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Sci-fi horror, The Callisto Protocol, got a new trailer during State of Play, as well as a deep dive about what makes it so scary.
Dead Space creator, Glen Schofield, is “returning to his roots” with his self-proclaimed “all-new take on the sci-fi survival horror genre.” And he isn’t kidding. The trailer is a blend of cinematics, gameplay, and some extra pizazz thrown in for the show, and it looks great. Dead Space fans won’t be disappointed.
Schofield also shared more details about the game in a PlayStation blog post (opens in new tab).
The Callisto Project is set against the spooky backdrop of Jupiter’s ‘dead moon’ Callisto in the year 2320. The plot has Alien 3 vibes with Black Iron Prison inmates having to fight for their life – although instead of aliens, they’re dealing with a “mysterious outbreak”.
Guards and inmates alike are mutating into Cronenberg monsters called Biophage that – let’s face it – are probably the result of shady goings-on of the United Jupiter Company. We’ll be stepping into the shoes of Jacob Lee, battling to survive and ferret out the corporation’s secrets.
In the blog post, Schofield explains that the dev team used something called Horror Engineering to “hand craft unforgettable scares.” He elaborates, “ It’s about blending atmosphere, tension, brutality, helplessness, and humanity to thrill players … and hopefully scare the crap out of them.”
Atmosphere plays a large part in that with the lighting making the dark, creepy corners all the more foreboding. Of course, there’s the PS5’s 3D Audio that takes advantage of “acoustic ray tracing, diffraction, and portaling to fully immerse players in the world.”
Thankfully, The Callisto Protocol won’t be relying on jump scares to do all the heavy horror-lifting. Although it still sounds like a wild ride. “Sometimes we space scares out to give players time to catch their breath, and sometimes we hit them with two or three scares in a row. We want your heart to race with every tick of the PS5’s awesome haptics,” Schofield reveals.
And of course there’s the the blend of melee combat and third-person shooter gameplay for utter carnage. Equipped with a gravity weapon called the GRP – a guard’s weapon used to subdue the inmates – Jacob can freeze and throw enemies around like to your heart’s content.
But as Schofield points out, he’s not a soldier. Players “should feel helpless” with every encounter being a life or death struggle. You’ll be scrounging around for resources too, so look forward to that.
The Callisto Project releases on December 2, 2022. Pre-orders on the PlayStation Store include a special Contraband Pack which sounds like it’ll include resources and maybe weapons, to make the struggle slightly more bearable.