The Callisto Protocol: Just As Bad As It Is Good

As a 3D artist I can fill you about the female faces, same goes for "baby faced" men. The less roughness you have on the face, more uncanny it will become as pores etc are still texture based and not polygonal based. If pores were to be polygonal based, this is assumed to fix the problem as it would get the natural depth of even a smooth face. You can see this quite well with men too in the game "Detroit become human" as there are couple male faces in that game that have very smooth or "femine" feeling to them and look much more uncanny than the more "male" feeling faces. This also causes old women in games to look more realistic or more lived women look more realistic as in Cyberpunk 2077 with stress wrinkles etc that skips a tad the smoothness.
Great video btw, I would love to buy this game too, but have such a long list of games to play and dont' want to drop 60€ when it's probably in sale when I actually get to it.

I hate these stories about secret corporations being behind bad events that happen in the world. It implies that bad events that happen are caused by other people instead of being accidents or tragedies and fuels wacky conspiracies in the real world. For example people think COVID was a deliberate government plot, games like this and Resident Evil promote that idea.

Watching the gameplay just solidifies my opinion on the combat…not for me

Heya Jared, great vid, I had a lot of fun with Callisto Protocol and loved this vid, are you going to do a vid on the Final Transmission DLC?

Funny I got a content warning clicking on this on my main account but not my other one. Well we def see eye to eye on this game as usual. It’s funny the stealth must have been corrected to far the other way because I was able to take down enemies practically on top of each other and not alert the other enemy. My biggest drawback was the beginning. Coming to grips with how undead space the combat in this dead space wanna be being the biggest part. And the predictable story along with the stupid quick tone events to open doors. I actually loved the linearity which is funny I’d people hated on that. Too many games now a days want endless locations with half assed purposes. I much prefer a tight exp. Personally I think many people did not make it to the colony section before they reviewed it as outside of performance issues the it kit being dead space problem goes away after a time. Though I did wish they had an objective direction toggle and that they hadn’t swapped the stomp to triangle lol. A shame the sequel pretty much doa now

I love Callisto Protocol combat and the environment. Is a fun game.

Jared I have been scrolling through your videos, you haven't done one for Them and us yet? It's right up your alley, I would consider it on the level of tormented Souls, it also has an option to play with fixed camera angles

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Since you reviewed this game the game play has been changed by the developers and the various complains have been attended to.

Hey Avalanche. I played a game you might find interesting. I recommend you playing Atomic Heart a new Russian game. I absolutely love it. Yes it’s got robots but that resembles the people living under communism. Best ending out of any game I played. As for the sound track it’s amazing. The game is a mixture of stalker with Dishonored or Prey.

Appreciate the analysis. I respectfully disagree this is one of the biggest dissapointments ive played. Usually i can tel if ill love or like a game on one trailer and just blindly buy it like you. This was a rare miss for me. Started out ok. Story i find to be very boring. The linearity is not an issue idc if a game is linear but its such a boring enviornment when with the world they hint out shouldve led to much more varied cooler sci fi settings. The Ushimora is far more interesting then this. And i didnt go into this expecting Dead Space. I feel thats why a lot of people are dissapointed. Combat is repetitve, those grabby guys are bullshit, its just boring. The game is boring. In all aspects for me. Thats the best way to describe my thoughts. Characters are boring, combat is boring, throwing enemies into spikes is cool at first but the novelity wears off quick when spikes are placed everywhere, the gun roster is boring, the enemy design is boring. Lol can you tell i find this game to be boring? To me thats worse then a game being bad but ambitious. Huge dissapointment that really looks bad to the Dead Space remake even though im not comparing. Im glad you enjoyed the story and dodge combat. In the end subjective enjoyment is most important. Just didnt happen for me. By like hour 3 i was pretty much done

I got this game on sale so take that into consideration. When I was playing at first I didn't really jive with it, because I was playing it like it was dead space. This ISN'T dead space, and it's not actually trying to be. I started enjoying the game once I realised that the combat system was more melee focused, and the survival elements are more forgiving than I expected. I never had an issue where I ran out of ammo, or at least the money to buy more.

Super surprised on your opinion on the combat and sorta the story! I've seen so many people despise the combat, and on lesser degree the story! Not saying your opinion is wrong ofc, just surprised!

Its a shame the game didnt live up to its potential, an amazing game is in there somewhere still, they just needed to tap into it.

the gameplay is punch out, just punch out.

as a button masher i hate when they go out of there way to make my playstyle impossible or hard

I enjoyed this game . I would buy a sequel.

Great review as always will give this a try 👍

Thinking of still purchasing this 🤔 its 20 bucks brand new.

Wait, so the combat system is basically Punch Out? Sold!

I do truly hope the game continues to gain popularity as we need more creative, original, and fun single player horror games, I just wish this game hadn’t been so mediocre on release.

Honestly this game had a really really really weird difficulty curve. I played on release at medium security, and I absolutely screwed myself over. I was bad at the melee gameplay so I often relied on my guns in 1v1 or 1v2 encounters to fully deal with the encounter.

What isn’t intuitive about this for people who have played dead space and expected it to be like that is that you ABSOLUTELY CANNOT AFFORD TO WASTE ANY RESOURCES. Later enemies such as the 2 head literally 1 shot you and have a mountain of health plus other enemies in the arena with them, and you desperately need to kill all those enemies in order to survive the fight. There are also small sections that are quite literally adjacent to impossible to do melee only even on lower difficulties, and if you have unknowingly wasted those resources you risk pretty much soft locking yourself into a specific section, some of which are hours into the game, and the only choices are pray to RNGesus that the first 3 enemies you kill drop you the health and ammo you need, which it really has like a 1 in 500k chance of doing, especially if you’re carrying too many different weapons and ammo types, or to restart the entire game.

When I played on maximum security (before NG+ was a thing), I breezed through the game with a mastery of the combat system in 1v1 combat, and had so much ammo and health that even the most difficult sections were so easy they might as well have been a tutorial section.

That’s the game’s problem, really. The combat style is difficult to master (pre patches where weapon swaps, healing, and reloading were so unnecessarily long that I actually refused to recommend the game to people until they fixed it, the game was INFINITELY harder to learn the first time), but once you master it, it really loses ALL sense of difficulty, charm, and tension. Even at the hardest difficulties, the game is game journalist level difficulty once you have it down, and there just HAS to be some sort of balance. For dead space remake, it was consistently ambushing you when your resources were high. Enemies here really seem to have a set amount, and there’s really no backtracking possibly so once you get through a section with all of your health and resources, you just really won’t lose them until the game forces you to go through the difficult sections, and by that point you have so much ammo and health you can fire and fight indiscriminately and still walk out with tons of health and ammo.

Game really seems to lack a true balancing solution, and unfortunately it all comes down to how the combat was designed, and the only real solution is to make the game more like Dead Space where melee is a last resort and you have to use your guns at all times.

Are horror games fans so staved of good plots and characters to a point that they can't really see a terrible, mediocre story really for what it is? You have to up your standards people, SH2 cannot be the pinnacle of horror games in that regard forever, hell even the remake itself undoubtably won't be able to surpass the original considering the questionable track record of Bloober Team, Godforsaken hacks, patron saints of mediocrity that are they.
One day, horror fans, one day.

never apologize what u say about games if thats ur opinion. if u think it sucks, it fucking sucks. haters gonna hate

My biggest gripe with the game is not it's combat or it's story or it's "it's not Dead Space" - problem. It's the enemies. I did not buy or play the game because I think the enemies are boring as can be. It's a space horror game with mutants. Why is it 90% dudes but with really bad blisters? Or in some case tentacles for a mouth?
Dead Space had really interesting and gross mutants that were just barely enough human that you could recognize it. RE has zombies of course but to switch it up we got spiders, frogs, dogs, lickers, god damn giant aligators. And even the zombies were more interesting since they had "personality" in being a dead cop or construction worker or whatever. In CP most enemies are a human-ish grey mess or former inmates with blisters.

wow your like the only person who likes this game

Incarceration on the moon ? They can tie this in with Avenue 5 👍🤗

I think it’s biggest flaw is being a survival horror game with an op weapon with infinite ammo. It would be like having resi evil 4 knife being the focus powerful weapon. All challenge and resource management is then basically moot

I think there actually is a hint at a torch thing on his gear. I checked for it when I’m the space suit as well and it’s still there. It’s near his left shoulder. But it looks like it’s turned off when you look at it, I assume so you can look at face and suit detail without being blinded by a torch

I never once saw that stealth issue I think that could be an old or pc specific bug. Stealth was way too easy and simple. Was a shame. The blind enemies should have been able to hear you far more easily.

I was on board with the combat being decent until the patches and hardcore mode really highlighted the flaws and encouraged the player to play the game in the most boring way possible. They even removed some of the combat combos from the gameplay! Never known a game to get so ruined through patches before. Really a horrible unprecedented occurrence.

This game was actually very good for a first play through before they nerfed it to hell with patches. Gameplay story tone and visuals were all top notch imo. Was still a flawed game but I enjoyed it a lot. The dlc has been an immoral joke so far.

Great review! However, I did want to clarify something in regards to the story narrative:

Here goes!
Jacob wasn’t repressing a memory. That little cube? It was a cover-up image that the UJC filtered over the footage of the Europa incident. This is mentioned in-game though it is in passing. Because Jacob didn’t want to ‘ask questions’ regarding the cargo he was hauling, his conscience is eating away at him, because he refuses to consider that maybe he had a part in the outbreak. He never saw what happened at Europa actually until it was through Dani’s memories. That means all he ever saw was the cube, which is exactly why it shows up multiple times. Somewhere, deep down, he knows that something isn’t right, and Max, who acts like a conscience figure, is forcing him to come to grips with it.

I hope that helps! Again, love the review, man!!!

So, it’s a Max Payne 3 situation

As someone who works in this industry, I really despise these people who make a couple of mods and all of a sudden think they are experts about game development. 🙄🤣

With absolutely no irony, I love Callisto Protocol. The story is a bit bland up front, but the tone and environmental storytelling make up for it imo. The only tech problems I have had with it were at launch. Now, and I hate to use such a hackneyed phrase, but it's the Dark Souls of survival horrors: the combat is 95% dodge until you find and opening, hit the enemy, repeat, be patient, and don't get greedy. Once someone takes the time to actually learn the melee system, it's tight, responsive, and is such a breath of fresh air for horror games in general. Loved the review btw!

Well, It's a good thing I have the Game on Playstation 5, And it's a VERY powerful Beast, I'm with you on this @Avalanche Reviews, It's become my Guilty Pleasure to be on par with Dead Space.

Did you know this Game was originally gonna be what the Original Dead Space was gonna be, Under the title Rancid Moon, Part of it because it was originated by Glen Schofield (Who was the Director of the Game)

I loved the game, even the simple story of just working together to get off the planet is simple, but if I was in there shoes all I’d want to get off that planet lol f knowing what’s behind it all lol

If this game stood on its on and not try to say it’s basically dead space 4. I think the reception would have been much better

3.4Κ+

Man, I'm glad you mentioned the non-existent flashlight source on Jacob's body. That thing drove me crazy!

I enjoyed this game a bunch but it does have many, many flaws that hold it back from being an easy recommendation. The melee combat is cool, but in the early game it gets really repetitive until you get your grip and enough inventory to hold a decent amount of ammo to be comfortable shooting things regularly. The story is decent, but not good enough to hold up the experience, and the audio-logs are the worst in the genre. Also, the QTE's are mostly terrible and the one's that are caused by things jumping onto you (long neck egg sac guys, larva worms in boxes) are so overused its almost comical. But, to me, the biggest offender this game has is how boring the enemy design is. Generic zombie with the occasional blind one or slightly taller one is so bland that it really killed the experience for me. Especially when you discover the origin of the virus and think about how many interesting design directions they could of gone but instead just opted for zombies covered in some pustules.

Great video, as always!

Can you please make a video about Atomic Heart but actually give it a chance and please make me feel like I'm not crazy for thinking it is a masterpiece? I think it is amazing.

I would also say you MUST have a ton of ammo before the alpha second stage boss fight while using the explosive throwables. Buy ammo at the last reforge

I love this game lol

Any suggestions as to how to break into moving to Japan? I'd love to live there and I'm sick of the implosion that the US is coming to

I enjoyed this game and the dead space remake a lot, which I think is entirely possible

I do have to say that the combat in this game is some of the most fun I've had in recent memory. There is just something about it that just clicks with me

Just watch angry joe show review if you want to see why everyone hates the combat system

The game is awesome