It's not Dead Space. If you can get past that, you can probably enjoy The Callisto Protocol.
It's understandable why this is a problem, since the game itself invites the comparison on several occasions, but it stands on its own as an enjoyable survival horror experience.

Gameplay broadened the more you got into the game, with the game limited to rhythmic and brutal melee combat at the start and then opening up more and more with telekinetic power and gunplay. Stealth was possible for certain sections but never mandatory, and even though it feels like the combat is a trivial 'dodge right and left and wait until your turn to hit' it frequently tricks you into become greedy and getting hit or throwing multiple enemies at you that require you to use your actual arsenal. It wasn't until the last couple chapters that the game actually threw an overload of supplies, inventory management and careful use of weapons and selling whatever you can to buy upgrades kept the economy and inventory working well for the majority of it.

The environments continued to make me tense and the way they decorated the places was spot on in many cases for 'completely interrupted life'. While on the gloomy side, they did vary up, and with the varied environments came new and different enemy types.

The story isn't going to win an award but it did set up an interesting premise that could be expanded on later. I hope they get to make the later games and actually do more with it. It's a fairly standard affair of just trying to survive a horrible situation and get some lore along the way of why it happened, with a bit more exposition/villainy on the back end.

What I'm describing here I'd basically put as a B- or a C+. You can see why it disappointed people who were expecting an A or an A+, but fans of the horror genre will find a lot to enjoy here as long as they go in without that expectation that it's going to be Dead Space or better than Dead Space. There aren't a lot of games made with the immense production values of Callisto Protocol and that does a lot to elevate the package.

It's not Dead Space. If you can get past that, you can probably enjoy The Callisto Protocol. It's understandable why this is a problem, since the game itself invites the comparison on several occasions, but it stands on its own as an enjoyable survival horror experience. Gameplay broadened the more you got into the game, with the game limited to rhythmic and brutal melee combat at the start and then opening up more and more with telekinetic power and gunplay. Stealth was possible for certain sections but never mandatory, and even though it feels like the combat is a trivial 'dodge right and left and wait until your turn to hit' it frequently tricks you into become greedy and getting hit or throwing multiple enemies at you that require you to use your actual arsenal. It wasn't until the last couple chapters that the game actually threw an overload of supplies, inventory management and careful use of weapons and selling whatever you can to buy upgrades kept the economy and inventory working well for the majority of it. The environments continued to make me tense and the way they decorated the places was spot on in many cases for 'completely interrupted life'. While on the gloomy side, they did vary up, and with the varied environments came new and different enemy types. The story isn't going to win an award but it did set up an interesting premise that could be expanded on later. I hope they get to make the later games and actually do more with it. It's a fairly standard affair of just trying to survive a horrible situation and get some lore along the way of why it happened, with a bit more exposition/villainy on the back end. What I'm describing here I'd basically put as a B- or a C+. You can see why it disappointed people who were expecting an A or an A+, but fans of the horror genre will find a lot to enjoy here as long as they go in without that expectation that it's going to be Dead Space or better than Dead Space. There aren't a lot of games made with the immense production values of Callisto Protocol and that does a lot to elevate the package.