The Callisto Protocol

The Callisto Protocol gave me nightmares. It's the best horror game of the year, and a bright new contender in the survival horror genre.

65%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

optimization, stability

65% User Score Based on 19,779 reviews

Critic Score 66%Based on 68 reviews

Platforms

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About

The Callisto Protocol is a single player survival role playing shooter game with horror and science fiction themes. It was developed by Striking Distance Studios and was released on December 1, 2022. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

In this narrative-driven, third-person survival horror game set 300 years in the future, the player will take on the role of Jacob Lee – a victim of fate thrown into Black Iron Prison, a maximum-security penitentiary located on Jupiter's moon, Callisto. When inmates begin to transform into monstrous creatures, the prison is thrown into chaos.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

+11

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65%

Audience ScoreBased on 19,779 reviews

story3k positive mentions

optimization3.4k negative mentions

The game delivers a stunning and immersive dark sci-fi horror atmosphere with excellent sound design and lighting, creating intense tension reminiscent of classic horror titles.
Visuals are top-tier, featuring highly detailed character models, environments, and gore, complemented by strong audio that significantly enhances the horror experience.
Post-launch patches have largely resolved initial performance and stability issues, allowing the game to run smoothly on most modern systems, showcasing the developer's commitment.

At launch, the game suffered severe performance issues including crashes, freezes, stuttering, and save file corruption, detracting from playability and immersion.
The gameplay, particularly melee combat and dodge mechanics, is often described as repetitive, clunky, and lacking depth, leading to frustration and a monotonous experience.
The story and character development are generally seen as predictable, clichéd, and underwhelming, with many feeling the narrative lacks emotional engagement and meaningful progression.

story
8,980 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
58%
8%
The story of "The Callisto Protocol" is generally seen as serviceable but unoriginal, with many reviewers finding it predictable, clichéd, and derivative—often compared unfavorably to Dead Space. While the narrative maintains enough intrigue and atmosphere to keep players engaged, especially through strong voice acting and environmental storytelling, it loses momentum mid-way and ends on a cliffhanger that is continued only in a paid DLC, which has been a point of contention. Overall, the story provides a solid sci-fi horror backdrop but lacks depth, character development, and surprises, making it a moderate highlight overshadowed by other game shortcomings.
- “The story is phenomenal, told through data logs and by cut-scenes and is further expanded on by the 'final transmission' DLC.”
- “Yes you heard right, the game has flaws but its not the story…even though you don’t make any own choices the story is so well written…full of ups and downs, moral dilemmas, great protagonist development and interesting characters (Dina, Ferris, Elias)…it keeps you always on the edge, focused on story…"you have to get out of here, you have to survive", the odds are always against you but you must fight on… So no my friends…the story is definitely not the problem.”
- “The story, the combat system and the environment everything was a masterpiece, kudos to all the developers for making such a wonderful game.”
- “The story is pretty predictable, but generally the dialogue is bad and nonsensical, with characters making statements that no sane person would follow up on.”
- “Decisions are made not out of motivation or intelligence, but because the plot needs you in another corridor right now.”
- “It feels like they stripped away all of the survival horror elements in exchange for a highly predictable action story, and swapped out the on-your-toes, calculating combat system of dead space for an all too easy, mindless combat system.”
optimization
6,875 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
41%
50%
The Callisto Protocol launched with severe performance and stuttering issues on PC, causing widespread frustration and negative reviews; however, rapid developer patches significantly improved stability and frame rates. Despite ongoing minor stutters and optimization shortcomings—especially with ray tracing enabled—the game now runs smoothly on most systems, offering good graphical fidelity and generally stable performance post-patch. Performance problems remain a critical detractor affecting immersion and gameplay, but many find the experience playable and enjoyable after tweaks and updates.
- “Graphics, atmosphere, and lighting are top tier, and performance is solid.”
- “Performance: running on an RTX 4070 Super at 1440p, the game looks stunning and runs like a dream in 2026.”
- “Any performance issues it was known to have are completely fixed and is optimized very well in its current state.”
- “The game launched with unplayable performance which angered eager fans.”
- “Complete and total unoptimized trash.”
- “It's a shame this game had performance problems at launch.”
gameplay
5,626 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
62%
14%
The gameplay of The Callisto Protocol is heavily melee-focused with a unique but divisive dodge mechanic that can feel clunky, repetitive, and overly simplistic, leading to frustration especially in fights with multiple enemies. While the combat offers some satisfying moments and the use of environmental interactions adds variety, many players find the core loop monotonous, hampered by awkward controls, linear level design, and a lack of enemy variety. Despite impressive visuals, atmosphere, and sound design, technical issues and questionable gameplay design choices prevent the combat and mechanics from reaching their full potential, making the gameplay experience uneven and less engaging compared to its inspirations like Dead Space.
- “The combat and exploration mechanics still manage to deliver satisfying gameplay, and the tension-filled atmosphere keeps you on the edge of your seat.”
- “The melee combat mechanic is inventive but it is relied on far too heavily to be enjoyable.”
- “Once you get the hang of the combat after the first hour or so, the gameplay is a blast, mixing melee and gunplay with the grip throwing mechanic to launch enemies to their death.”
- “Can't recommend due to technical and gameplay issues, despite high-end PC.”
- “The melee combat system with the baton has no excuses to be this bad; the worst mechanic in the game by far, which extends every single fight, on hard difficulty, by at least thirty seconds in which you have to dodge and attack without any effort at all in the hope it will all end sooner than later.”
- “The dodge mechanic is so poorly explained and implemented that half the time you’re just eating hits because the game doesn’t communicate what you’re supposed to do.”
graphics
5,499 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
41%
2%
The Callisto Protocol is widely praised for its stunning, next-generation graphics, featuring highly detailed character models, environments, lighting, and gore that create an immersive sci-fi horror atmosphere. While performance issues like stuttering and high system demands were reported at launch, many players found improvements after patches and tweaking graphics settings. Overall, the visuals and audio design are considered the game's standout strengths, elevating the experience even when gameplay and story elements receive mixed reviews.
- “The graphics are stunning, the lighting and details make you feel like you’re truly stranded on a frozen moon fighting for survival.”
- “From the moment you step foot on the grim, atmospheric prison of Black Iron, you're treated to some of the most stunning graphics and art direction in recent memory.”
- “Graphically, The Callisto Protocol is a feast for the eyes, with some of the best character model and environment designs ever seen in a game.”
- “Can't change graphics settings without exiting to menu.”
- “Boring setting, boring story and it keeps reverting to low graphics settings every time I launch the game.”
- “I have a decent computer build with a 3060 graphics card and this game is literally unplayable.”
atmosphere
2,493 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
59%
39%
2%
The Callisto Protocol is widely praised for its immersive, intense, and visually stunning atmosphere, successfully creating a dark, claustrophobic sci-fi horror setting with excellent sound design and lighting that keeps players on edge. Many reviews highlight its effective tension, detailed environments, and eerie ambiance reminiscent of the Dead Space series, though some note that the horror elements rely heavily on jump scares and that the atmosphere can lose impact over time due to repetitive gameplay or technical issues. Overall, the atmosphere is considered one of the game's strongest assets, elevating the experience despite shortcomings in gameplay and story.
- “The atmosphere is absolutely incredible — dark, oppressive, and full of tension, just like the classic Dead Space.”
- “From the moment you step into the blood-soaked corridors of Black Iron Prison, the game oozes atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere is intense, the prison setting feels dark and claustrophobic, and the sound design keeps you constantly on edge.”
- “A game that believes atmosphere alone can substitute for logic, depth, or intelligence.”
- “The game relies too heavily on crawling, squeezing through narrow spaces, and similar sequences, which happen far too frequently and end up hurting the overall atmosphere of the gameplay.”
- “Unfortunately, it can also destroy its atmosphere very quickly as well (see below).”
stability
655 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
1%
86%
The game launched as a buggy, glitch-ridden mess plagued by frequent freezes, crashes, stutters, and save file corruption, severely impacting playability and immersion. However, numerous patches have significantly improved stability and performance, resolving many issues, making the game largely playable with only minor, non-gamebreaking glitches remaining. Despite improvements, some users still experience occasional bugs, frame drops, and performance hiccups depending on hardware and settings.
- “It ran absolutely smooth on highest settings, no frame drops, no bugs, no glitches, no crashes!”
- “After the patches, the game runs great and shows how much care went into building this world.”
- “The performance problems which it had during release are completely fixed and it runs great.”
- “I try loading my save but as soon as I load my save the screen turns black and freezes; the save was corrupted, and loading previous autosaves causes severe lag and frequent freezes, making the game almost impossible to play.”
- “Took 12 hours to beat the whole game, with 3 of those hours spent troubleshooting due to frequent black screens.”
- “I've restarted my computer 4 times because every time I try to continue the game it freezes my entire computer.”
music
467 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
56%
3%
The music and sound design in the game are widely praised for effectively creating a tense, immersive, and horror-filled atmosphere that complements the visuals and setting. While some find the soundtrack repetitive or generic and occasionally intrusive or glitchy, many highlight standout moments, particularly the haunting ambient tracks and the memorable end credits song "Lost Again" by Kings Elliot. Overall, the audio elements significantly enhance the experience, though the music is often noted as atmospheric rather than memorably thematic.
- “The music and sound design is absolutely flawless, and the graphics are beyond any doubt absolutely insane, 10/10 and easily the best graphics I have seen in my life until now.”
- “Every single scare, every single jump, every single lonely hallway, every single eerie musical note was placed in such a specific manner where you honestly feel like you are playing a horror movie; I get a lot of John Carpenter vibes here with the incredible amount of tension and suspense.”
- “The atmosphere, the sound, animations, music, everything is very top tier.”
- “Audio sometimes gets stuck in a loop, leading to strange overlaps (two music tracks playing at once etc.).”
- “And for me, no matter what settings I tried, the game refused to render rooms and play atmospheric music at any point, which really took a lot of the vibes out of the experience.”
- “Also sometimes the suspense music just keeps playing on and on while there is nothing happening; that also is immersion breaking for me.”
grinding
359 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
8%
91%
The grinding and combat in the game are widely described as tedious, repetitive, and frustrating, often becoming monotonous after a short time due to limited enemy variety, slow weapon switching, and clunky mechanics. Many players found the melee-heavy encounters and boss fights to be drawn-out slugfests that lack excitement and strategic depth, with checkpoints and repeated backtracking adding to the sense of grind. While some enjoyed minor aspects of the combat or found early moments engaging, the overall gameplay loop is criticized for turning into a dull, time-consuming ordeal rather than a thrilling survival horror experience.
- “The action is fun and not too tedious.”
- “Weapon/general utility upgrade system is simple, but not tedious.”
- “A bit grindy sometimes.”
- “The combat is mind numbingly tedious within an hour.”
- “It's very tedious to switch weapons during heavy combat when you're surrounded.”
- “Combat in this game is not really my thing, because it gets more and more tedious over time.”
replayability
250 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
59%
28%
Replayability for the game is generally considered low, with a short, linear campaign of around 8-12 hours offering little incentive for multiple playthroughs. While some appreciate new game+ modes, difficulty settings, and limited extra content for added replay value, most reviews agree that the lack of meaningful variations, collectibles, or alternative endings results in minimal replayability beyond achievement hunting or DLC expansions. Overall, the game is best experienced once, with replay value expected to improve only as future updates or expansions are released.
- “Ng+ replayability: replaying the campaign with a fully upgraded Jacob (and that kinetic hammer in the DLC) makes the power fantasy even better.”
- “The setting is amazing, the story while cliché kept me interested, the characters are really cool and the combat was a lot of fun. There are a few extra modes that add replayability and I had a blast.”
- “Besides the regular single-player, it offers various difficulty types for single-player which can bring some replayability if you're into achievements and such. You could also get some extra hours if you manage to get the riot bundle which unlocks the riot mode, essentially a round/wave based survival mode where you kill enemies and upgrade your weapons.”
- “You'll get about 8 hours of playtime, don't really see time-worthy replay value, so I only recommend buying this for about 10€ / $10.”
- “The game is good, but apparently people claim it takes 7 hours to beat, and because of how linear it is, it doesn't have much replay value.”
- “It's a 60€ game for less than 15h of story mode and no real replayability.”
humor
147 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
99%
1%
The game's humor largely stems from its unintentional comedy, including poorly executed jump scares, clunky mechanics, and numerous bugs that make tense moments amusing rather than scary. Many players found the combat, stealth elements, and narrative clichés so awkward or broken that they elicited laughter, with death animations and physics quirks often described as hilariously entertaining. Overall, the humor arises mostly from the game's flaws and cheap scares rather than deliberate comedic writing, making it an ironically funny experience despite its horror ambitions.
- “The stealth section can be quite hilarious as they can hear you when you are walking but not when you stomp the ground or even stabbing their fellow abomination.”
- “The vent crawling sequences are honestly hilarious, especially since you can't do anything while in the vents so there's nothing scary about it at all.”
- “Watching your character get his head ripped off is funny though.”
emotional
136 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
84%
16%
Reviews on the game's emotional impact are highly mixed; some players found moments of genuine emotional weight and effective voice acting that enhanced tension and character depth, while many others criticized the story as predictable, flat, and lacking meaningful character development, resulting in a weak emotional connection. Though certain sequences and atmosphere created unease or nostalgia reminiscent of Dead Space, the overall narrative failed to deliver consistent emotional engagement or impactful twists, leaving many feeling disappointed or indifferent.
- “And because you barely see another human face for most of the game, every time you lose an ally, it actually hits hard emotionally.”
- “The calisto protocol is not just a horror game; it's a visceral and emotional journey that will leave a lasting impact on players long after the credits roll.”
- “Calisto protocol is the first game where a character feels so lifelike that their facial expression and emotional state through small subtle changes in muscle movement in their face influences your perception of that person's state of mind ... fantastic!!!”
- “This game is just a quick money grab with the most boring storyline, no map, and unclear objectives, leaving you confused about where you are and what you're supposed to do.”
- “The story is boring with terrible and flat characters, combined with a non-demanding combat system that gets repetitive quickly.”
- “Way too many bugs, stuttering, and freezing. The combat is extremely boring and tedious, and the DLC story expansion has a trash ending that's not worth the money or time spent.”
character development
116 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
57%
19%
Character development in the game is generally seen as weak and uneven, with many reviewers finding it shallow, rushed, or largely absent, leading to limited emotional connection with characters. While the visual character design and voice acting receive praise, the narrative and character growth often lack depth or meaningful progression, mostly improving only in the latter part of the game. Some players appreciate moments of development and storytelling, but overall, character arcs are considered underdeveloped and predictable.
- “What truly sets "The Callisto Protocol" apart is its narrative and character development.”
- “I loved the characters, Elias, Danny, Max, Jacob, Warden, Mauhler and Faris (I love Sam Witwer and The Force Unleashed by the way) which were all very interesting in their own right and everyone had a fair bit of character development.”
- “It’s gorgeous to look at; the gore is visceral and evokes a physical unease; the gameplay is familiar and foreign because of the focus on melee; the use of music and ambiance is great; and the story-writing is phenomenal with grounded characters and fleshed out character development.”
- “But here logs are just plain bad, most of them are like couple of voiced sentences and they got no interesting story or character development behind them.”
- “The character development is kinda lackluster (I would expect more considering the money that went into this game), and the characters for the most part were hard to develop any emotional connections to.”
- “Everything needed for character development is absent, including dialogue and backstory.”
monetization
73 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
4%
21%
75%
The monetization of the game is widely criticized as a blatant cash grab, with many players frustrated by aggressive advertising, overpriced DLC that locks away the true ending, and microtransactions for cosmetic and gameplay elements. Additionally, the game feels incomplete at its base price, pushing players to spend more to access a full story, which has led to widespread disappointment and claims of misleading promotion.
- “No multiplayer, no microtransactions, no bull$hit.”
- “Aaa means quality not ads ads ads???”
- “Microtransactions - in-game purchases.”
- “The problem is that the publishers are greedy… you have to pay for the DLC to finish the story… and although you finish the base game, the ending is almost empty. Imagine you are playing for hours, immersed with the protagonist and the characters, and all is for nothing. Sure you defeat the boss, some questions are answered, but if you want to know the true ending of the story and the fate of Jacob, you have to buy the DLC. If this is not a dirty cash grab attempt from the developers, then I don’t know what is. Shame on you Krafton and Striking Distance Studios.”
- “Just heed my warning… because the cash grab in this case is real, unfortunately… and the publishers haven’t delivered the full complete story although you paid them the full price.”
- “First thing you see when starting the game for the first time is a giant advertisement for all the DLC.”

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66%Critics’ scoreBased on 68 critic reviews

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9h Median play time

9h Average play time

4-13h Spent by most gamers

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The Callisto Protocol is a survival role playing shooter game with horror and science fiction themes.

The Callisto Protocol is available on Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and others.

On average players spend around 9 hours playing The Callisto Protocol.

The Callisto Protocol was released on December 1, 2022.

The Callisto Protocol was developed by Striking Distance Studios.

The Callisto Protocol has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its optimization.

The Callisto Protocol is a single player game.

Similar games include Cronos: The New Dawn, The Evil Within, Atomic Heart, The Evil Within 2, Lords of the Fallen and others.

The Callisto Protocol

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