The Callisto Protocol review: Dead Space’s spiritual successor has problems

The pitch for The Callisto Protocol is an enticing one: Creators behind the Dead Space series of sci-fi survival horror games would finally make a spiritual successor to that franchise, nearly 10 years into its dormancy at Electronic Arts. The Callisto Protocol would also build on the elements of Dead Space — creeping through cold, abandoned space environments inspired by Alien’s Nostromo, being doused in gore ripped from Event Horizon — with a decade of experience and maturity to hopefully make something better.

Developer Striking Distance Studios instead made something largely divergent — a Dead Space spiritual successor with some, but not all, of the best parts of Dead Space. In some ways, it’s a step back.

The Callisto Protocol opens with space trucker Jacob Lee, played by actor Josh Duhamel, pulling off One Last Job. That mission, naturally, goes sideways when an apparent terrorist group sabotages his cargo ship, crash-landing him on Jupiter’s second-largest moon, Callisto. Jacob and his ship’s saboteur, Dani Nakamura (played by The Boys’ Karen Fukuhara), find themselves thrown into the moon’s Black Iron Prison. Disaster doubles when Jacob wakes to find himself outfitted with an invasive implant called a CORE, in the midst of a catastrophic outbreak, and surrounded by mutated monsters wreaking havoc. Jacob, armed with only a stun baton, fights to escape from his wrongful, inexplicable imprisonment.

Where Dead Space focused on high-tension gunplay and the tactical severing of limbs from zombielike grotesques, The Callisto Protocol puts meaty, action-heavy melee attacks at the center of its combat. The game’s monsters swing at Jacob with haymakers, which he can dodge by leaning left or right. It’s a mechanic not unlike Nintendo’s Punch-Out!!, where Jacob can bob and weave until he can find an opening to bludgeon his attacker into a bloody mess. Later, Jacob gets access to pistols, shotguns, and rifles, which become complementary to melee combat, not wholesale replacements. He also gets Jedi-like powers, thanks to the battery-powered GRP, a glove that can grab and throw objects — including the monsters themselves.

Image: Striking Distance Studios/Krafton

Early on, combat can feel frustrating. Jacob’s lumbering movement gives everything a sluggish, inconsistent feel, and knowing when to dodge, or even when you’ve been struck by an attack, can be unclear. Understanding the game’s timing — finding The Callisto Protocol’s groove — takes time. Eventually, switching between melee, gunplay, and GRP controls starts to click.

Even in a one-on-one fight, a successful encounter might involve a series of dodges, bashes, surgical pistol shots (yes, you can remove enemies’ limbs here, too), and telekinetically throwing an enemy to give yourself some space. The GRP occasionally allows for a one-hit kill, letting you throw enemies into spikes or whirling fans, turning them into a chunky spray of gore. But the GRP is a highly limited resource and needs to be used sparingly. Later encounters switch things up, pitting Jacob against sentry robots that can instantly kill him from afar, and blind monsters where stealthy kills with a shiv aren’t just preferred, they’re all but necessary to succeed.

Still, the game has a general sense of sluggishness, a seemingly intentional choice to give Jacob and enemies a sense of weight and impact. Some inputs, though, like quick weapon switching, don’t seem to register sometimes, which is a huge problem in difficult encounters. Turning on “performance mode” in The Callisto Protocol’s graphics settings does help alleviate that sluggish feeling. By default, the game uses a more cinematic, graphically impressive visual mode. But the improved frame rate — and more responsive inputs — afforded by performance mode make a huge difference.

Image: Striking Distance Studios/Krafton

But even once you do settle more into The Callisto Protocol’s rhythm, combat scenarios often feel unrefined. Smaller enemies pop up with little to no warning, for instance, locking Jacob into button-mashing quick-time events that drain his health. Monsters also pop up directly behind you, making some encounters feel downright unfair. Dead Space had its “monster closet” moments that delivered fun, well-earned jump scares — but mutant zombies emerging from grates in the floor out of your line of sight? Far less enjoyable, particularly when paired with the game’s disorienting camera movement. That’s nothing compared to multiple moments where the game throws mobs of enemies at you. These are the worst parts of The Callisto Protocol, where any earned tension snaps and turns immediately into pure aggravation. Multiple…