It’s time for space horror fans to button up their pants again, because the long-awaited game has arrived; but are we really getting what we expected for our money?
A prison of terror
“Fear is the subjective experience of a real or imagined dangerous situation, the negative effect of which arises from the fact that we have to flee from such a situation, but escape from this situation is uncertain.”
Fear and dread are basic emotions that, for some reason, many people like to experience while reading a book, watching a movie or, as in our case, playing a video game. Personally, I’m the same way, I like a quality horror work, especially if it deviates in some way from the usual and, shall we say, takes place in the future in an abandoned and futuristic place. That is why I, along with many other people, loved the Dead Space series, the first part of which was released in 2008, followed by two sequels. Although the third episode was considered by many to be a huge step backwards due to the increase in the number of co-op modes and action sequences, I particularly liked it, only after the cliffhanger of the story DLC ended the taste of the episode is been a bit bitter.
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It’s been almost ten years since then, and since then perhaps only Alien: Isolation has been an appreciable work on the subject, so I was particularly excited when the announcement two years ago of the The Callisto Protocol Arrival, developed by Striking Distance Studios and published by Krafton; PUBG Battlegrounds is led by them to this day. The first few trailers really caught my attention, and that was also due to the fact that Glen Schofield, who we also owe Dead Space to, worked on the show, so even after the initial trailers we might think that something familiar and exciting at the same time time something is in the works. Although the game was initially said to be part of the world of PUBG, this idea was finally thrown out the window by the developers and only one easter egg reminds of it in the final version. After several previews and first reports, we finally got the full version in the last few days, so I jumped into the Xbox Series X edition. Due to the obvious spoilers, we don’t want to talk about the story, but we can say that the story begins on a transport spacecraft, which is heading towards Callisto, one of the moons of Jupiter, where it is currently operating in a space prison.
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Of course, our arrival will not be smooth, we will eventually fall successfully, and soon realize that we are no longer an external employee here, but we will also be put in a cell (after some implants are implanted), but the real madness is only these beginning after Shortly after waking up, we find that the place is in chaos, with dead and idle guard robots everywhere, while strange creatures are hunting us. Our goal will soon be decided, we absolutely must leave this rock here, preferably staying alive. Once in control, we can very quickly find ourselves in a familiar situation, as the point of view and movement are very similar to the aforementioned Dead Space, not to mention the graphics.
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Basically, the whole creation can be said to be particularly elegant, the prison and other locations almost jump out of the screen, look good, not to mention that the developers have tried to put together a lot of sufficiently varied locations. Don’t get me wrong, the whole thing is a pipe game, but every single part is sufficiently atmospheric, and the intermittently running machines and instruments, as well as the lighting, add a lot to this, which lends a sufficiently horror atmosphere to the whole game. Naturally, the fun is quickly interrupted by the first action segment, where we get to experience the game’s combat system. The developers have tried to put together a very special method: basically, we can dodge monster attacks by pressing the d-pad at the right moment, and then we can counterattack them with our melee weapon.
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This will initially be just a shield, later it will be a high-tech electric baton (a sort of futuristic viper, previously used by prison guards), and over time we will be able to have access to firearms and even some telekinesis with the help of a special glove. If we end up with one creature, it is worth trampling on another, because different extras can come out of it, be it ammunition or even credits. Collecting the latter can be extremely important (it is also worth opening hidden chests), since we can use them to upgrade the tools we have already acquired in the data points. Here we have to think a little about what we want to use in the future, because we get very little money (some items can be sold, but they appear only minimally during the whole game), so we don’t have the possibility to maximize everything. Basically it’s worth spending on your staff and skill, at least in the early game, you can modify additional weapons by individual decision later, but it has to be said that there’s not too much difference between the tools.
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