It does not change the impression that although the project begins as a horror, by the second half of the story the game turns into a predictable action movie. The feeling of tension and horror is replaced by fatigue and irritation from endless screamers: almost every corner lurks a mutated convict and almost every puddle of disgusting slurry or chest sits another vile worm, who dream of cripple Jacob.

Although there are more enemies, The Callisto Protocol does not offer new mechanics, remaining at the basic level all the same horror. We spend part of the game in hand-to-hand combat with prisoners, beating them with a shock baton in order to save ammo and trampling first-aid kits with credits out of them. And then the game makes a 180-degree turn, and Jacob is already being beaten by a crowd, there is a catastrophic lack of ammunition, and there is nothing to charge the batteries of the telekinetic glove with. It is not uncommon for a telekinesis charge to be enough only to pull an enemy towards you, but not toss him back. Imagine the joy of a mutant who didn’t even have to go to you

As if that were not enough, the hideous save system often sends the player further than they would like, forcing them to replay a couple of problematic sections at once. This is not creating additional difficulties within the genre, but an artificial increase in complexity.

Perhaps in this way the developers wanted the player to see all the animations of Jacob’s death – in vain did the animators try, or something. Here the hero’s neck is turned, his face is turned into a puree with powerful blows, his mouth is torn, limbs are torn off, he is torn in half – the Striking Distance studio has problems with fantasy, but there is enough cruelty.

The Callisto Protocol tries to dilute the action with a section with blind enemies reacting to noise, but the game’s stealth mechanics work horribly. Opponents do not react to finishing off their comrades under their noses, but run from all corners of the location, as soon as Jacob accidentally touches the rusty railing on the creaky stairs with his elbow.

The advertised combat system works. It is pleasant to beat enemies with a baton or throw telekinesis into rotating mechanisms installed in violation of all safety precautions. The left stick is responsible for dodging, and the player does not even need to manage to deflect it in time. However, if you dodge in the very last split second before the enemy strikes, you can launch a devastating counterattack, sending the mutant into free flight with a powerful swing of the baton or tearing off his limb.

As in Dead Space, limbless opponents become less dangerous, but can still compete with Jacob, abruptly starting to mutate into more powerful forms. To prevent them from doing this, you need to quickly shoot the tentacles emerging from the bodies. The game helps with this by highlighting vulnerabilities with a crosshair, but when the hero is dealing with two or three monsters at once, the player is faced with a problem. The auto-aim system picks out the wrong enemy, while an enemy requiring immediate attention calmly turns into a thick-skinned bull. By changing goals, Jacob loses time and becomes extremely vulnerable.

The Callisto Protocol has a modest arsenal, which is understandable given the location of the game – few people want to give convicts a wide choice of guns in the event of a mass escape. Two types of pistols, two types of guns, an assault rifle, not counting the shock baton already described above – that’s all the weapons. However, there are also few varieties of mutants in the game, and there are only two bosses: the first one meets on the hero’s path four times, and the second one mutates into stronger forms.

In terms of visual design, the project of the Striking Distance studio easily becomes on a par with the same God of War Ragnarok. Locations and decorations, models of heroes and opponents – everything is done at the highest level. The sound design makes you cringe in your chair from rustling in dark corners and look for the source of the strange guttural growl to stay away from.

The game was completed in the PlayStation 5 version, and along with the visual component, we can praise the developers for the competent use of DualSense functions. Comrades communicate with Jacob through the controller’s speaker, and haptic feedback will manifest itself more than once when the controller starts to vibrate from left to right or right to left, as if reacting to the shaking created by some kind of creature crawling through the ventilation above Jacob’s head.

Yes, the game sometimes forgets to play animations, and the frame rate in performance mode sags below 60. But since the game was released not only on the current generation consoles, but also on the outgoing systems, there is no need to look for the causes of such problems.