"If you have multiple people doing all these different things all the time, you know, one guy runs into one room, and the other guy gets teleported into that room, and now you're in something, it's very disjointed." A prison on a frigid, uncaring planet? Sounds ripe for scares. "You know, when you have a multiplayer experience-and this is not to take anything away from multiplayer online, I'm a huge gamer, I play everything-but it's very difficult to have a very, very strong narrative that's tailored," Stone explains. As Stone notes, this allows the experience to be very tailored, and every twist and turn can be crafted for optimal shrieks and frights. Despite PUBG's battle royale roots, The Callisto Protocol will be focused on the moment-to-moment of playing solo. What he can share is that The Callisto Protocol will be a horror game and yes, it will be single-player. Any more connections are left to speculation for the moment, though. "We don't want to come in and say that we're attached to the PUBG franchise, and then feel like we are just completely unrelated," Stone says. It doesn't seem like The Callisto Protocol is striking off into space to avoid PUBG, though. Stone reassures me that Striking Distance's project is absolutely tied into the PUBG franchise, but as much as he'd like to, he can't confirm the specifics of how, exactly, the two are tied together. Stone confirms that the game does indeed take place on the icy wastes of Callisto, a moon of Jupiter, in what he calls the "Alcatraz of the future." This definitely isn't Erangel. Rather than nameless combatants airdropping onto a non-descript murder island, the trailer for The Callisto Protocol takes place in a prison, set on a planet that seems far away from Earth. Coming to the PUBG universe, it might seem like Striking Distance would need to swap out Plasma Cutters for cast-iron skillets but Schofield told us earlier this year that the studio's been given "carte blanche," and that's reflected in the trailer shown during last week's Game Awards.
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It's been really, really fun."ĭead Space's main series came to a close in 2013, and though there have been a few attempts at prequels, the universe has stayed mostly in the past. "And so to come back and start doing something like this, it's been a blast. "Glen and I have talked about doing another horror game for years, he and I have worked together for the better part of 20 years," Stone tells USgamer. Stone says the whole studio is "just riddled with Dead Space pedigree." Joining Schofield is Chris Stone, the former Animation Director at Visceral Games and Sledgehammer Games, who has taken up the Chief Creative Officer role, and Steve Papoutsis, who helped oversee Dead Space at Electronic Arts. It's single-player, it's vaguely sci-fi, it's definitely scary, and it's stacked with Dead Space's creators.
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Striking Distance Studios, a new developer helmed by Visceral and Sledgehammer veteran Glen Schofield, is looking to create a new experience in the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, or PUBG universe. They skulked in shadows and toppled boxes on the edge of your periphery, a mortal but unyielding threat.ĭead Space has been dormant for a good few years now, but the spirit of it has carried on into a new venture. Following in the footsteps of another horror classic, Resident Evil 4, Dead Space put a gun in your hand that could tear apart the creatures coming after you-yet those hideous Necromorphs were still terrifying. As one of the most popular games of the last decade, God of War will likely serve as a source of inspiration for every third-person action game in the near future, Callisto included.The original Dead Space remains one of the most unnerving games I've ever played.
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God of War is far from the only game to rely on optional paths to spice up an otherwise linear game, but it’s a notable example cited by IGN. Specifically, Schofield said players can expect to find extra story sequences and side quests that will reveal more about the game’s characters. Instead, it will take cues from games like 2018’s God of War or The Last of Us Part II and offer more ways to venture off the beaten path for optional content. Tight, story-driven experiences like Resident Evil 4 set the tone for Dead Space and its contemporaries, but a very different trend dominates gaming today.Īs Schofield told IGN in a recent interview, The Callisto Protocol won’t be as linear as Dead Space. A lot has changed in the nearly 15 years since, down to the most basic expectations of an action game. On the other hand, Dead Space was released in 2008, which is practically ancient history in the novelty-focused world of video games.
![the callisto protocol. the callisto protocol.](https://media.comicbook.com/2020/12/the-callisto-protocol-1248500.jpeg)
The Callisto Protocol has been a staple at this year’s summer gaming events.