like they wanted to be more distinct from Dead Space by de emphasizing guns but all they did was make a cinematic brawler.

Enemy design also seems very lackluster. Dead Space isn't very scary in a conventional sense but necromorphs are body-horror personified, and the combat being focused on figuring out what parts of them to shoot makes most of them distinct and interesting. Callisto seems like it is mostly just generic zombie dudes, sometimes covered in boils. Boring as fuck.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

The melee emphasis seemed very strange to me too, and it doesnt look like you even have to worry about durability or anything like that. It seems like they wanted to be more distinct from Dead Space by de emphasizing guns but all they did was make a cinematic brawler.

Enemy design also seems very lackluster. Dead Space isn't very scary in a conventional sense but necromorphs are body-horror personified, and the combat being focused on figuring out what parts of them to shoot makes most of them distinct and interesting. Callisto seems like it is mostly just generic zombie dudes, sometimes covered in boils. Boring as fuck.

They should have gone Obliterator Virus a la 40k. All kind of insane humans with weapons sticking out of them

 

[A Very Big Fish]

I remember one of the things that always kept me on edge in Dead Space games was making sure I managed ammo, because trying to fist fight the horror from beyond space and time was on paper, a fucking retarded idea.

Now, I think you can do horror where melee is an option, like Prey '17 for the basic enemies, beating them to death with your wrench was more efficient than wasting your ammo on them. But if I'm incentivized to just brawl with everything? Well I beat Dark Souls with just the cestus, I'm not scared lol.

 

[Articles and Nudes]

Yep, this'll be a budget purchase st best. £50 for something with no replay value is insane.

 

[Mr.Miyagi]

Except the waypoint system from Dead Space is also gone so there is 0 way to know if I'm going the right way towards, say, a point of no return or if I'm going down a side path.

That line-on-the-floor direction system is probably the best directional guide I've seen in a game. No compass telling you to go north (through a wall), no permanent giant blinking arrow, no NPC nagging you. Getting rid of that, along with not letting you listen to audio logs as you walk around based on what ProfDongs said, makes it seem like these guys missed some of the reasons why people still praise Dead Space and its immersive UI today. More games should be adopting that style, not fewer.

I remember one of the things that always kept me on edge in Dead Space games was making sure I managed ammo, because trying to fist fight the horror from beyond space and time was on paper, a fucking retarded idea.

Spastically flailing your arm around when you got surrounded was one of the scariest/funniest parts of Dead Space 1. Sometimes you got lucky and managed to get an opening to run away, but it was always a desperate last resort. I also think you can do a horror game with melee, I personally think Condemned: Criminal Origins was great at that, but you really have to go all-in on that design. Callisto (from what I've seen, at least), doesn't really seem that way.

 

[Articles and Nudes]

I'm torn up about never being able to play Dead Space or Evil Within for the first time again. That dreadful feeling in my stomach when I wasted a shotgun round, or pumped too many pistol shots into center mass, would weigh me down and I'd go over the fight again and again in my head.

That's lost when you know where all the supplies and enemies are.

 

[Buddy Booth]

That line-on-the-floor direction system is probably the best directional guide I've seen in a game. No compass telling you to go north (through a wall), no permanent giant blinking arrow, no NPC nagging you. Getting rid of that, along with not letting you listen to audio logs as you walk around based on what ProfDongs said, makes it seem like these guys missed some of the reasons why people still praise Dead Space and its immersive UI today. More games should be adopting that style, not fewer.

You can listen to the audiologs while you walk. You just have to close the menu with tab, if you press esc the playback stops.

 

[BlackDragoons]

I was interested when it was first announced. But with all the features it lacks plus a focus on melee combat....I'm gonna wait a year and probably pick it up when its on sale.


First Dark Tide now this.

 

[I.B. Niggin]

It's been a hoot seeing all these retards on Twitter complain about the combat being too difficult when it's extremely exploitable and boring from what I've seen.

 

[Soycast Guy]

Callisto Protocol is a good reason why people shouldn’t overhype games. Apparently no one learned from Death Stranding and Cyberpunk, and why people shouldn’t overhype games just because their favorite devs are making them.

I had an interest in Callisto, but I wasn’t thinking, “Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Day one buy must consoom! Absolute masterpiece even though it hasn’t even come out! And anyone who says anything negative about it is an idiot!” If it turned out good I was gonna buy it at one point, and if I turned out bad I wasn’t. I found my answer.

 

[CaptainAutism69]

Sounds like it was released unfinished in time for Christmas...

 

[BlackDragoons]

This is some EA levels of bullshit.

 

[CaptainAutism69]

This is some EA levels of bullshit.

and that right there makes it a solid 'nope' even if they put the game in a working state