HomeFeaturesThe Callisto Protocol
Glen Schofield on the gore system and spiky walls of The Callisto Protocol’s dangerous worldWe’ve only seen the first round of what’s to come
We’ve only seen the first round of what’s to come
Your boy was in LA forSummer Geoff Fest 2022and had the opportunity to sit down withDead Spaceco-creator Glen Schofield, who’s now director of Striking Distance Studios and their upcoming sci-fi horror festThe Callisto Protocol. We touched on the game’s “beta paths”, its gore system, upgrades, and batteries. There was a lot of chat about batteries. Forgot to ask if they were AA or AAA, though.
We saw The Callisto Protocol’s firsttiny bit of gameplaythe other day, which looked quite Dead Space-y, right? A rugged lad, the shooting of monster limbs, the dark tunnels filled with monsters who see your eyeballs as a delicacy. All very Dead Space - Space but Dead. It’s perhaps unsurprising, considering Glen Schofield’s past, but he’s quick to separate the two - albeit conceding that, yes, if you’re a fan of Dead Space, you’ll probably like The Callisto Protocol.
Callisto Protocol - Captured on Next Gen Hardware Game in DevelopmentWatch on YouTube
Callisto Protocol - Captured on Next Gen Hardware Game in Development
“I just think of them as two different projects. And I just want to tell a different story: different characters, different story, differentwayof telling the story, different mechanics. You know, there’s some similarities here and there, can’t help it, it’s space and it’s horror. So, there’s some, but I think if you liked Dead Space, you should like this.”
And let’s not forget Schofield’s post Dead Space movements, either. He co-founded Sledgehammer Games, one of three teams who contribute to the Call Of Duty production line. Those are FPS games focused on big set pieces and explosions, not horror. When I ask what motivated him to get back on the horror bandwagon, it’s clear he’s missed the genre.
“You know, I’ve always loved it. I always loved sci-fi. And then horror came along as well. And, you know, I love movies like Alien, The Thing and Pandorum. And then Horizon and Alien Versus Predator. There’s not a lot of them, but I liked them all, right? And then of course, you have Prometheus. They just captured my imagination in a way, I was like, ‘I’m being scared in space. I like that.'” Schofield was working on the Nazi zombies for 2017’s Call Of Duty: World War II and felt it scratching that itch again. “I knew that was going to be my last Call Of Duty game. So, I’m just going to go back to what I really love.”
The extended trailer also shows a kind of gravity gun which the player uses to hold and then fling an enemy into a wall that Schofield says is called the Grip. “I’m just looking forward to seeing what players do with it,” he says. “You’ve got stuff around the world you can use; we’ve got spikes on the walls, we’ve got dangerous stuff all over. So, you know, kind of have at it. That may be like, the one sandbox-y thing that we’ve got. But also, sandbox-y is just like, do I decide to use my melee? Do I decide to use the Grip? Or do I decide to shoot?”
Whatever you choose it’ll probably get messy. Livers slapping against walls. Heads popping like melons. In real life, I’ll scream at the sight of a papercut, but in a game like this, I’m all for a satisfying crunch, and we certainly saw some of that in the trailer too. It’s something Schofield says they’ve put a huge amount of work into. I mean, they have anentire teamdedicated to it.
“Oh, yeah, yeah, we got a thing called The Gore System, which took a couple of years of just engineers and renderers and lighters and artists,” he says. “You can tear apart the enemies in so many different ways. It’s not just the arms and the legs fall off. It’s half the head, part of the head. Yeah, it’s kind of crazy. We went crazy.”
There are a “bunch of beta paths” or optional routes (though Schofield can’t reveal much he does tell me that “the prison’s just a part of it” and “there’s more to the prison than meets the eye… you’ll find a lot of history there.") but it’s “really the enemies” that should inspire creativity. When your back’s against the wall and you’ve got four head-chompers slithering towards you, it’s then that you’re encouraged to use the Grip and your environment to mulch enemies. This rings especially true when ammo is a valuable resource, where finding 20 rounds might feel like “you’ve hit the jackpot but… you probably didn’t”.
The Callisto Protocol - Schofield Cut Extended Trailer RevealWatch on YouTube
The Callisto Protocol - Schofield Cut Extended Trailer Reveal
As for other Callisto collectibles, there’s plenty on offer. “There is a currency system. There is a collectible system. There’s things to collect for the score”. And these may feed into making your guns stronger, as Schofield says they’ve made “a very – for a third person [game] – very intricate gun upgrade system” and that you’ll “add all kinds of stuff onto them”. This might be contentious, but I love a skill tree, so that’s a welcome development. I ask Schofield whether he can expand on the upgrades system, to which he responds, “Nothing more than just - we have skill trees.”
So, while there’s a lot that’s being kept under wraps still, I’m very excited to see more of The Callisto Protocol and hopefully get hold of it come December. I’m not fully convinced it’s really that different to Dead Space, but it certainly seems to have its priorities right. The prison seems like a character in itself, with environmental dangers and mysteries. The enemies aren’t only for scares, but inspiration stations for you, your Grip, and the many upgrades you’ll wield. My main take away? Don’t run out of batteries.
