THE CALLISTO PROTOCOL: GORGEOUS GORE, SHALLOW GRAVE
6.5 of 10 bananas. A stunning, brutal sci-fi horror from a Dead Space co-creator, with some of the best lighting and gore ever made. Repetitive melee, cheap deaths, and a thin story keep it below its ancestor.
By the Alpha. PS5 game listing. Updated Oct 20 2026.
Honest note: This is not a fresh hands-on playtest. I built this verdict from launch reviews, critic consensus, update history, and what is known about the game today. If I put real hours in on stream, I will update the score and say so.
Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC (Striking Distance Studios and Krafton, released December 2 2022). The Amazon button is the US PS5 Standard Edition disc. At my Oct 20 check the offer came from a third-party seller, shipped by Amazon, at 19.60 dollars, so check the seller before you pay.
Get The Callisto Protocol for PS5 on AmazonSit with me a moment. When the man who helped make Dead Space announced a new space horror game, the whole canopy went quiet and listened. I listened too. The Callisto Protocol looks like the game we hoped for. Then you play a few hours and notice what is missing.
What It Wants To Be
You are Jacob Lee, a cargo pilot who crashes on Jupiter's dead moon Callisto in the year 2320 and gets thrown into Black Iron Prison. Then an outbreak turns the inmates into monsters. It is a third person survival horror game built around close-range melee: you block and dodge by holding a direction, swing a stun baton, finish enemies with guns, and throw them into machinery with the GRP, a gravity glove.
What Works
It is one of the best looking games of its generation. The lighting, the fog, the sets, and the faces are top class, and the sound design makes every corridor feel hostile. The gore is extreme and creative, and the death scenes are memorable, if you can stomach them. When the dodge, the baton, and the GRP click together, fights feel weighty and tense.
What Breaks
Listen well. Combat is the problem. Most fights are the same dodge, swing, shoot rhythm, and it struggles badly when several enemies come at once. Some deaths come from instant-kill moments that feel cheap. The story is short and predictable, and the enemy variety is thin. The PC version had serious stutter at launch. Critics landed around the high sixties, which matches my read.
Who Should Play
Play it on sale if you love Dead Space and want a pretty, gory horror trip for a few weekends of October. Skip it if repetitive combat wears you down, and play Dead Space instead.
STRENGTHS
- Stunning lighting and art
- Brutal, creative gore
- Tense sound design
- Cheap at my check
HONEST COSTS
- Repetitive melee combat
- Struggles with groups of enemies
- Cheap instant deaths
- Thin story and enemy variety
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