Callisto Protocol and the Importance of Why?

I, like a lot of people, were looking forward to Callisto Protocol. Dead Space was one of the best newer horror games of the past few decades. So a new space horror game brought to you by some of the people that worked on the original Dead Space sounded great. 

Dead Space seemed like a thriving franchise, but EA, in their typical EA fashion, ran it into the ground after adding un-necessary coop and microtransactions, and milked what made the original so special right out of the franchise. I've heard the remake of the first one is pretty damn good, but I've yet to try it. 

Callisto Protocol felt like it could exist in the Dead Space universe. It thrived to be that level of game. What I think we got, was a game running up against smaller budgets than needed to accomplish the vision. 

You get some glimpses into what the team wanted to accomplish. The incredibly cinematic opening on your spaceship sets a Mass Effect like tone. The character models and acting are top notch. 

But then there are systems that feel under-developed. 

Combat with the monsters of Callisto are little mini-boxing matches. You dodge their punches, waiting for an opening to hit them back. Interesting concept, except the system feels half baked. You can dodge left or right and as long as you alternate, you'll dodge everything the enemy throws at you. Not only that, but if you're not looking for a perfect dodge, you can do your dodges long before the enemy is throwing a punch. 

If there are multiple enemies in the same room, the character and camera sometimes get out of sync as to which one you're facing, which will inevitably cause you to dodge the wrong way from the wrong monster. They grab you eventually, and you escape after tapping a button rapidly, but I think the grab is to hide them resetting the monsters. It's like their engine can't handle it. 

There's only a couple of actual NPCs roaming the giant prison. In fact, the first half of the game, you're chasing an NPC that is going to help you get out, just narrowly missing him every time.

You get a lot of background story via ripping sort of audio diaries off the necks of guards, inmates, and scientists. 

You get the sense that the writers intended for more actual interactions with characters and something didn't work. Instead the game feels like the first Half Life, where other characters are often locked behind windows talking at you.  

There are times where the game is so perfectly atmospheric and then there are times where it's just unbelievably frustrating. 

Game has a problem with sometimes saving at the wrong moment. There may be a security droid just steps away from finding you, a checkpoint saves, so now, every time you start, the security droid is seconds away from machine gunning you to death, so you end up in this frustrating loop of dodging immediately, waiting a minute for the robot to walk past, coming out, fighting enemies, getting killed, repeat. 

This game also suffers from monster closets. Every time you reset, you know exactly where the enemies are going to spawn and when. 

There are also these monsters that sort of work like Scorpion's spear. They fling a tongue across a room and start pulling you toward them, eating your life until you can break free. I never figured out a way to dodge this or parry it. 

They also limit your inventory size. I think it was their way of trying to give you limited resources. Instead what happens is you a frustrated because there are plenty of resources you can't pick up until you find a 3d printing machine to sell your junk to. And you want to keep your junk to sell because they don't give you much upgrade currency until the back half of the game. 

For as irritating as the game could be, as under baked as it felt, as soon as credits rolled, I had the thought, "Maybe I should play it again with all the upgrades I have." So there was something there calling you back to it. It's unfortunate we will never see what another crack at it would've accomplished.