We've taken The Callisto Protocol through its review paces for a definitive run through what may, or may not be, a Dead Space-like (okay, it absolutely is a -like). But can it trump the OG, or is this more sci fi and horror cheese to sink your teeth into? Check out our very in-depth review to find out.

From our review:

It’s not a surprise then that The Callisto Protocol, the debut title from Schofield’s Striking Distance Studios, is not so much in honour of Dead Space, but rather a spiritual successor to it, in every sense of the word. The events that see hapless pilot Jacob Lee imprisoned on the titular moon’s maximum security facility, Black Iron Prison, and the nefarious nature of its UJC operating arm could very well be taking place in the same game-universe as Dead Space; adjacent to whatever misadventure Isaac might find himself on next, should EA decide to take us there in original story form again, one day.

And that’s okay. The resonant verbiage you’ll glean from this and likely every other review of the game is that if you’ve played Dead Space, you’ve played The Callisto Protocol.

That’s a bit black and white, and of course The Callisto Protocol doesn’t exist in the Dead Space universe and is very much its own thing, it just isn’t afraid to build sideways on an already-winning formula, and from one of the alchemists who originally transmuted it, to boot.

Click here for our full review of The Callisto Protocol.

And he took to Twitter to make it very clear that, while new content is definitely coming to the game via a Season Pass after release, it's not locked content now, so no one is missing out.

"We haven’t even started work on this content yet," he said.

In case you missed it, discovery of the Season Pass which had not been revealed yet came by way of The Callisto Protocol's Steam Page which shared two versions of the game: a Day One Edition release (or 'standard') and a Digital Deluxe Edition which has a substantially higher price point.

The description for the Digital Deluxe Edition revealed a Season Pass featuring these upcoming goodies, post-release:

Outer Way Skin Collection: Bear the armor of the Outer Way, an underground insurgency pitted against the UJC, as you fight to survive the horrors of Callisto.

Contagion Bundle: Discover the ultimate survival horror experience with a new mode, Contagion. With reduced ammo and health drops, a customized difficulty and permadeath – there are no second chances to escape Black Iron Prison or the horrors lurking beneath the surface of Callisto. The Contagion Bundle also includes thirteen new Jacob death animations and the Watchtower Skin Collection.

Riot Bundle: Venture into a previously undiscovered area of Black Iron Prison and battle through waves of brutal enemies. Gather credits to upgrade your weapons, or forge new ones, and survive the onslaught as long as you can in Riot, an all-new mode. The Riot Bundle also includes twelve new enemy death animations and the Engineer Skin Collection.

Story DLC: Dig deeper into the horrifying secrets of The Callisto Protocol.

Initial concerns and reporting around the above suggested this content was already baked into the full game, locked unless people bought into the higher tier's Season Pass, however, The Callisto Protocol creator and game director, Glen Schofield, revealed this is not the case at all.

To be clear: We’re not holding anything back from the main game for the season pass. We haven’t even started work on this content yet. It's all new stuff that we’ll be working on in the new year. Fans have asked for EVEN MORE deaths, so we’re making it a priority next year.

— Glen A. Schofield (@GlenSchofield) November 23, 2022

So, there you go. Nothing has been held back for people who purchase that Day One Edition, they'll just need to pony up down the track for the content as it drops, or simply purchase the Season Pass.

The Callisto Protocol is out for PC and next-gen console this December 2nd. Stay tuned to us for more on the game closer to release.

Striking Distance has done things by the old-school developer book, as far as how information surrounding its debut survival horror sci-fi epic, The Callisto Protocol, is concerned. And today has capped off a stellar year of teasing and showing off, with the game's official launch trailer that is full of wow moments in and of itself, and teases an even greater experience on the whole.

Set on Jupiter’s dead moon Callisto in the year 2302, The Callisto Protocol challenges players to survive the horrors of Black Iron Prison and uncover the dark secrets of The United Jupiter Company after a mysterious outbreak throws Callisto into chaos.

In addition to the trailer above, the fifth episode of the Helix Station podcast prequel story is now available, and having listened to the first four I can confidently tell anyone remotely keen on this game to check it out -- it's just the right balance between sci-fi cheese, intrigue and horror. And hey, it has sci-fi fan staple, Michael Ironside.

The Callisto Protocol released on December 2 for PC and console.

This is cool. In an effort to flesh out the game-world and add a layer of context to the events that will (or have) transpire(d) in The Callisto Protocol, developer Striking Distance has created a prequel podcast which will set up the events before the game, called Helix Station. It will also star Gwendoline Christie of both Game of Thrones and The Sandman fame.



You can listen to a trailer for the podcast above. Here's the official word on Helix Station:

Helix Station is a six-part sci-fi horror podcast prequel to the highly anticipated videogame The Callisto Protocol. The podcast, starring Emmy-nominated actress Gwendoline Christie, takes fans deep into the world of Black Iron Prison and The United Jupiter Company before the game releases worldwide for PC and Consoles on 2nd December, 2022. The first two episodes of “Helix Station” are available now, with new episodes launching weekly in November wherever podcasts are available.

Helix Station follows two of the most feared skip tracers in the Jovian system, Percy (Gwendoline Christie) and Kane (Michael Ironside), as they take on some of the most lucrative bounties in the region – from Ganymede and Io to Europa Station and all points in between. When the pair find their ship commandeered by Black Iron Prison officer Metzger (Kevin Durand), they soon find themselves ensnared in a once-in-a-lifetime job on Helix Station, a derelict metropolis that harbours dark secrets about the true nature of the United Jupiter Company.

Helix Station also features Sam Littlefield as Prendergast, Cassandra Blair as Tanaka, Leland Orser as Lennox, and Caitlin Kinnunen as Juniper.

On being involved with project, Christie said that it "was amazing to work with the team at Striking Distance Studios to bring the character Percy to life and lay the narrative foundation for The Callisto Protocol".

“We’ve built a rich narrative around The Callisto Protocol, and ‘Helix Station’ is a chance for fans to go deep with the United Jupiter Company and Black Iron Prison before the game comes out,” said Glen Schofield, CEO of Striking Distance Studios. “The cast did an amazing job bringing these characters to life, and we hope fans love this extension of The Callisto Protocol.”

The Callisto Protocol is scheduled to land on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S this December 2. Stay tuned for more on the game as it becomes available.

As a spiritual successor of sorts to the iconic Dead Space, The Callisto Protocol from Striking Distance Studios is a new sci-fi survival horror game on track for a December 2 release across PC and consoles. With the new 'The Truth of Black Iron Trailer' we get a look at the Black Iron Prison setting, and some cinematic scares.

Check it out.



With Dead Space's starhsip Ishimura serving as the backdrop for all of the horror, the setting is definitely another main character in a game like this. The Callisto Protocol is certainly following in those footsteps with the Black Iron Prison backdrop. Plus, this is another great look at the game - which easily one of our most anticipated for the remainder of the year.

Halo jumps and dismemberment be damned, in The Calliosto Protocol it's all about mutation and the gritty, grimy job of just getting your hands dirty... and wet, as this all-new gameplay video from Gamescom Opening Night Live highlights.



Game director Glen Schofield revealed that one of the quirks of certain enemy types is when you see tentacles emerge from a dismemberment, the horror doesn't stop there as it did (and does) in Dead Space, with mutation being a key part of the monster biology in his upcoming December release, and just another phase in the life of a space mutie desperate to eat your face.

(Also, keep an eye out for the The Evil Within nod as the video rolls.)

In addition to the new gameplay, which was all captured on next-gen hardware (no disclosure as to which), we also have a batch of new screens you can check out below.

The Callisto Protocol is shaping up as one of the most anticipated horror releases in some time, and will hit PC and console this December 2. Stay tuned for more as it becomes available.

I think it's time we just acknowledge moving forward, in any form of media, that nested undead, or parasite host husks, or whatever isn't officially tagged as a "zombie", is now a necromorph. Because there's almost no way I can go into Glen Schofield's The Callisto Protocol without seeing his new undead enemies as like-for-like to those he created all those years ago with Michael Condrey in the original Dead Space.

Especially after witnessing today's new trailer.



Now, before I dissect any of this, here's the official run down:

Set on Jupiter’s dead moon Callisto in the year 2320, The Callisto Protocol challenges players to escape the maximum-security Black Iron Prison and uncover the terrifying secrets of the United Jupiter Company. Players will need to search their surroundings and adapt their tactics, using a unique blend of shooting and close-quarters combat to survive a mysterious outbreak that has thrown Callisto into chaos.

The game stars Josh Duhamel as Jacob Lee, a cargo ship pilot trapped deep within Black Iron Prison, and Karen Fukuhara, star of The Boys, who plays a mysterious fellow inmate. More details about the game’s cast and story will be revealed later this year.

“As a game director, there’s nothing more satisfying than taking players on a terrifying ride that stays with them long after they’ve put the controller down,” said Glen Schofield, CEO of Striking Distance Studios. “Survival horror games have been my passion for decades, and I’m excited to take advantage of the latest consoles to take the genre to terrifying new places when we ship The Callisto Protocol later this year.”

Striking Distance Studios is building The Callisto Protocol using a unique design process the team calls “Horror Engineering.” By blending elements of brutality, atmosphere, tension, humanity, and hopelessness, the studio delivers unforgettable scares that keep players’ hearts racing as they survive to escape the horrors of Callisto and Black Iron Prison.

“The team at Striking Distance Studios are masters of their craft, and we are thrilled to share The Callisto Protocol with the world later this year,” said C.H. Kim, CEO of KRAFTON. “At KRAFTON, we empower teams to build incredible experiences that sit at the intersection of art, design, and technology, and Striking Distance Studios is our flagship development team in the western world.”

So, out of the [Black] gate, the "spiritual successor" stuff to Dead Space is very, very clear. And that's okay. Outside of the upcoming Motive-developed remake of the original game, EA's vision for the IP has been spotty, at best. And in the hands of one of its co-creators, there's nothing wrong with The Callisto Protocol here being an almost 'reset', if you will, of what Schofield set out to do all those years ago, only now with him calling all of the shots.

What we can gather, loosely, from the trailer is that the necromorphic threat here nests and uses hosts (ala Alien), with varying enemy types forming through that process. This means a mixture of ranged and melee combat will drive this experience, and as a betting man I'm going to put my Callisto Cash on a greater emphasis where the latter is concerned, as Schofield loves tension. However, this should also mean there's a more scavenger-esque lean on weapons and items for the experience, burying the game deeply into survival horror.

The trailer also hints at a hive-mind speaking with our main protagonist, or some sort of puppeteer who has orchestrated whatever this outbreak is, so motivations for that, and from a prison no less, makes this a really interesting foundation to build a narrative from.

We can also assume the game will feature plenty of gameplay in exteriors, which will go a long way to separating it from Dead Space and should really allow the art teams to shine when it comes to atmosphere (heh).

We'll do our best to ask for more details on the game as we close in on release, which is slated for all major platforms in PC and next-gen consoles this December 2.

Check out a handful of screenshots of the game below.

I think we can all probably agree it was a tenuous tie-in in the first place, unless after release an updated PUBG set on Jupiter's moon of Callisto came into the fray, which honestly in even typing that seems like a massive reach.

And so here we are with The Callisto Protocol from Dead Space co-creator, Glen Schofield, now standing on its own merits and set to release sometime this year.

FYI @CallistoTheGame is its own story and world. It no longer takes place in the PUBG Universe. It was originally part of the PUBG timeline, but grew into its own world. PUBG is awesome, &we will still have little surprises for fans, but TCP is its own world, story and universe.

— Glen A. Schofield (@GlenSchofield) May 26, 2022

As per an interview with Schofield in Game Informer and from the Tweet above, the development heavyweight has now revealed that the game became too big and too "out there" to be able to have any official ties to PUBG, from a shared universe perspective. Though some of the planned links will remain in the game as Easter Eggs, the creative director revealed.

"When we came in, they had a lore team and they were writing this big story, like, ‘Where does PUBG start? Where does it fit in?’," Schofield said. "They write this giant timeline and our writers are involved in helping. We sit on the timeline, but we sit pretty far out there, and kind of alone. So if they ever make another game, let’s say that’s after our timeline. I would imagine our game will inform that more than we are being informed by their timeline."

Given the game is Game Informer's June cover it's safe to say everything is on track for The Callisto Protocol to launch this year, as promised, and with all the Dead Space Remake hype around, it couldn't have been orbiting a better opportunity from a hype and player-want perspective.

We'll have more on the game as it becomes available.

If you missed it you can watch it after the Read More jump, but we just wanted to point out, even for those who caught the out-of-left-field reveal, just why this one might have been the biggest and most significant reveal from the TGAs based on its best-in-class sci-fi survival horror roots, its free-from-tyranny development position and because we also just need another game like this.



So, what's all the hubbub then?

Who?

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A brand new studio from former Sledgehammer Games co-creator, Glen Schofield, whose biggest name to fame in this context isn't that he (and Sledgehammer) helped save Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, or that they went on to create two more Call of Duty entries in both Advanced Warfare and WW2. It's that alongside compadre, Michael Condrey, the pair convinced higher-ups at EA to take a punt on a new IP in Dead Space, a series that would go on to have three official games, alongside a few unique releases across mobile and less powerful platforms, while also dominating transmedia. The series is now a benchmark for sci-fi-based survival horror.

What?

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Hard one to answer this early, but what we can tell you is it is set on the titular moon Callisto which orbits Jupiter. It's a third-person survival horror single-player experience Schofield describes as "the scariest game on next-gen platforms". It looks like it's set from a prison complex that has had some sort of virus or alien carrion that morphs humans into Super Saiyan Dead Space-like Necromorphs. Interestingly, as Striking Distance is at least aligned with PUBG megacorp, PUBG Corporation, the game somehow sits within the PUBG universe, which sounds more like the SD crowd just sold that as a means to make a true successor to Dead Space.

When?

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At this stage, 2022 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X.

Why (are we so excited)?

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In case you've missed it, this is a spiritual successor to Dead Space. There's even an Easter Egg in the reveal trailer. Schofield and Condrey made what is arguably the best follow-up to Resident Evil 4 ever. We spoke exclusively to Condrey a little while ago and he's now retro-echoing new points Schofield is currently bellowing about visuals, audio and the new hardware: "There was a lot of work done by an exceptional team of engineers and tech artist that went into the core engine development. Large scale dynamic and deferred lighting was different than anything that had been done in videogames at that time, and it was essential to the experience. Similarly, we spent a lot of effort on sound and music, and [developed] the audio tech needed to capture the sense of terror and fear that were necessary to fully immerse fans in Isaac’s world".

And so this new setup for Schofield and Striking Distance bears a striking resemblance to where they were once before, but now not beholden to an EA or Activision type of publisher, we can only hope creativity thrives and we get what Schofield has promised.