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Originally posted by Smasandian
Yeah...Very interested.

There was a deep dive from Ars Technica regarding the creation of Dead Space (the dude who started this company)...and it was very interesting. All the great things about Dead Space were part of the their vision from the beginning.

I'm hoping this is the case for this game...and man...the lightening systems the new systems can do should make this game amazing. I would love the see some gameplay.

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The origins of The Callisto Protocol began with the formation of Striking Distance as a studio within PUBG Corporation in June 2019, helmed by Glen Schofield, who had previously co-created the Dead Space series at Visceral Games. The studio was created to expand the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) universe by creating a narrative driven game. Schofield said that when he met with PUBG Corporation where they explained their goal to expand the PUBG narrative, he had already the concept for The Callisto Protocol in mind and presented that to them and worked with them to fit his idea into their universe. Schofield wanted to keep the game grounded in reality to some degree, and thus selected a potentially human-colonizable location like Callisto as the setting. The moon has been theorized to have a subsurface ocean of water, which Schofield believed could offer a mystery to tie into the game.

Among others working on the game include Steve Papoutsis, who also co-developed the Dead Space series and led the series following Schofield's departure from Visceral; Scott Whitney, a designer on the Dead Space series; and Christopher Stone, an animator for the former series. Schofield said that about 25 to 30 former coworkers from Visceral Games and Sledgehammer Games are part of Striking Distance working on The Castillo Protocol. Several journalists commented on thematic and gameplay similarities to the Dead Space series. Notably, the game appears to include the same type of diegetic interface that Dead Space had used by a holographic indicator on the back of the prisoner's neck that indicating their health status and other attributes to the player. Schofield said that the comparisons to Dead Space reflect on his style of game, and while he still wanted to create something different, the allusions and inspiration from Dead Space fell out naturally from his creative approach.
-wiki

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Originally posted by Arachnid1
I just beat it. Overall, extremely disappointed. I played through on hard for my first run if that matters.

--Too much focus on melee. They should have focused more on shooting mechanics. The melee is fun and visceral the first 10 times. The following 90 times, not so much. The melee system itself was busted and made 70% of the game waaaay too easy. It got to the point where I was selling most of my health injections and GRP energy. They had no use. The only section that gave me difficulty was the final boss who killed me 5 times. Up to that point, I think I died maybe 6 times the whole game, and usually through my own idiotic mess up. On hard.
--Extreme lack of bosses. There's really just one and then a miniboss you fight a few times. The miniboss is a joke mechanically. Just dodge a single attack and unload your shotgun. Rinse and repeat until he dies (this was exactly the same as the final and only boss btw). They tried to mix it up by throwing in a regular enemy with him 2/4 times you fight him, but that enemy dies instantly to environmental hazards or a single shotgun blast. May as well not be there.
--Complete lack of enemy variety. Mostly humanoid zombies with the same exact look that swing at you. No real imagination here. Boring enemy design throughout. I thought the mutations would make this more interesting, like if you damage them a certain way, they mutate into a different kind of monstrosity for you to adapt to. The devs stated this is how it works in an interview. It's not. They mutate into the same tentacle armed enemy every time. The mutation system was one of the most hyped elements for this game, and this is one of my biggest areas of disappointment.
--Extremely linear throughout. I like linear games, but not when there are just corridors through 95% of the game. Dead Space and RE4 do this right. Mostly linear but the combat sections have these fun little arenas where you can run around and frantically plan/execute your plan of attack on the fly. This game had none of that moment to moment decision making that makes an experience tense/scary. Just constant melee combos until the last two chapters. At that point, enemies are upgraded with way more health and some 1-2 hit kill attacks. I mean normal enemies you used to murder. There is no difference to aesthetically. Just a health bar and damage upgrade.
--It isn't scary at all. They use the same jump scares like 10 times each (a face hugger rip off pops out of a chest/locker and you QTE; a face attached to a sac on the ground pops up to latch onto your neck to start pulling you through it and you QTE; a boring humanoid enemy pops out from a vent or from behind a door and you do your usual melee combo). The atmosphere could have made up for it, but the enemy encounters being so boring ruined that. No point in really fearing what's around the next corner.
--The deaf enemies you stealth around were bare bones. I thought they'd hear me if I kicked a can on the ground or something, but they are deaf to everything except Jacob walking/running. You can do a brutal takedown to an enemy 2 feet from them or GRP an enemy into a spiked wall to impale them or blow up a group with an explosive cannister, and they wont hear A THING. This guys are great value clickers. They don't even deserve to be compared to clickers. Worse case scenario, you get into combat with them, and they fight/mutate like the humanoid zombies you fought all game. This section felt like half the game, and walking around poking them one by one was boring as shit since they were so braindead to any form of noise.
--The story was non-existent, and what was there was extremely predictable. I didn't care for the main character at all. Dead Space isn't a benchmark for story, but at least I actually cared about Isaac and empathized with his search for his wife.
-Waaaay too many slow down sections. By that, I mean sections where you crawl through a vent, crouch under some debris, and squeeze through a narrow opening. This was CONSTANT. I felt like that in just the first few chapters, and it just kept happening.
--I like the art/enviornmental design, but 90% of it was ripped straight out of Dead Space. The cruel metal interiors, the fleshy wall sections, the dark caves, the green biome used for O2 generation ship wide, (etc...). There was nothing new here, and Dead Space did all of the above better while still having more ways to switch it up. There was even a cave section where you rode on an underground drill as you fought off waves of enemies. This was lifted straight out of Dead Space, no shame.

Overall, this ended up a 5-6/10 for me. They should have put all that graphics and marketing money towards better gameplay systems with more depth. I don't see myself replaying this one. I can't think of a single third person horror game I haven't replayed other than RE6. I was so damn hyped for this one. Oh well. At least I still have the Dead Space and RE4 remakes on the way.