For whatever reason, some games seem to get the short end of the stick upon release only for player perception of those titles to heat up in the months and years following release. Such is the case with Striking Distance's The Callisto Protocolwhich had the unfortunate position of both launching in a less than ideal state and coming just before the remake of Dead Spacea game originally created by The Callisto Protocol director Glen Schofield. The Callisto Protocol may have failed to gain an audience in its original release window, but thanks to a hefty PS5 Pro update and a roguelike spin-off, the title is back in gamers' sights again.
Despite some mixed reviews about the game's content, The Callisto Protocol always maintained a bit of a cult following thanks to its intriguing universe and atypical survival horror combat, which served as a sort of game on the old Punch Out!! games from Nintendo. Striking Distance has seemingly kept up with the following The Callisto Protocol has enough to both launch an excellent roguelike that takes place in the same universe [REDACTED]. as well as delivering a massive performance update for the title on PS5 Pro. The Callisto Protocol was already a visually impressive game on the base PS5, but now it stands as a graphical showcase for Sony's new Pro model hardware.
Family
[REDACTED] Should open the floodgates to the Callisto Protocol universe
Striking Distance Studios is moving forward with [REDACTED]and this should only be the first step on the road to the redemption of the Callisto Protocol.
Callisto Protocol's PS5 Pro Enhancement brings the best-looking version to date
The release of the PS5 Pro has paved the way for several games to receive massive updates to improve them for Sony's mid-generation hardware refresh, and few titles take advantage of the opportunity quite like The Callisto Protocol. Together with Gran Turismo 7, F1 24and No Man's Sky, The Callisto Protocol is one of the few games to offer 8K support on Sony's Pro model PS5, provided players actually have an 8K-capable display. Still, it's a noticeable jump in fidelity that's already resulting in tons of side-by-side video comparisons on YouTube.
That 8K resolution comes at the expense of The Callisto Protocol is locked to run at 30 FPS, but Striking Distance has taken care of the dip in performance by also offering a new PS5 Pro enhanced mode that sees the game run at 4K, 60 FPS. Perhaps most impressive is that both the 8K/30 FPS and 4K/60 FPS modes see The Callisto Protocol uses full ray tracing, which really squeezes every bit of performance out of Sony's new console. The Callisto Protocol was already a good-looking game, but it's now among the best-looking visual benchmarks for the PS5 Pro.
Playing Callisto Protocol Makes [REDACTED] Even better
In addition to the visual improvements to The Callisto Protocol made possible by the PS5 Pro, the game also recently received a surprise spin-off in the form of [REDACTED]. An action roguelike instead of a survival horror game, [REDACTED] has already proven to be both critically and commercially successful in a way that The Callisto Protocol struggled to follow its release. It is undoubtedly one of the year's stronger roguelikes in an increasingly crowded genre. Appropriately enough, [REDACTED] is even more fun as a board game The Callisto Protocol than a standalone experience.
Both titles are set in the same universe and revolve around the fictional Black Iron Prison, but they also happen to feature similar combat, although the actual mechanics and interactive elements that support each game's combat differ. Playing The Callisto Protocol before you play [REDACTED] gives some important context to the situation at Black Iron Prison as well as greater appreciation for [REDACTED]s more irreverent tone compared to The Callisto Protocolpp. [REDACTED] is a great game made even better by having played The Callisto Protocoland in turn, it helps bring a new audience to Striking Distance's survival horror title that might have skipped it in the first place.
In this story-driven, third-person survival horror game set 300 years in the future, the player will assume the role of Jacob Lee – a victim of fate thrown into the Black Iron Prison, a maximum security prison located on Jupiter's moon, Callisto. When prisoners begin to transform into monstrous creatures, the prison is thrown into chaos. To survive, Jacob must fight his way to safety to escape the Black Iron Prison, while uncovering the dark and disturbing secrets buried beneath Callisto's surface. Using a unique blend of shooting and close combat, Jacob will need to adapt his tactics to combat the rapidly evolving creatures while searching to unlock new weapons, equipment and abilities to outrun the growing threat and escape the horrors of Jupiter's dead moon.
- Released
- December 2, 2022
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 4
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- How long to beat
- 10 hours
- OpenCritic Rating
- Equitable
