When it released back in 2022, The Callisto Protocol came and went with a bit of a whimper. Despite getting decent reviews, this spiritual successor to the Dead Space franchise suffered from technical issues and lackluster sales.
These ultimately led to its developer, Striking Distance Studios, to lay off some of its employees. Not only that, but the game’s director, Glen Schofield, has said the game was rushed to release because of publisher demands, leading to lots of cut content—not to mention missing dev credits that didn’t seem to have anything to do with those issues. All of this should mean the end of the road for The Callisto Protocol, but Striking Distance isn’t done yet. Announced today, the developer’s next games will be titled [REDACTED], a roguelike shooter that takes place within the same universe as the former game. In a similar premise to the original, players will be transported to the Black Iron Prison on the moon of Callisto as it’s being overrun with a virus that infects inmates and turns them into monsters.
Whereas The Callisto Protocol was a horror game that relied on intense atmosphere and combat to sell the idea of being trapped in a hostile area, [REDACTED] has a much more comedic and stylized look to its visuals. [REDACTED] also focuses less on survival horror in tight spaces, and and instead has you defeating hordes of infected enemies as well as taking on three human survivors that are trying to stop you from escaping the prison. The announcement trailer revealed all of the various weapons and armor players can equip in the game, along with some “experiments” they can use to boost their stats. The trailer also showed off that when a player dies, their reanimated corpse will come back to hunt them down.
[REDACTED] will release on Oct. 31. If the game proves to be a success, it just might be the spark this fledging franchise needs, and could get more people to play The Callisto Protocol.
