The Callisto Protocol

The Callisto Protocol takes players into Black Iron Prison on Jupiter's moon Callisto, where pilot Jacob Lee finds himself behind bars after a crash just as the inmates begin transforming into deformed Biophages. The game was made by a studio led by one of the creators of the original Dead Space, and the lineage shows at every step — from tight crawlspaces and shafts to brutal death animations to an industrial aesthetic where the biggest enemy is confined space itself. Progression is markedly more linear than in related titles, and the game focuses on the pacing of one long, filthy way out.

Combat unusually leans on melee. A baton is paired with a dodge system in which tilting the stick lets you evade blows before countering, ideally with a combination of a strike and a quick shot to an exposed weak point. The key gadget is the GRP gravity glove, which lets you hurl enemies into fans, presses, or spikes, so the environment itself functions as a weapon. Ammo is scarce, upgrades happen at vending machines, and mutating enemies force you to shoot off their sprouting tendrils before they turn into a stronger form. On PlayStation 5, the biggest draw is the visuals: photogrammetric character models, wet surfaces, volumetric lighting, and highly detailed facial animation.

The atmosphere is helped by minimalist sound, booming bass, and an almost total absence of music in passages where you sneak past blind enemies. Reception was more mixed than expected — criticism targeted the repetitive combat structure and the heavy-handed use of death scenes, while praise went to the craftsmanship and dense atmosphere. Later updates added new difficulty levels and a New Game Plus mode, and the Final Transmission add-on finishes telling the story. Today it's a short but intense showcase for sci-fi horror fans. The additional content also brought a wave-based mode facing an endless tide of Biophages, so the game doesn't end with the credits. Anyone looking mainly for a visual experience who doesn't mind being led by the hand will find here one of the filthiest and most tactile space stations of recent years.