The response to the Callisto Protocol has fluctuated. While the game has received some accolades, my review on Faindx was not one of those accolades. Even on the Steam platform, this title from Striking Distance received a mostly negative response, leaving it now with mixed reviews.
Negative and critical reviews are affecting the response to the game. Despite minor issues — like getting stuck in part of a level after a boss fight or the audio quality being inconsistent in a particular level — the game ran flawlessly on my PS5. At the same time, players playing on PC initially faced the problem of frame rate drop. Whatever the reason, Callisto Protocol is not the Dead Space players anticipated.
As a reviewer who found the game excellent from a technical point of view but lacking in creativity, I’m a little surprised. Callisto Protocol is the game that single-player fans, myself included, have been waiting for. When you see the new game from the creator of Dead Space with high quality graphics and audio design presented by triple-A developers in 2022, who wouldn’t want to play it?
Some time ago, there was discussion in the gaming community whether the end of single-player gaming is near. At the time, it seemed that every major Triple-A game was moving towards perpetual money schemes. Crystal Dynamics was transitioning from its Tomb Raider series to a live-service Avengers game. WB Montreal was working on Gotham Knights after Arkham Origins. And MachineGames and Arkane focused on multiplayer games after their previous successful games.
It was a time when it seemed that the time of triple-A single-player games was coming to an end from a business perspective. But, as we saw, many of the games that were presented as an integral part of the future did not perform well from a critical and commercial perspective. Competition in the GaaS market is fierce, and even large developers like Crystal Dynamics may struggle to attract players with their popular IPs.
In this backdrop, Callisto Protocol emerged as a breath of fresh air. It is based on a straight story, without any open world. It takes just 12 hours to complete, and it is completely focused, without any extra and unnecessary gaming elements. And most importantly, it is designed for single-player only. It fulfills all the criteria.
It is true that every game has its own unique charm, and it is not necessary that a game that one person likes will also be liked by another. Callisto Protocol was intended to be a linear, focused, and single-player game, but as you rightly noted, it got to the point where it felt too narrow.
The sense of exploration is an important element in a game, allowing the player to become immersed and connected to the world. When a game is so focused that the player is not allowed to get lost in that world, the experience becomes limited.
While linear and focused games have their own merits, and can be unique and engaging in their own right, they also need to be balanced correctly to allow the player to lose themselves in that world and explore. Therefore, whenever a game is designed, it is important to keep in mind that the player gets a chance to get lost in it and engage with it.
