Dead Space is back! Well, not really. Although it actually will be when the Dead Space remake launches in January. Anyway, look, we're going off topic now. We're really here to talk about The Callisto Protocol, the new action-horror game from Striking Distance Studios — which just so happens to be spearheaded by people who worked on the Dead Space series.
The comparisons are obvious: a claustrophobic third-person trek through the dimly lit corridors of a sci-fi setting. It's long been touted as one of the most high profile releases of 2022, but initial reviews have been a little bit mixed.
We gave it a respectable, if slightly disappointing 7/10 in our The Callisto Protocol PS5 review. It concludes: "The Callisto Protocol is a consistently good game that, when it's at its best, gives many of the survival horror greats a run for their money. However, there's no getting around the fact the game has very little to truly call its own." Some performance issues put a dampener on things as well, but they'll hopefully be patched in the near future.
So, now it's time for the big question: did you buy The Callisto Protocol? Have your say in our polls, and then tell us all about your plans in the comments section below.
Comments 89
In possibly the least constructive comment of all time, no I haven’t bought it. I don’t know if I’d buy it, it really depends!
Yep. But I have to wait until tomorrow because of the Royal Mail strike
Not yet but i will buy the callisto protocol.im chilling like a villain with my backlogs of games right now.i got so many games to play.word up son
@Kiefer-Sutherland same man.
sucks.
The first dead space was cool when it came out, but when I was done with it I never wanted sequels or copies. I won't be buying this.
The Cyberpoop PS4 release day con, FC6 ends up disappointing same with Dying Light 2. I'm really starved of really good survival horror so I should be all over Callisto today but there just something giving me cautious vibes about everything 3rd party these days. There's just no need to be getting everything day one
Nope. Don't really buy many games Day 1 anymore. But look forward to playing it in due course when fully patched.
Loved all the Dead Space games, except Ignition.
Several of my favorite youtube gaming channels published their reviews today. They've convinced me that I won't like the combat system. So, too bad, but I'll pass. Maybe in a deep deep sale.
The air has been let out of my hype balloon. Skill Up’s review really just laid the game bare for me.
I was planning on buying it at some point, but the review embargo date being pretty much day & date set of the red flags.
I’m not sure when I’ll get to it as the next few months are just filled with games.
After reviews, I’m gonna wait and see. I’ve seen some of the reviews, and idk how severe the issues are cuz if I handle unfair difficulty and unoriginality if it isn’t extreme. Probably for like $20 if Dead Space doesn’t blow it out of the water.
Pre ordered it. Enjoyed what I played. Saving it for playing in the dark later.
@Deoxyr1bose
Maximum Security is brutal early on. But I'd not say it's unfair. It's a pretty standard hard mode to be honest. Combat is a lot different from what you normally have in these types of games which is probably why people are finding it unfair.
I'll wait for it to hit the bargain bin.
@Kiefer-Sutherland why I did it on PSN in the end. Royal Mail such.
I saw the first hour of rad Brad's video and I am just.... very unsure about buying it cause it doesn't look like survival horror it looks more like action horror that I wasn't looking for when it came to Callisto.
I'll wait for ps+. huge backlog.
It's on my wish list which means it might be under the ol' crimbo tree so for now I won't be buying it.
No but I'm fighting daily the temptation to buy a Radeon 6000 series graphics card to replace the old one in my PC (what with Nvidia apparently being relentless in their pricing policy at the moment). The relevance here being that the ones I'm looking at have a special promotion where you get this game for free. The game isn't really a factor in the decision though.
I was going to pre-order it right up until I saw the tell-tale sign of a release day embargo combined with tonnes of mass media marketing. Dead giveaway of a middling game. Reviews drop when it's too late.
Yeah had it peordered, it's definitely not a scary game. But none the less I am very much enjoying it. The atmosphere is fantastic!
I was gonna pre order then didn't, then would probably have bought today if the reviews weren't so iffy, but they were so I didn't.
I'll probably pick it up once it's sub £30, I'm in no rush, plenty to play and plenty coming up that interests me, would have had to knock it out the park for me to get it today really.
when theres a goty edition and patches then yep
Not after Skill Up's review.
Yea arrived today, but still havent played much of god of war ragnarok yet. So bit of a dilema im thinking maybe restart god of war when im off for xmas, and play this now, and have gotham knights coming tomorrow, got that for free with my points from the game collection. Im leaning more towards god of war xmas at moment, but really want to play it.
with how much ***** is so expensive nowadays i cant buy it
edit - yet
but when deadspace comes out its a must for me.
I preordered it but asked for, and got, a refund this morning after checking out the reviews.
For me it’s not worth it full price. I plan to play it in the future but for a game this short and linear I’m sure we will see “cheap” used copies soon enough next year.
Next on my list after God of War.
But moved it to the GameFly list. Seems like a good rental game.
I'm in Eorzea for the next six months so I've no time.
Yes I bought it but not opening it so sending it back
I’ve got a massive backlog across PS5, Xbox and Switch, so I’m gonna wait for a sale. If it had reviewed stronger I’d have probably picked it up in the next week or two, but as it stands, I can wait a while yet.
No, I bought Need for Speed Unbound instead and will wait for Dead Space Remake.
I have no real faith into Calisto.
I'm not a fan of horror games anymore so... polite pass.
Pre-ordered it as soon as it was available. Playing it day one. We need more games like this, the genre is under utilised.
I really can't understand why someone would pay full price for this when the only thing seemingly going for it are the visuals and just about nothing else.
I bought it, would have waited but have a couple of days in the house by myself and wanted a new game. I've been slightly put off by the reviews and thought about returning it, but decided to give it a crack anyway!
I brought it and plan to jump in soon and make my own judgement
Pre-ordered for PS5, but sadly, my copy won't arrive until Monday. However, my Seagate 2TB SSD for Series X will be here today. I guess I'll try out some new games on Game Pass over the weekend instead.
Plan to, was tempted to buy it today seeing how it is priced around the fifty quid mark. The reviews haven’t put me off. I hope it sells well because they’re a talented group with what they did with the first two Dead Space titles
Seems they focused too much on the gore porn for my tastes.
@playstation1995 yeah I was hoping the game would be funky fresh but I'm not gonna drop my scrilla on it if it's busted. No diggity.
After beating it, I came back to the impression that I had during the first hour (although it got better at points): A good game. However, a good game that I could have done without.
Nay, truthfully I wasn’t particularly interested in the first place. But, admittedly, it does look visually impressive!
I was very excited but after the reviews I will probably get it pretty far down the line. Got a lot of backlog to work through at the moment which I’ll only interrupt for actual bangers!
Yeah, im loving it so far. Its dead space in a prison... What more could you ask for?
I've been a Dead Space fan since about 2008, and I've been excited for this since the first reveal BUT I never buy games at launch anymore. I've got a 100+ games backlog and I'm in no hurry to play anything.
I do applaud those of you that support games at launch though, but I'm just a bit too greedy with my funds to be one of you.
I’ll buy it when it’s heavily discounted or play it when if inevitably hits PS +. It looks fun. I’m not expecting a masterpiece or anything. Might be a good Halloween gorey game next Autumn
@JaaackTommyyy Why would someone give a game a blind chance at a maximum price without knowing anything about how it runs or plays?
I think I read a while back that it will eventually come to GamePass, so I’ll wait.
@JaaackTommyyy Yeah but when you have someone like SkillUp showing actual footage of really bad stuttering, combat that seems borderline broken, environments that are pretty but basic and a game that's $70 but only 8-10 hours, why would you give that a shot yourself at full price?
No, but I did buy Super Kiwi 64.
I still want to get it, if it had have been £44.99 on PSN, I’d have probably rolled the dice. I bet it will come to the monthly PSN games in 6 months or a year. GOTY definitely sounds like a plan
Will wait for Dead Space remake then I will buy it on discount, it does look really good though.
I managed to grab it for £35, so pretty decent. So far, I'm probably about 3hrs at most in. I'm enjoying it to a degree, but it's just lacking something. The story hasn't quite got there yet. Hopefully it picks up, but hey worst case I can sell it to CEX for what I paid. So I won't be losing anything here.
im too busy with god of war , but i'll pick it up at some point.
76 on Metacritic is “bad” now. Huh? And people preorder games in 2022 expecting them to be bug free, especially from new studios. Hm. And a game isn’t full value at 8-10 hours length. Interesting.
I’m not getting this one. I’m not a fan of immense gore… well, except for this comments section, of course.
Yes i pre-ordered it and yes it is a great game. 9/10
Melee combat is good, you cant just smash buttons, and i dont understand these reviews about it.
I started the game on hardest difficulty wich almost always do, yes i have died but i still feel like i made errors wich resulted me to die.
I dont mind the dying animations, many reviews say they are too long… NO the dying animations are not too long, What world are we living if those are too long? Wow
Graphics are stunning! I play on performance mode.
Characters… are good, use your imagination and you have a great story!
9/10 game! So what if it is a dead space look a like?
There is tons of game that are look a likes
9/10 for a third time
I pre-ordered some 5hrs before release... Enjoying this game so far, I do like the fighting system but it needs some time to get used to. A little too much crawling through vents and moving through narrow spaces for my taste.
I wonder about several of my usual reviewers rating this game as disappointment... Maybe expectations were too high?
I was really hyped for it, but I may wait until a bit of a sale. I'm still neck deep in Rangarok at the moment and still want to play Frontiers so this can wait!
But I LOVE Dead Space so it's really tough to wait.
I just beat it. It was good! Final boss sucked though, it was the only thing I didn't enjoy.
Once you learn the combat system it's a really fun game! You do NEED to learn it though, but it's easy to learn. You handle most enemies by positioning yourself in front of them and getting them to funnel themselves one by one while dodging and smacking them, and shooting them in the face into interrupt their attacks. It has a real nice flow to it.
Stealth is pretty good later in the game as well. I relied on that a lot, and it was really fun with the help of my GRP.
I will say after the hype, it was a little underwhelming, but it's still a good game, and only really frustrating if you try and play like Dead Space. It does NOT play like that.
The Callisto Protocalled, it wants its Dead Space back
@bozz he was playing on pc which is severely broken.
The supposed mediocrity of the game is just another instance of vindication for those who refuse to preorder. The game was hyped up way too much. I began to grow suspicious when the devs seemed to become a little too sure of their own talents. I think I was right in feeling that way.
Wish they hadn't doe such a mess of pre-order marketing. It's not great when your customers feel cheated after their pre-order bonus gets cancelled. Yup, it's just dlc but for some the reason to pre-order between retailer A or B. Their entire messaging about what's included with each edition has been pure crap. Not holding my breath for this one.
Yes, I pre-order it, and yes I play all the old dead space games (I'm a BIG fan) even that 3rd one (that doesn't really exist based on how good it is). And I'm currently having a blast with the new one...no clue why the bad review...
Yes, I had it pre-ordered. I'll be playing it tomorrow though. I have stuff I need to take care of.
I rarely buy games day 1 anymore, with a few exceptions. Those being Sony Santa Monica games or games from Insomniac.
I love the Dead Space series, even DS3, despite EA's meddling. I wasn't hyped up for The Calisto Protocol, mainly because I'm a big wuss and don't like playing scary games. The Dead Space Trilogy and Alan Wake as the only exceptions.
I also felt this game raised a bunch of red flags when the review embargo was the day of release. I'll never buy a game that puts a review embargo on the day of release, even a few days before. This just screams concerns and lack of faith by the developers and publishers. So why should I spend my hard earned money when I'm unsure of a game or when these companies themselves seem unsure? No thanks.
After all the reviews, and no I don't care about a score and never have, but reading about the criticisms is enough for me to wait. I'll probably just rent it.
Doesnt look any better then late ps4 games and well funded earlier ps4 games. Im sick of it.
I have played the Dead Space trilogy...still need to play thru the spinoffs and Dead Space 3's DLC.
As for The Callisto Protocol, I haven't bought it yet, waiting for a deep $30 sale next Black Friday 2023.
Originally I had intended on pre-ordering/buying day one, but I'm on a tighter budget, the game isn't doing so well, and I still haven't beaten God of War: Ragnarok yet.
I need to solely focus on that if I have any hopes of beating the game in time for Crisis Core FF7 on December 13.
At least its not another open world game.
I am a huge fan of the first Dead Space game, so I was really hyped for Callisto Protocol. But the frame rate issues and other bad press put me off on buying it. Steam Reviews are always a big way to see if people like something, and its at 26% positive and 74% negative reviews on there, so I'll pass until its a deep sale.
@bozz Digital foundry dropped a video yesterday explaining that PC version is the worst..console versions are fine with the PS5 being the best.
@Hayter It makes sense cause the PC version is a studdering mess..
@KaijuKaiser
Not too hard in my opininion. I have to constantly sell meds and bullets the free inventory space and if you have already completed the game it helps
I was considering it but probably not now. Reviews don't look great for it which isn't the end of the world, I've loved games that have had bad reviews before, but I've also got way too many games on the go at the moment.
I'm 37 hours into Ragnarok and still haven't finished it (I'm a side content addict....), 65 hours into Xeno 3, 25 into Pokémon Violet, haven't even began the campaign for Splatoon 3 yet so ye I'll be busy for a while.... This isn't including deep backlog stuff so I think I'll pass. But I will probably pick this up at a later date. If I want a dead space shot then I'd rather but this than a £70 remaster (as good as it looks)
I'm a Back Log Man! Mounting a really big one into this new generation until I don't come unstuck lol. Yeah stuck / unstuck I dunno either.
Nope. The dumb name made me not want to play it. With Silent Hill 2 remake on the way no other horror game will do it for me.
@Beerheadgamer82 Exactly! After paying $76 in Ragnarok and that was just for the basic edition I have been questioning the point of day one purchases.
In Ukraine it is blocked in PS store.
For some stupid reason.
@Blacksmith1985
Slava Ukraini from Finland
I pre ordered 3 games all year. This was one of them...God of War and Elden Ring (which are exceptional!) were the other ones.
Not for me. I've never been much of a Dead Space fan and felt like I had to push myself through them when I played them on PS+. I've enjoyed the third game though but only because it had co-op.
@showface Geroyam Slava!
@Uncharted2007 "Anymore"? Why, what happened?
I liked Dead Space better when it was Dead Space. Think I'll save my money for January.
@Vriess they just suck at it
@EquiinoxGII yet you think resident evil 1 remake is scary
@Zombiechris I never said that.
@EquiinoxGII sure jan
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