Callisto Protocol Revisted

Arsic

Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
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I'll be first to admit I was way too harsh on this game on launch, and more so on my overall rating of what I played.

A lot of that had to do with:
-Not knowing it was more of a melee game
-Glen calling it AAAA
-The shimmy sections
-Performance issues at launch

I've been going back through it now on ps5 pro, and I have 0 issues with it. My major gripe is I wish it had more bosses, and had learned more from dead space.

All of its core issues are minor and fixable with a sequel. One which we will never get. I think as a third person survival horror fan, and any other fans out there of the genre, we kind of fucked ourselves by being overly negative on this one.

Glen likely will never rear his head again, and while he's a semi douche, he did build a great game with some talent.

I mean, this is still the best facial tech out there to date isn't it?

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Second playthrough id raise my 6/10 to an 8/10 here.

RIP the franchise before it could even take off.


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I loved this game. We already have Dead Space, so I was ok with it being more melee focused and it doing its own thing. It was a great 1st attempt and the sequel would have been great. Its still a looker to this day.
 
I am sorry to say I never really enjoyed it. Some aspects of the plot intrigued me and I had a bit of fun in the snow and underground city but never did I feel the desire to go back through any part of it. If I see another vent to crawl through or pipes to squeeze past in a videogame, I will always think of Callisto Protocol.

P.S. The gun mod laser printer modules (Reforge Stations) were sick!
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Arsic said:
I couldn't get more than 2 hours into the remake. Isaac just looks like a giant cunt weasel and talks way too much.
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Yeah there's something that put me off the remake, can't say exactly what it was.

Felt really hooked to Callisto tho, as someone said above, too bad we're not getting a sequel.
 
I played it once it hit PS+. It's superb visually. I thought the combat was rather dull and felt like Glenn and Team were trying too hard to distance themselves from Dead Space's combat which itself, like a lot of others, drew inspiration from RE4. I'll admit that I find melee combat gets tiresome rather quickly even in everyone's favorite games like Dying Light or Condemned, but even CP's dun based combat was pretty lackluster.
 
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bender said:
I played it once it hit PS+. It's superb visually. I thought the combat was rather dull and felt like Glenn and Team were trying too hard to distance themselves from Dead Space's combat which itself, like a lot of others, drew inspiration from RE4. I'll admit that I find melee combat gets tiresome rather quickly even in everyone's favorite games like Dying Light or Condemned, but even CP's weapon based combat was pretty lackluster.
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All things a sequel would've built on.

New weapon types, throw in a stamina gauge, offer more complexity to dodging and blocking to net rewards.

Honestly this is a dumbed down version of KCD2 combat when you start thinking of it.

This playthrough I focused on blocking and weaving to get the counter attack into gun shot to make better use of ammo to extend melee combos. Plus I went more stealth in those sections to conserve too.

Maybe I just went too Rambo with guns my first time through. Idk.
 
I liked it at launch, even before the patches. Never had any performance issues with it.

Mixing up the combat with melee, guns, and the GRP was fun.

Overhated game.
 
Arsic said:
All things a sequel would've built on.

New weapon types, throw in a stamina gauge, offer more complexity to dodging and blocking to net rewards.

Honestly this is a dumbed down version of KCD2 combat when you start thinking of it.

This playthrough I focused on blocking and weaving to get the counter attack into gun shot to make better use of ammo to extend melee combos. Plus I went more stealth in those sections to conserve too.

Maybe I just went too Rambo with guns my first time through. Idk.
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I just wish they would have aped the combat in Dead Space, which wasn't exactly original save for not having players focus on headshots, instead of trying to distance themselves from it, Being compared to something else isn't always a bad thing.
 
I really liked it. I even met Karen Fukuhara in person at an event.

I liked the voice acting, the graphics, and the technology.

It's a very good product; I'd give it at least an 8.5, because I need a little more enemy and boss variety.

I've been a gamer and survival horror lover all my life. It's the only game that made me sick and nauseous when the protagonist's deaths came to me; they're intense.

But I love them.

P.S. I supported the launch of Dead Space Remake by paying full price, I played Callisto Protocol on PS Plus... And I liked Callisto Protocol more.
 
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This and Days Gone never got a fair shot

Shitty internet nerds just went with

"We HaVe DeAd SpACe at HoMe"

And

"We HaVe LaSt of Us at HoMe"

Everyone wants something new but then doesn't give something new a chance. Just comparisons and setting a bar they won't live up to

Same reason we won't get Guardians of the Galaxy 2
 
Knucklepux said:
This and Days Gone never got a fair shot

Shitty internet nerds just went with

"We HaVe DeAd SpACe at HoMe"

And

"We HaVe LaSt of Us at HoMe"

Everyone wants something new but then doesn't give something new a chance. Just comparisons and setting a bar they won't live up to

Same reason we won't get Guardians of the Galaxy 2
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I genuinely think if Glen just hadn't called this game AAAA it would've done well and we'd be looking at a sequel now.
 
Arsic said:
I genuinely think if Glen just hadn't called this game AAAA it would've done well and we'd be looking at a sequel now.
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Rather, it was Covid and development times, as well as staff reductions, that put a strain on the game's development.
 
unfortunately, i couldn't manage to care about any of the characters, & bailed after a dozen plus hours once the combat/enemies started to become much too repetitive. imo, callisto makes the original dead space, which I still replay, look even better than it always has...
 
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Arsic said:
I couldn't get more than 2 hours into the remake. Isaac just looks like a giant cunt weasel and talks way too much.
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Yeah people gave me shit here for saying that his silence worked better because it allowed you to project your feelings onto him. And you didn't need a voice telling you the devastation he felt finding out his wife was dead the entire time: now he just does it for you
 
Thanks to this thread I'm going to try it on PC (first played on PS5) since they gave it away on EGS. I know I never finished it, so fuck it. Weee
 
Knucklepux said:
This and Days Gone never got a fair shot

Shitty internet nerds just went with

"We HaVe DeAd SpACe at HoMe"

And

"We HaVe LaSt of Us at HoMe"

Everyone wants something new but then doesn't give something new a chance. Just comparisons and setting a bar they won't live up to

Same reason we won't get Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Click to expand...
Days Gone wasn't that great. I think isolated parts of it were pretty well done but the writing and characters were lame. I understand why it got thrown under the bus. For a AAA first party Sony title it had a very double-A vibe to it. I also think the open world aspect was unnecessary. Probably would've been a better game had it been more linear to focus more on the story and writing.
 
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Knucklepux said:
This and Days Gone never got a fair shot

Shitty internet nerds just went with

"We HaVe DeAd SpACe at HoMe"

And

"We HaVe LaSt of Us at HoMe"

Everyone wants something new but then doesn't give something new a chance. Just comparisons and setting a bar they won't live up to

Same reason we won't get Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Click to expand...
Days Gone sold near 10 million copies, maybe even more than that by now. In comparison to CP it's a big success.
 
powder said:
Days Gone wasn't that great. I think isolated parts of it were pretty well done but the writing and characters were lame. I understand why it got thrown under the bus. For a AAA first party Sony title it had a very double-A vibe to it. I also think the open world aspect was unnecessary. Probably would've been a better game had it been more linear to focus more on the story and writing.
Click to expand...

It launched in rough shape too and took a while to get fixed. Throw in a bit of zombie and open world fatigue and it felt like a game that released about 5 years too late. It did take a bit of a beating in the press for portraying biker culture as biker culture often is, but I think that was the lesser of things working against it. The cult following it has these days has firmly pushed it into overrated territory in my mind. It had one neat concept in its' hordes and that was woefully underutilized in the campaign, at least for the 25+ hours I put into it before giving up. It is a really beautiful world they crafted though.

Thief1987 said:
Days Gone sold near 10 million copies, maybe even more than that by now. In comparison to CP it's a big success.
Click to expand...

It's certainly had an impressive tail, but I don't think it sold enough at launch which is why the sequel was scrapped. But who knows? I never thought we'd get a remaster.
 
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Arsic said:
I genuinely think if Glen just hadn't called this game AAAA it would've done well and we'd be looking at a sequel now.
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Maybe, but it was still a better experience to me than other so called AAA games
powder said:
Days Gone wasn't that great. I think isolated parts of it were pretty well done but the writing and characters were lame. I understand why it got thrown under the bus. For a AAA first party Sony title it had a very double-A vibe to it. I also think the open world aspect was unnecessary. Probably would've been a better game had it been more linear to focus more on the story and writing.
Click to expand...
i agree with the idea it should be more linear, to be honest I think every game is better in a linear, narrative form

Make me take down more symbiote nests or find 20 tapes Spider-Man….

Certainly seems like PlayStation wants to be Ubisoft though. Just make an open world game and add a new coat of paint.
 
More like the The Shimmy and Vent protocol.

Good graphics, boring ass game to play.
 
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The biggest issue is the overuse of time wasting crawlspace mechanics and quite frankly bland gameplay and combat overall.

Everything else was surprisingly interesting I felt. I would not say I enjoyed my experience with it, but I have also played much worse games, and it is not 'objectively bad' as many would have you believe. There are horror games in the AAA space that are far worse.
 
It's a terrible game. Was like 5/10 for me to the point that I sold it … but I famously bought it again recently and will give it another playthrough some day
 
If they had put everything Dead Space 2 had into the game and then, on top of that, had the melee stuff and a more fleshed out stealth loop, it would've been an all time classic. But, as it was, it was too bare bones. Too much of the money was spent on graphics and "talent". I would've played a much uglier game if it actually played better.
 
Games was mediocre at best other than the graphic.

Can't believe i payed full price for it.

Ds remake was an immensely better game.

Retarded combat that never feel good or interesting
Unispired story with some of the most dull, uninteresting audio registration i ever heard in a horror game
Bugged enemies at launch that made an entire 2 hours section of the game piss easy
Laughable level design
Terrible boss fights

P.s. comparing this to days gone is an insult.
 
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Amazing game but was a bit rough out of the gate. The game is a bit jarring as you mentioned until you realize it has a massive melee component to the combat that you can't get away from, but once you make peace with that it is a fantastic journey
 
well a lot of people lost their jobs over those "harsh" reviews
let's be more mindful next time

I myself absolutely loved every second of that game and It was a remarkable technical showcase as well
yes it could use more time in the oven as Schofield himself stated several times [mostly regarding the ending] but it was by no means as bad as media made it out to be

cosmic horror fans, give it a shot
 
- Extremely linear
- Braindead AI and idiotic stealth sections
- Them shimmy parts...
- Not play tested properly - some parts/scnearios that REQUIRE you to have ammo, well, you can easily find yourself without which fucks you up.
The loot is random which doesn't help with this.

- The whole melee thing, well, it's about personal opinion, but, I didn't like it since it was too simplistic.

Having said all that, it's still one of the most visually striking games of this gen, exceptional mo-cap, character models, lighting etc.
 
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Awesome game, got it on PC and PlayStation 5. Played it through later on GamePass too.

Got the platinum trophy, Pro patch is awesome and better than playing it on PC to avoid shitty FSR (unless you can mod in DLSS or GPU can brute force native)
 
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People were down waaayyy to hard on this game. You are right, the sequel could have introduced a lot new features and acted on player feedback. Now we'll never know what could have been.
 
powder said:
Days Gone wasn't that great. I think isolated parts of it were pretty well done but the writing and characters were lame. I understand why it got thrown under the bus. For a AAA first party Sony title it had a very double-A vibe to it. I also think the open world aspect was unnecessary. Probably would've been a better game had it been more linear to focus more on the story and writing.
Click to expand...
It didnt have the big production or cinematic sequences of other big AAA games from Sony, but I wouldnt say its a AA game. It had a big budget and decent amount of marketing. I think this game and The Order 1886 are two games that were unfairly scrutinized because Tlou and GOW set the bar so high. Not every game is going to be a GOY contender or a 10/10, but they deserve better than 63 and 71 on Metacritic.

The only issues I have with Calistol Protocol is the lack of enemy variety and repetitive combat. They got the graphics and audio right, but I dont think the game should have costed more than 49.99. Now thats a game that looks AAA but plays like a AA.
 
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Horror fans dropped the ball that year.

Seems we won't ever get Callisto Protocol 2 or Dead Space 2 Remake.

Both games are great and deserve a sequel.
 
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