Why Callisto Protocol Said No Necromorphs?

After posting a few other pieces of content about The Callisto Protocol with over 300k views, one of the common issues people are concerned about is why the enemies look like zombies or infected? Why didn’t they do something grotesque like Necromorphs from Dead Space? After all that was Glen Schofields first space horror game from 2008. After doing some research, not only do I have a definitive answer as to why they choose the direction they did, but also, I completely agree with every choice they have done so far.

After watching The Callisto Protocol docu-series “Mastering Horror” and listening to the first three episodes of Helix Station, The Callisto Protocol Podcast (see our review page here), it’s clear that Striking Distance is going for a much more relatable horror. In the podcast there is a heavy emphasis on psychological horror and in the first episode of the documentary, Striking Distance explains why they went with the enemies they did.

The use of something more structured in human and reality carries across the whole game to increase terror and tension. “Biophage didn’t just happen and then I realized the thing that scares me the most is a deranged human” said Glen Schofield about their decision to root the danger in humanity. Chris Stone, Chief Creative Officer echoed this sentiment “there is something a lot more terrifying about being able to look at a creature and seeing there is a human relatable side. That could be me”

The horror in The Callisto Protocol is about engaging your subconscious. According to Character Director Glauco Longhi “We want to ground everything that we do. We want people to believe in what they see and break the barrier on thinking its just another game or something created”

Developers at Striking Distance even went as far as to pierce their finger and record the blood on paper at different time intervals to see all the ranges of color that the blood could take. You will have a heightened sense of terror if the area is covered in new blood and your subconscious knows it.

TLDR Callisto is trying to root itself in reality as that is more terrifying.