The Game Awards 2020 was full of surprise game announcements, including the reveal of Dead Space creator Glen Schofield's next game, The Callisto Protocol. Clearly meant to be a spiritual successor to the Dead Space franchise, some may be surprised to learn that The Callisto Protocol is tied to a completely different game entirely. As it turns out, The Callisto Protocol is set in the same universe as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
This was confirmed by a spokesperson for Striking Distance, Schofield's studio that operates under the Krafton Inc. umbrella alongside PUBG Corp. Speaking to IGN, the spokesperson reportedly confirmed that The Callisto Protocol is set in PUBG's universe and "connected" to PUBG, but did not elaborate on how exactly. There was nothing in the trailer that indicated any kind of connection to PUBG, so fans will have to wait a bit longer to find out more.
While The Callisto Protocol narrative may be connected to PUBG, it will not be a similar game from a gameplay standpoint. Whereas PUBG is an online multiplayer battle royale game, The Callisto Protocol is a single-player, third-person survival-horror game. Not only that, but the two games have completely different settings. As revealed by The Callisto Protocol trailer, Schofield's game is set on a Jupiter's moon Callisto in the year 2320, whereas PUBG is (presumably) set on Earth.
The Callisto Protocol release window isn't until 2022, so fans still have quite some time to wait before they will get to try the game for themselves. However, The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley teased that more news on The Callisto Protocol will come to light at some point in 2021, and so fans may have more trailers or other things to look forward to in the somewhat near future.
One thing that many fans would likely want to know is which platforms The Callisto Protocol is aiming for. During The Game Awards, Schofield indicated that The Callisto Protocol is in development for PC and consoles, but stopped short of specifying which consoles. It's possible that the team is still deciding whether or not to release the game on current-gen platforms or dedicate their resources entirely to making it a full-fledged next-gen experience, so fans will have to hang tight and wait for more information on that front.
Besides what's shown in the trailer, the only other thing we know is that The Callisto Protocol is looking to be the scariest game ever made. That's quite the lofty goal, so it will be interesting to see if it lives up to the hype come its release in a couple of years time.
The Callisto Protocol will launch in 2022 for PC and unspecified consoles.
Source: IGN