The Callisto Protocol was announced at The Game Awards in 2020. It looked like Dead Space but set in a prison which wasn’t far off from the final product. Fans had been waiting since 2013 for a new game in the Dead Space series, or even a remastered trilogy, but EA remained silent.
The next best thing to a new game or a remaster was to get a spiritual sequel via The Callisto Protocol. Many elements are borrowed and should feel familiar to Dead Space fans like stomping on enemies to finish them off. There are also a lot of new elements, so players should be sure to keep these helpful beginner tips in mind.
6 Difficulties And Assists
There are three difficulty modes to choose from: Minimum, Medium, and Maximum Security. Even for hardcore fans of horror games, it is recommended to play the first time through on Minimum Security. There are a number of features missing that make it more challenging than it should be. With patches, the balance could tilt back toward the player.
Also on the setup front, most of the assist options should be turned on. This included getting rid of quick-time events because they are tedious. The melee assist will make it so players can hold down the attack button and the dodge assist will make evading easier by eliminating guessing if an enemy is going to attack from the right or left. The only assist that should be left off is auto-aim because it will only snap at enemies and makes it hard to grab things telepathically.
5 Understanding The Save System
There is a good side and a bad side to the save system in The Callisto Protocol. The game thankfully autosaves often enough and even makes backup autosaves which is rare, especially for a horror game. Players also have an unlimited amount of manual saves they can make. However, manually saving will only bookmark progress and won’t create new data.
For example, every time players hit a checkpoint the game will autosave. If players go into the menu they can see the option to restart at the last checkpoint accompanied by a timer that says how long it has been. Let’s say it has been five minutes and players decide to manually save. That manual save will start players back at the last checkpoint and any progress made after that checkpoint will be forfeited. Players should therefore keep in mind that only checkpoints truly save the game.
4 Managing Early Inventory
Players are going to get frustrated with the inventory system early on in The Callisto Protocol. It will make problems players had with the inventory in any game in the Resident Evil series seem trivial. There is no storage box, but there is one upgrade about halfway through the game that doubles the space.
Batteries are pretty useless, so players should make sure to eliminate that deadweight first. No matter what, they should always put sellable items in the inventory like Energy Converters. It helps with upgrading as they are often worth a lot. Healing items and ammo are precious, but of the two, players will want to conserve healing items more as ammo can be cheaply purchased if need be.
3 The Best Upgrade Paths
It takes a while before players get their first pistol and even longer until they get a more powerful gun after that. Ammo is scarce early on, seemingly forcing players to focus on melee. Because the game takes place in a prison, and because there is an emphasis on brutal melee kills, The Callisto Protocol is reminiscent of the Condemned series. That’s why players should upgrade the attack power of the stun baton to full scale as soon as possible. It also might be good to reduce the weight by one.
Other good ideas for upgrading include getting one or two points into the recharge rate of the glove. This will allow players to telepathically toss items at enemies which is another way to conserve ammo. Lastly, gun upgrades are basic for a horror shooter and fairly linear across the board. Players should be sure to increase the ammo of the starter pistol as soon as possible which will technically free up more inventory space.
2 Use Your Environment Effectively
There are a variety of ways players can deal damage to the monsters with this telepathic glove. There are red propane tanks littered across levels. Tossing one of those at an enemy will create an explosion for massive damage, even on bosses. Players can hurl any object at an enemy, but the red barrels work best as they always have in shooters.
Players can also pick enemies up and there are situations that can kill them instantly. Throwing them off of a cliff is one example. There are spiked walls they can be pinned to as well. Finally, there are various grinding mechanisms in the prison that will make short, bloody work of these mutant abominations.
1 Wear Headphones
The sound design in The Callisto Protocol is top-notch. To stay alive longer, players should pop on a pair of headphones. Knowing which direction an enemy is coming from is a solid strategy. Sometimes, these noises can mess with the brain though.
For example, there is a greenhouse biome later in the game where enemies make noise in the brush, but they won’t attack until a certain objective is completed. The noises were seemingly incorporated to put players on edge and to better immerse them as all good horror games should try to do. The overall tip here is to always be cautious of noises and to be ready for enemies to pounce around corners.
The Callisto Protocol was released on December 2, 2022, and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.