Is The Callisto Protocol Dead Space ?

Is Callisto Protocol Dead Space?

Glen Schofield, the original creator of Dead Space has made enough success for himself since 2009 that he was able to open his own studio, Striking Distance, at Krafton and his first game is basically the spiritual successor to Dead Space. Third person survival horror? Check. Distant future Sci-Fi setting? Check. Limited Hud? Check.

Speaking with IGN, Schofield said that when he met with Krafton about building a studio “he came in with the story for Callisto Protocol” which means that he has been hungry to make another space horror game since departing EA after the original Dead Space released.

The Callisto Protocol was announced at The Game Awards 2020 and showed prisoners who were located on one of Jupiters moons, Callisto, during an alien outbreak. Callisto is also set a few hundred years in the future in the year 2340, which could allow for a lot of interesting ideas.

The connection that Striking Distance has to Dead Space goes far beyond the founder, when speaking to Polygon, Schofield has said that about 30 people on the team are people that he worked with at Visceral including former Dead Space executive producer, who lead Dead Space 2 after Glen departed Visceral to form Sledgehammer. Other members also include the Creative Director of Dead Space and the Animation Director on Dead Space. As the saying goes, work on something you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.

Is The Callisto Protocol the next Dead Space? The short answer is yes, Schofield has said “I have a particular style and I can’t get away from my style. It has grown and maybe matured a little bit but it’s my style”

For fans of the first two Dead Space entries, there is a lot to look forward to with The Callisto Protocol, especially considering its only in development for the next gen or technically now current gen systems including the Xbox Series X and PS5. The team is also noting that it will take advantage of the features of the PS5 including the 3D audio, haptic feedback and other dual sense features. There are plenty of unexplored options to immerse players farther using the latest technology. Part of the reason for being next gen only is that the team wants to make sure the game is as scary as possible and mainly, the lighting effects needed would only be available on the newer consoles.

As an added bonus of being developed at a Krafton owned studio, the game is also tied to the PUBG universe in some way, which could be very interesting to see what kind of yarn can be spun. There seems to be plenty of potential to create an engaging story line that ties everything together.

My concern with The Callisto protocol is that Striking Distance was founded in June of 2019 and has a targeted release date of 2022. Yes, the idea is something that Schofield had before forming the studio, so that part of development was eliminated, but finding 150 employees likely took a little time and not to mention the pandemic, which makes a three year turnaround on a brand new game seem like a tough accomplishment. The original Dead Space is easily somewhere in my top ten games of all time and I can't wait to experience more of the original.