The Callisto Protocol review: "An impressive game derailed by unforgiving combat" - GR

Leon Hurley: "There's a great sci-fi game here but one marred by its combat system. Which seems such a shame given the world Striking Distance has built, and the quality of The Callisto Protocol overall. It's a hard thing to love as a result, but even after all the frustration I'd still like to see a sequel in the future."

[P_Bomb]

“I’d honestly recommend playing The Callisto Protocol on 'easy'.”

Kind of surprising in a post Soulsborne world. Hardest game of the year?

[SullysCigar]

From this and the Gamespot review, it sounds like it's not hard, so much as flawed, with clunky, unfair combat.

I Hooe they can patch this up, because I was looking forward to this. Otherwise, roll on Dead Space Remake.

[seanpitt23]

Well I played about an hour or so died a couple of times due to not dodging.. it will take so time to get used to for sure but I think it was designed not to be forgiving because of the awesome death animations.. they obviously want you to die but I agree a dodge button like the last of us would of been better than moving the analogue stick at the right time…

[SullysCigar]

^ thanks Sean. I haven't played it yet, so it's useful to get some real gamer insight. I so wanted this to be awesome.

I'll keep an open mind while others play it and share their thoughts. If it's generally bad news, I guess I'll be watching those amazing deaths on Let's Play videos!

[PhillyDillyDee]

Except soulslikes fall into the “tough but fair” category. This combat seems to be fundamentally flawed and wholly unfair.

[neutralgamer1992]

Hopefully these things will be fixed via patches soon. It sounds like there is a great game underneath all the mess let's see if the developers could now fix this mess

The sad reality of gaming industry is we get so many gajew released which aren't ready so now it has become a trend. This is what I call early access, get the feedback from reviewers and fix it as you go

We had the same with with cyberpunk

I think it would be better for games to come out when they are actually ready

[GamingSinceForever]

Well the dev was emphasizing death in this game so it sort of makes sense that it's not too easy.

[-Foxtrot]

So it's not that good because it's too hard?

Sounds like my type of survival horror tbh

[P_Bomb]

From what I read it sounds like everything else is top shelf, but it’s too difficult on default. If playing on easy fixes it tho, perhaps 60% was a tad harsh? Will know in a couple hours…

[Lore]

Would rather it be too hard with the option to lower the difficulty if need be, rather than too easy

[wiz7191]

I watched one review say it was hard up until you get that kinesis ability .. then they say it’s to easy

[thecodingart]

I’ve been playing it for the past few days and understand the criticism against the combat. The combat isn’t hard, but it is flawed which makes it almost unfair at times (which could be “hard”). It’s less of a challenge and more of an enjoyment up until complex situations arise. Then almost every bug/glitch or poorly thought out thing comes out. The combat is unlike any game I’ve played to date, so it’s definitely a unique experiment. I just can’t say it’s a good experiment.

[P_Bomb]

Hmm. I wonder if the day one patch I just downloaded will address any of the critiques?

[Eidolon]

I plan to play on the Maximum Security difficulty. What kind of bugs/poor combat design elements are we talking?

[Crows90]

So then the problem is poor combat design perhaps...thats a legitimate statement. For instance...skyrim combat is pretty good when you're doing 1v1. But make it 1v6 and its a pretty crappy combat system due to how it works and the AI.

[FPS_D3TH]

Is it trying to be like old school resident evil where it’s combat was clunky? Because it could be by design. Or maybe it’s just buggy/janky?

[myfathersbastard]

I’m playing it now. It’s not so much the difficulty, it’s the basic combat. There’s not much to it at all, and it doesn’t feel very satisfying. So what should be difficult combat just becomes a chore.
I think this is more what they’re talking about. It’s not hard because it’s a hard game. It’s hard because the mechanics themselves aren’t very good.

[EvertonFC]

I'm going from 60 hrs of GoWR to this so I think that's not helping tbh but yeh the combat is limited.
I'm 4 hours in just after the 3d printing the weapon and I've only fought like 10 enemies so far with 1 burst pipe for a jump scare.

[JEECE]

Yeah in a world where everyone trips over themselves to fawn on Fromsoft for making their games hard at least in part due to slow, clunky mechanics, the reaction to this game seems a bit odd.

[Eonjay]

I actually agree with you here.

[generic-user-name]

This review could be an outlier, but the timing of the review embargo makes me wonder.

[lonewolf10]

Seems to be another Marmite game, scores are a mixed bag.

[EvertonFC]

Going from GoWR combat to CP isn't helping for me tbh, maybe that's been half the problem with reviews and the games release date being so close to GoWR?

[lonewolf10]

@EvertonFC

Maybe, I'd still like to get it at some point to make up my own mind, looks a good game to me.

[Orchard]

Is this the Cuphead review of Callisto Protocol?

Combat so far has seemed fine for me, very much in line with a DS, RE or any other survival horror game. Challenging but not impossible.

[P_Bomb]

How are you finding the dodge mechanic and blocking? Is it effective to block?

[myfathersbastard]

Blocking doesn’t do much. Kind of becomes pointless to do after a bit.
Dodging is def the way to go. But it’s not very satisfying to do and the combat isn’t very good imo. It’s just smashing the strike button then when you pause you know it’s time to dodge once or twice, then repeat.

[Eidolon]

Nice, don't mind some souls difficulty. There's some decent accessibility options you can turn on as well I heard helps a bit and doesn't affect trophies.

[FPS_D3TH]

Well that answers my question on another post. Sounds to me like the combats clunky by design. An homage to games like resident evil and silent hill. Even original dead space was clunky

[thecodingart]

The original dead space is fine. This is completely different really.

[Elda]

There's 4 different difficulty settings so anyone should be able to enjoy the game to the setting they choose. I'll be picking up my pre ordered copy tomorrow.

[senorfartcushion]

Clearly the reviewer didn’t get this message 😅

[SullysCigar]

This reviewer's been in the business for decades. He's saying the combat is flawed and frustrating, not that it's difficult like Souls games.

Let's just see if this is a consensus with other reviewers. I do trust this guy, but I want it to be good as much as you do.

Otherwise, maybe it can be tweaked for the better with a patch? Hoping it's a preference thing, but as I say, this guy's been around the block.

More interested to hear what the regular gamers think tbh.

[Eidolon]

Sadly, I'm compelled to play on the highest difficulty because it's the only difficulty related to a trophy. All it does is double the enemy health and damage, apparently. I'll have to try it.

[VersusDMC]

Review got taken down as i was reading it...sucks that the 6/10 will be the only score out there till midnight.

Edit- quick Google search on reviews says Yahoo UK also leaked their 10/10 review

[senorfartcushion]

I don’t understand the fuss behind difficulty in this review. Why didn’t the reviewer just play it on easy? It’s not like playing it on easy was playing a different game, it’s an option.

Did the reviewer fight through a difficulty they didn’t like until they beat the game like some time-wasting idiot?

[Eonjay]

I like your take. I was playing post game content in Star Ocean and noticed it the Chaos mode difficulty. First time I tried it the game was like 'bitch please'. So you know what I did, I put the game down in difficulty till I was able to build my characters up then I put it back on super hard and whipped it's ass. Lol.

[ebotj]

I don't think I'll ever read another article that says the words "The Callisto Protocol" over and over that many times again.

[darkrider]

It's too hard?

[GoodGuy09]

Huh. Is this a git gud game? Can't wait to see more reviews.

[jivah]

Glen Schofield said it is in an interview. He mentioned that the difficulty will definitely follow in the same footsteps as Elden ring/souls games because that just where things are headed. So if you don't like those types of games it's probably not for you. It would be headache inducing. Otherwise you'll enjoy it

[CrimsonWing69]

Is this the same game journalist who couldn’t double jump in the Cuphead tutorial?

[Crows90]

Havent read it...but if indeed the "too hard" aspect of the game is the reason it's a 6/10 then to that I say....boohoo play it on easy instead and fix the score...if its still too hard for you then give the game to someone else for reviewing. Nobody cares if you had a hard time outside of technical issues.

[gold_drake]

so, its too difficult?
that doesnt make a game bad imo

[sagapo]

According to the reviewer it’s more about the cluncky combat that make things harder than they should be. I haven’t played it myself so I can’t tell what the problem is tho.

[gold_drake]

yes.
i have played it myself now.

[badz149]

wow so only SouldsBourne game can be hard and get praised while the others can't?

[FPS_D3TH]

Ahhh yes… a modern age video game journo moment. Survival game hard, must be bad.

[Michiel1989]

modern forum reply moment, didn't read article still gives his uninformed opinion on it

[FPS_D3TH]

Ahh yes and that’s why the review got taken down before anyone could read it when I made my comment? Tell me another funny one funny man

[Michiel1989]

another uninformed comment, it was taken down because it was published too early.

[HeliosHex]

Hmmm....they took the review down.

[SullysCigar]

It seems they skipped the embargo, so would have to take it down until the time everyone is allowed to publish.

Now the others are coming out, it's not looking good, sadly.

[HeliosHex]

Ah I see thanks.

[Blaze929]

I been playing it for a few days and completely agree. It's not even a "get your skill up" situation, it just doesn't make sense

[Notsofast]

dark souls players will like this game for the diffculty dont let the reviews fool you just because some one isnt good at the combat LOL

[Nineball2112]

Sounds like a nope to me. I can only stand so much frustration these days, and then the game isn't fun anymore, it's just a stressor.

[zaherdab]

while IGN implied it's to easy and gives the player the edge... go figure

[Smellsforfree]

Was excited for this one, but it is looking more and more like an add to my wishlist/wait for a sale kinda game.

[deadfrag]

There's nothing to BE fix about the gameplay!You have to know how to dodgeAt first i die but after getting hold of the Dodge in conjunction with melee it's very easy!

[Abear21]

This game flew under my radar but seems like the perfect candidate for a few patches and waiting for sale. Just like 90% of games today.

[hiawa23]

The character rendering and lighting is pretty amazing. I am liking it so far. Getting a Dead space 3.5 vibe. I am curious as to what the frame rate & resolutions are on PS5/Series X as the picture has a soft look to it and seems to be lower than native 4K in Performance mode.

[staticall]

Was playing it for a few hours. My main problems are: it's not survival, it's not horror. It's a brawler with light shooting elements. Linear levels so far (hence no real reason for exploration, as soon as you go far away from reforge, it'll be locked behind some door), same enemies (that fight the same), same-y looking locations. No puzzles pretty much. Block is useless and it's very easy to dodge (just move left and right before the attack and you'll auto-dodge).

So far, i feel like it's not worth the money. For $30? Maybe. Don't understand why they think this worth a season pass too. Maybe the game will improve, but after how long?