The Callisto Protocolhad fairly big shoes to fill being unabashedly comparable toDead Space. However,The Callisto Protocol’s experience is more akin toResident Evilin a lot of ways, especially when it comes to its narrative. This is a boon because it distances itself fromDead Space, but still keeps it in the same survival-horror realm with some satisfying action and grotesque alien designs.
In terms of how it compares to other survival-horror games,The Callisto Protocolwould have also benefited from taking a page fromSilent Hill: Downpour. It’s one of the most dislikedSilent Hillgames when they are all evaluated together, but its depiction of a penitentiary environment and how to establish exposition would have been a fantastic inspiration forThe Callisto Protocol.
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The Callisto Protocol Should Have Leaned into Its Prison Atmosphere More
Silent Hill: Downpourdoes not get a ton right, but one of the things it does get right is its opening allure and atmosphere.Downpouropens in Ryall State Prison and sees Murphy Pendleton kill a sequestered prisoner as an initial combat tutorial, but it also behaves as wonderful exposition that leaves players with a lot of questions.
Murphy is then set to be transported from Ryall to another penitentiary, and on his way out players hear inmates shout to him from their cells. It is clear through this background dialogue and Officer George Sewell that exposition is subtly elaborated upon, and even though players do not know why Murphy was incarcerated in the first place, he has already an established history with the characters at Ryall.
There is also intrigue concerning Anne Cunningham, who clearly knows Murphy and keeps a close watch on him in the transport bus. So many questions arise from the first half hour ofDownpour,and still the narrative is told in a way that makes players want to find the answers.
By contrast,The Callisto Protocoldoes not stay in one place long enough for players to have any fascinating questions, and the pacing is too fast for players to care much thereafter. The opening half-hour ofThe Callisto Protocolgoes by too quickly - players are aboard the UJC Charon for about two minutes before they crash and are found by Captain Leon Ferris and two security units. Players are then taken toThe Callisto Protocol’s Black Iron Prisonfor an undisclosed reason, and they are there for no time at all before the entire penitentiary is up in flames during a prison-wide catastrophe with no understanding of what is going on in the narrative.
If more casual time was spent in the prison, it would have made more sense that the outbreak was gradual. Instead, Jacob somehow manages to sleep through the outbreak. There is no time to establish any exposition, and thereforeThe Callisto Protocol’s world-building is sorely lacking.
The Callisto Protocol Needed a Better Inciting Incident
The purpose ofThe Callisto Protocol’s crash-landing seems to only be for Jacob Lee and Dani Nakamura to interact and for Max to die. Jacob and Max’s relationship is not given enough exposition for players to feel any way toward his death though, and besides hallucinations thatThe Callisto Protocolemploys for jump-scares, it does not seem as though Max’s death affects Jacob much.
Silent Hill: Downpourhas a similar inciting incident, where the transport bus crashes and Murphy makes his way inadvertently into Silent Hill, but it is much more effective because of its established exposition.Downpourtakes its time with each linear area and lets players explore, whileThe Callisto Protocolurges players to move along with false urgency.
IfThe Callisto Protocolhad opened similarly toDownpour, such as if Jacob was already an inmate, then the outbreak would have felt more interesting. Dani could have simply been the new inmate that Jacob and Elias notice while they plan their own escape, having been there for quite some time already as cellmates that pass a sharpened shiv back-and-forth to one another.
Black Iron Prison is a fascinating setting, butThe Callisto Protocolquickly devolves into indistinguishable and dimly lit corridorsthat could have taken place anywhere. So little time is actually spent in the prison itself that it is unmemorable and underwhelming, whileDownpour’s prison aesthetic is remarkable and a paramount part of the game’s opening.
The Callisto Protocolis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
