The Callisto Protocol is now available but up until the moment it went on sale to the public, there was an embargo that restricted any form of early reviews. A telltale sign of concern, we can see that developer Striking Distance Studios’ first major game release is struggling to live up to the hype…
According to the reviews, The Callisto Protocol runs fairly well on PlayStation 5 consoles and is truly a visual sight to behold but players are beginning to complain about the combat and controls along with performance issues on Xbox and PC. As of right now, the reviews on Steam are mostly negative with many claiming the launch is “horrible” with “horrendous optimization” with players expressing their concern over AAA releases at a premium price launching broken fresh out of the box.
MetaCritic: 76/100
OpenCritic: 76/100
Game Informer: 6/10
“I’m underwhelmed, annoyed, and disappointed. If you wanted anything more out of this second crack at making a new sci-fi IP in survival horror, or something markedly different that acknowledges just how far gaming has come since 2008, The Callisto Protocol is not your answer.”
VG247: 3/5
“A dead frustrating space. The Callisto Protocol is what happens when you aim for the moon and land on your arse.”
IGN: 7/10
“The Callisto Protocol is a satisfyingly gory spiritual successor to the Dead Space series, but it’s ultimately more of a striking modern mimic than a scary new mutation.”
Eurogamer: 4.5/5
“The Callisto Protocol review – a Dead Space-alike built on simpler pleasures.”
GameSpot: 5/10
“Though it starts off on a strong note, The Callisto Protocol’s focus on action-heavy spectacles fails to adequately explore its horror and overcrowds its weak combat mechanics.”
Overall, the reviews seem to be subjective on the focus of combat and performance. We have seen a few users over on Reddit state that the game is exactly what they expected with others claiming the problem is not being able to run the game properly on anything other than a PS5 console.
In any case, we picked up the game ourselves and will give Striking Distance the benefit of our doubts but that is only because we expected the game to run like a horse with a broken ankle on PC and much better on PlayStation 5 consoles, which we picked it up for. Still, there is no excuse for poor or incomplete game releases to appease share holders for the holiday fiscal quarter. Something needs to be done. We just don’t know what that is at the moment.
