Riley Wade
Break out the popcorn and get the sick buckets ready! The Callisto Protocol has a new trailer and it’s looking positively wretched.
Showcased at this week’s PlayStation State of Play, The Callisto Protocol is a return to type for Striking Distance Studios’ CEO Glen Schofield, who previously created the Dead Space series. The similarities are clear, but welcome, from the diegetic UI to the not-quite-abandoned space facility, to the ambiguously mutated biophages hunting our protagonist down. It’s delightfully nasty and something fans of Dead Space (myself included) are undoubtedly thrilled about.
Originally due to be connected to PUBG, The Callisto Protocol takes place in the year 2320 on the Black Iron prison colony on Jupiter’s “dead moon.” Callisto is owned by the (definitely very evil) United Jupiter Company. Our protagonist, prisoner Jacob Lee, must escape the invasion of the monstrous biophages and uncover the secrets of Black Iron and the prison’s shady warden.
It’s not going to be fun though, as much of the trailer proves. Hanging bodies loom, security drones stalk the halls, and then there are the screeching hordes of biophages and the warden, who speaks of rebirth.
Like Dead Space, it’s a third-person survival horror game, and like it appears to layer tense combat on top of gorgeously haunting environs and spooky set pieces, with a healthy dose of viscera. We even caught a glimpse of some of the nasty ways poor Jacob can get killed: chompings and stompings and slashings—oh, my! Beyond the brutality appears to be a story of corporate power and carceral violence and policing, reminiscent of Alien 3 in its ideas of rebirth, reform, and recompense.
So be prepared for nastiness, panicked combat encounters, and the political backdrop of the prison industrial complex (in space!), it’s sure to be a hell of a ride.
The Callisto Protocol launches on December 2nd for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. I, for one, couldn’t be more excited!
