The Callisto Protocol hands-on preview: Truly visceral survival horror

Horror fans won’t want to miss this

Jacob Lee is serving hard time and having an even worse time than he might have expected (iStock/The Independent)

An upcoming survival horror game from Striking Distance Studios, The Callisto Protocol sees a prison colony on one of Jupiter’s moons overrun by an alien parasite in the year 2320.

It’s another survival horror title from director Glen Schofield, the creator Dead Space, and based on what we’ve had a chance to see so far, there are some elements of familiarity that fans of the series will instantly pick up on.

It comes at a time when survival horror is having something of a “moment”, with recent remakes planned for Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil 4 and, yes, even Dead Space. So, how does a brand new IP like Callisto compare?

The Independent was invited to play the game ahead of its 2 December release date, and based on that, it’s safe to say survival horror fans will have plenty to look forward to.

For the full first impressions from our hands-on preview of The Callisto Protocol, keep reading this article.

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‘The Callisto Protocol’: £44.99, Amazon.co.uk

(Striking Distance Studios)

• Release date: 2 December 2022
• Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox and PC
• Age rating: 18+

‘The Callisto Protocol’ hands-on preview

During an early section of our two-hour playthrough, Black Iron prisoner Jacob Lee (played by Josh Duhamel), is freshly shaved with a pristine orange jumpsuit, and a discreet (albeit familiar) tracker implanted in the back of his neck that doubles as a health bar. By the end of our session, the orange of Jacob’s jumpsuit barely registered, obscured in all manner of remnants and gore.

Black Iron prison is already an unforgiving place, yet it’s not particularly clear what crime Jacob has committed to end up in prison on one of Jupiter’s desolate moons. It’s safe to assume it’s probably worse than seeding torrents of Disney films.

The over-the-shoulder camera and diegetic user interface gives players just wide enough a view of Jacob’s surroundings and his peripheral without giving away the whole farm. Hissing pipes, clanging air vents and distant screams down narrow hallways all lend to the claustrophobic nature of being trapped inside a space-aged high-security prison.

But despite its high-tech setting, the facilities (at least for the prisoners) are primitive, industrial and overbearing enough to make anyone feel helpless, never mind having to fend off a parasitic alien invasion.

Jacob is not heavily armed but he is resourceful (Striking Distance Studios)

Jacob also moves with a great deal of heft that gives each action deliberacy. Drawing his baton is a long process but one that immediately lands with the weight of intent behind it before it’s put to use. Even smashing an emergency glass case to grab a first aid kit feels methodical rather than an act of petty vandalism.

Crawling through tight air vents to bypass a malfunctioning security door is enough of a staple in survival horror to feel like as much part of the furniture as trails of blood, hastily scrawled words of warning and the obsession of documenting the horrors through audio logs. But The Callisto Protocol’ssparing use of jump scares to ease and build tension are effective enough to be impactful with each unveiling terror.

Like any good inmate, Jacob is desperate to escape via any means necessary, with a makeshift arsenal of security equipment designed to subjugate the prison population, but which is also effective at quelling the “biophage” – the designated name for the mysterious entity making mincemeat of Callisto’s unlucky residents.

The game benefits from a minimalist HUD (Striking Distance Studios)

As well as a prison baton and rudimentary firearms, Jacob is also armed with a “gravity restraint projector” (pronounced “grip” if you really want the acronym to earn its lunch) that can lift objects and lighter enemies off the ground and turn them into a projectile. While effective at acting as a last defence against the biophage, its energy can drain quickly, meaning it can only be used sparingly.

Conserving ammo is an important part of staying alive at Black Iron prison. While guns can be effective, they’re only as useful as the limited supply of bullets they can hold, so hand-to-hand combat is a useful alternative in a quick pinch.

Jacob is able to bop away with his electrically charged baton with light and heavy melee attacks each time it’s drawn. He can also dodge (by pushing the left stick in the opposite direction of incoming attacks), which makes for a satisfying bob-and-weave approach to combat and finding openings to rebut a fair risk-reward. It wouldn’t be surprising to learn Jacob had a stint as an amateur boxer prior to the events that landed him behind bars.

“Shoot the tentacles” is good advice for the game, and for life in general (Striking Distance Studios)

But the biophage is not only hideous in its transformation of crew and prisoners alike, it also masks an even deadlier threat. On occasion, tentacles will erupt from the chests of its victims, as it can quickly transform into a larger, more opposing entity that Jacob has little chance of defending against.

There are various deadly threats that Jacob must overcome, all of which could see him come to a grisly end. The game’s director, Glen Schofield, has spoken on numerous occasions about the number of ways Jacob can ‘meet his maker’. Jacob met such threats numerous times during our runthrough (for the purposes of this article, of course), which provided an eye-watering window into the real frailty of an unlikely protagonist.

In our short time with the game, The Callisto Protocol is beginning to look like a serious end-of-year contender that every horror fan should have firmly planted on their radar. The obvious ties to Schofield’s other genre-defining series, Dead Space, are immediately obvious to long-time fans, but this latest work has the advantage of a fresh perspective and, most importantly, the element of surprise.

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Want to find a deal on another spooky horror game? Read our full buying guide on the upcoming remake of Resident Evil 4