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 sheer, bloody-
Let’s get it out of the way right off the bat, shall we? The answer is: yes. Yes, The Callisto Protocol is Dead Space in fancy threads.
Yes, The Callisto Protocol – just like Dead Space – takes place in deepest, darkest space hundreds of years from now. Yes, The Callisto Protocol – just like Dead Space – features horrifying zombies that don’t shuffle and moan as much as they screech and barrel towards you. Yes, The Callisto Protocol – just like Dead Space – explores not just the horror of an infectious disease that reanimates the dead, but that of humanity’s cold, blind ambition, too. In some respects, it does these things better than Dead Space; in others, not so much. Either way, I had a bloody good time.
Should we be surprised the games share so much DNA given they’ve been created (or co-created, in Dead Space’s case) by the same man? Probably not. Having replayed Dead Space quite recently, Isaac Clark’s ordeal burns bright in my mind, so – consciously and unconsciously – I compared the two pretty much all the way through. With similarities almost too numerous to count – Jacob’s Core health bar, the inventory menu, the dismemberment system, the signature stomp, there’s even a gondola scene! – I suspect it’ll be hard for anyone who’s played Dead Space not to make those comparisons. It’s a shame, really, that Callisto will never be free from Dead Space’s formidable shadow, because what it delivers – decent combat, unsettling environments, masterful light and audio design, effective voice acting – stands utterly on its own merits.
Callisto draws much from Dead Space, sure, but it innovates on it, too, evolving both the gunplay and the world around you to avoid fatigue and repetition. No, it’s not perfect; there are some puzzling choices and a palpable lack of agency here – Jacob’s adventure is tourniquet tight and you will very rarely be rewarded for exploring off the beaten path – but if the aim here was to create a spiritual successor to Dead Space, congrats to developer Striking Distance: that’s exactly what it’s done.
Rather than an engineer stranded on an abandoned mining ship, in Callisto you play everyman Jacob Lee, a space-age delivery driver that, For Reasons, is imprisoned without charge or trial in Black Iron, a monstrous detention facility housing the galaxy’s most dangerous felons on the moon, Callisto. It’s not the world’s most novel conceit but it does its job, and as Lee recovers from his brutal induction and finds the prison has been infected, so commences his escape attempt.
I didn’t care for Lee the way I cared about Clark – even though the latter was mute – and whilst I was certainly intrigued by his unlawful detention, I wasn’t as invested in Lee’s story, either. It’s not that Lee’s dialogue or even delivery wasn’t right; Josh Duhamel gives an impressive performance, as do his co-stars.
