If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I’m not a big fan of horror games. I watch a lot of horror movies, but I stay away from the undead kind in gaming unless it’s a World War Z kind of shoot ‘em up.
I wrote about this a little bit in my Resident Evil: Village demo review. It has to do with my intermittent motion sickness with some FPS games. The Callisto Protocol isn’t a first-person shooter game, but I still doubted I’d like it.
I played the revered Dead Space back in the day, and I couldn’t progress through it because I found it a little…..terrifying. Jumpscares aren’t my thing unless they are in a movie, you know!
Shortly after The Callisto Protocol launched on all platforms, with a “from the Dead Space makers” vibe in its marketing materials, people began criticizing its subpar gameplay and combat mechanics. I read and watched a few reviews where gamers complained about the apparent lack of control when it came to combat.
I wasn’t planning on playing it, but those reviews steered me away from even giving it a try. Of course, the real Dead Space launched sometime later, and The Callisto Protocol drifted away into deep space from people’s minds.
Until it showed up as a trial for PlayStation Plus members.
PlayStation Plus Trial: The Callisto Protocol
I was super happy when Sony made The Callisto Protocol available as a trial to PlayStation Plus members. Not because I was looking forward to it, as you know, but because I really wanted to give it a try and see what the fuss was about.
To my surprise, I actually quite liked it.
Don’t get me wrong, the combat felt a bit iffy and unpredictable, but I also played only for an hour, a fair bit of which included cutscenes and tutorials.
While the overall environment didn’t feel unique or original, I quite liked the somewhat fluid gameplay mechanics. Moving around was predictable, albeit slow. The tutorials were adequate. And I suspect the inventory management wouldn’t be too cumbersome.
The thing about inventory management is that I’m terrible at this. I remember struggling with this in the original Dead Space (or was it Dead Space 3? I don’t recall.). That’s not the game’s fault, of course. I just have a general tendency to give up on complicated inventory management system in video games.
One hour is a bit short to understand the complexities of a game. I had just ‘printed’ my first gun in The Callisto Protocol. Shortly after that, just when I felt the inventory management was about to reveal itself, I ran out of time.
I also started recording the game, but for some reason, none of it was saved. I suspect the timer that popped up to show the remaining time in the trial period interfered with the recording.
Should you play The Callisto Protocol Trial? Is it worth it?
All the negative press surrounding The Callisto Protocol is sure to have given you the idea that it’s a mediocre Dead Space wannabe at best. Especially with an actual Dead Space out today, The Callisto Protocol is likely not even on your radar.
But if you’re a PlayStation Plus Premium member and you see The Callisto Protocol on your list of available trials, I strongly suggest giving it a go.
I certainly didn’t expect to enjoy it, but in my teeny-tiny playthough, I did.
I wouldn’t buy the game just yet, though. But I would certainly keep my eyes peeled for The Callisto Protocol to become available in the PlayStation Plus catalog.
Played The Callisto Protocol? Drop your thoughts below!