The Callisto Protocol

''The Callisto Protocol'' is a 2022 survival horror action video game developed by Striking Distance Studios and published by Krafton. It was directed by Glen Schofield, who had previously co-created the ''Dead Space'' series. The game's story follows Jacob Lee (Josh Duhamel) who is sent to a prison facility set on the Jovian moon Callisto fighting against infected prisoners with an unknown disease while uncovering dark secrets of the facility. Gameplay has players exploring a series of levels, garnering resources while fighting off infected prisoners.

Development of the game began with the formation of Striking Distance Studios in June 2019. Originally developed as a game set in the '' PUBG: Battlegrounds'' universe, it later evolved into an original intellectual property.

The game was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on December 2, 2022. It received mixed reviews.

Gameplay

In ''The Callisto Protocol'', players assume the role of Jacob Lee from a third-person perspective. Jacob's health is indicated by an implant on the back of his neck called a "C.O.R.E. Device". Health can be replenished with injectable packs found throughout levels. Jacob can use weapons to combat enemies, as well as a melee system to dodge enemy attacks while looking for openings to strike and kill them. Both combat styles can be mixed up, providing greater variety when facing enemy types. Jacob can collect and review audio logs during gameplay.

Plot

In 2320, Jacob Lee (Josh Duhamel) and his partner Max Barrow (Jeff Schine) are contract freight transporters working for the United Jupiter Company (UJC), and co-pilots of the UJC ''Charon''. They have been ferrying shipments of an unlabeled, volatile cargo between Europa and the UJC-operated Black Iron Prison on Callisto, and their latest run promises to be lucrative enough for them to retire. After clearing the Callisto security perimeter and setting course for Europa, the ''Charon'' is boarded by the Outer Way, a group purportedly responsible for a massive biological terrorist attack on Europa, and the ship is forced to crash-land back on Callisto's surface. Max is killed, leaving Jacob and Outer Way leader Dani Nakamura (Karen Fukuhara) as the only survivors. Both are recovered by Black Iron Prison security head Captain Leon Ferris (Sam Witwer) and incarcerated without charges or trial on the orders of Warden Duncan Cole ( James C. Mathis III). Jacob awakens after the grueling intake process to find the prison being overrun by hostile "biophages", inmates afflicted with an unknown disease. He encounters Elias Porter (Zeke Alton), a longtime prisoner who claims to have an escape plan. While freeing Elias, Jacob sets several phages loose on Ferris, knocking him out a window.

Elias convinces Jacob to break out a talented hacker isolated in the Special Housing Unit (SHU), which turns out to be Dani, to summon a ship for their escape, but Dani refuses to join them. Regardless, the two head to the hangar, but are intercepted by Ferris, who is infected but appears to retain his intelligence. They are ejected onto Callistos surface and Elias suffocates when his mask visor is damaged. Dani appears in a half-track and recovers Elias' memories of Black Iron and reluctantly decides to team up with Jacob as the infected personnel begin to mutate further and become more dangerous. Following a detour to the wreckage of ''Charon'' where they only find medical supplies, the two make it to the hangar to summon a ship to pick them up. However, Cole intervenes and shoots down the ship, stating nobody is allowed to escape. The ship crashes into the hangar and causes it to collapse, forcing Jacob and Dani to flee.

With their only method of escape gone, Jacob and Dani decide that their only course of action is to confront Cole directly and get answers from him. The two make their way through the ruins of Arcas, Callisto's original colony before it was abandoned with the Black Iron Prison later built on top of it. They discover that Arcas suffered an outbreak similar to what occurred in Black Iron, and the UJC subsequently exterminated the entire colony and covered it up. They also find a lab holding a dead alien creature that the original Arcas miners accidentally unearthed, and learn the biophages are parasites that were found in the dead alien. Seeing its potential for accelerating evolution, the UJC harvested the alien's larvae and began experimenting with it on humans, which ultimately caused the outbreak; however, there was one biophage, Subject Zero, who somehow retained his intelligence before he was killed during the sterilization. After Jacob and Dani manage to fend off another encounter with Ferris, Dani ends up being infected. Once they return to Black Iron, Jacob is knocked out by a security robot and put back in his original cell.

Jacob is freed from his cell by the prison doctor, Dr. Caitlyn Mahler (Louise Barnes), and she instructs him to meet her at her lab, where she claims she can cure Dani's infection and get him to Cole. She reveals that Cole is part of a religious sect called Kallipolis attempting to enact a plan called the Callisto Protocol, which is to find a way to advance human evolution. He ordered Mahler to experiment on Black Iron prisoners to find a subject compatible with the alien infection and replicate Subject Zero with a Subject Alpha. Mahler also tells Jacob that the only way to cure Dani is to extract the Alpha's DNA, which can be used to synthesize an antidote, but is also Warden Coles ultimate prize. When Jacob asks for the truth behind the outbreak on Europa, Mahler admits that a diluted version of the infection was accidentally released; the incident inspired Cole to initiate the outbreak in Black Iron by releasing Mahler's test subjects to find another Alpha. Mahler provides Jacob access to Dani's memories through their neural implants, where Jacob learns that Dani's sister was killed in the Europa outbreak. He recovers his own memories showing he was aware that the UJC was using his ship to smuggle alien larva samples, but he remained willfully ignorant due to the payments he was receiving.

Jacob confronts Cole, who pits him against Ferris, his Alpha, who has been indoctrinated into Kallipolis. Despite Ferris's mutations, Jacob is able to defeat him and extract his DNA. Cole attempts to convince Jacob to turn over the DNA sample to him, arguing that its pivotal to humanities survival, as the human race can not survive long term space travel without rapid advancements in its evolution, but Jacob instead uses it to cure Dani. Angered, Cole activates the prison's self-destruct countdown and boasts that he has still gathered enough data to carry out the Callisto Protocol. Jacob puts Dani in the last remaining escape pod along with an alien larva sample, giving Dani all the evidence she needs to expose the UJC's secret experiments. As he fends off the biophages, Mahler contacts him and informs him of a possible escape if they work together, before Jacob is suddenly attacked by a still-living Ferris.

Development

The origins of ''The Callisto Protocol'' began with the formation of Striking Distance as a studio within PUBG Corporation (now PUBG Studios) in June 2019, helmed by Glen Schofield, who had previously co-created the ''Dead Space'' series at Visceral Games. The studio was created to expand the '' PUBG: Battlegrounds'' universe by creating a narrative driven game. Schofield said that when he met with PUBG Corporation where they explained their goal to expand the ''PUBG'' narrative, he already had the concept for ''The Callisto Protocol'' in mind and presented that to them and worked with them to fit his idea into their universe. However, by May 2022, Schofield stated that the game had grown to be its own story and is no longer connected to ''PUBG'', though there remain small nods to the latter.

Schofield wanted to keep the game grounded in reality to some degree, and thus selected a potentially human-colonizable location like Callisto as the setting. The moon has been theorized to have a subsurface ocean of water, which Schofield believed could offer a mystery to tie into the game.

Among others working on the game include Steve Papoutsis, who co-developed the ''Dead Space'' series and led the series following Schofield's departure from Visceral; Scott Whitney, a designer on the ''Dead Space'' series; and Christopher Stone, the animation director for the former series. Of the 150 employees of Striking Distance, Schofield said that about 25 to 30 former coworkers from Visceral Games and Sledgehammer Games are part of Striking Distance worked on ''The Callisto Protocol''. Several journalists commented on thematic and gameplay similarities to the ''Dead Space'' series. The game appears to include the same type of diegetic interface that ''Dead Space'' had used by a holographic indicator on the back of the prisoner's neck that indicates their health status and other attributes to the player. Schofield said that the comparisons to ''Dead Space'' reflect on his style of game, and while he still wanted to create something different, the allusions and inspiration from ''Dead Space'' fell out naturally from his creative approach. Josh Duhamel provides the voice and motion capture for main protagonist Jacob Lee. At Comic-Con 2022, it was revealed that Karen Fukuhara and Sam Witwer joined the cast. Fukuhara plays Dani Nakamura, leader of the resistance group A Better Way, while Witwer portrayed Leon Ferris, the captain of the Prison Guard. In addition to providing voices, the cast performed with motion capture technology. Fukuhara commented that, prior to acting in motion capture, the development team would "show us what the room would look like on artwork that they had done".

''The Callisto Protocol'' was designed for the newer home game consoles, the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X and Series S, in addition to other platforms. Schofield stated his intent was "really trying to make the scariest game on next-gen platforms" in the same way that ''Dead Space'' had been considered on its release for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. He stated that the game takes advantage of new lighting techniques and 3D audio systems offered by the new consoles, as well as haptic feedback that the PlayStation 5's DualSense controller provides, to create deep immersion for the player in the game. Striking Distance Studios Chief Technical Officer Mark James said the game was developed with "maximum realism" in mind. It uses Unreal Engine 4. Krafton and Striking Distance have partnered with Skybound Entertainment for release of the game, as Skybound sees potential for additional multimedia opportunities beyond the video game for the concept.

In September 2022, Schofield released a tweet outlining development on the game that some interpretated as a glorification of crunch culture. This led to online backlash, including from ''Bloomberg'' reporter Jason Schreier, who has reported on crunch culture in the past. Schofield later deleted the tweet and issued an apology. In an interview with '' Inverse'', Schofield took responsibility for crunching his staff, and promised that crunch is "not a thing that happens in our next project or any future project."

Release

On October 27, 2022, the Japanese release was canceled when the game did not get a CERO rating due to the game's violent content and the developer refused to make the necessary changes. The game was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on December 2, 2022.

Reception

''The Callisto Protocol'' received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Several publications noted that ''The Callisto Protocol'' suffered from stuttering and performance issues, primarily affecting the PC version; as a result, the game received "mostly negative" user reviews on Steam upon release. The same day, the game received an update that alleviated shader compilation stutter, with further optimization patches being promised by the developers. Glen Schofield later claimed that the technical issues were the result of a "clerical error" from the game's development team.

'' PCGamesN'' was highly positive of the game, feeling it excelled at balancing horror and action, though felt that the story was unremarkable.

Sales

''The Callisto Protocol'' was the sixth best-selling retail game in the UK in its week of release.

References

External links

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2020s horror video games
2022 video games
Fiction set on Callisto (moon)
PlayStation 4 games
PlayStation 5 games
Science fiction horror video games
Science fiction video games
Single-player video games
Survival horror video games
Third-person shooters
Unreal Engine games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games about viral outbreaks
Video games set in outer space
Video games set in prison
Video games set in the 24th century
Windows games
Xbox One games
Xbox Series X and Series S games