Callisto Protocol, a new game from acclaimed game developer Glen Schofield and his new Striking Distance team, was announced at The Game Awards 2020. But now, a year and a half later, we’re finally getting to know more, particularly through Game Informer, which could be play a try, and also had the opportunity to interview the developers.
Before the editors got to the actual gameplay, they told something about the history of the studio and the entire project. It was born in Schofield’s head a long time ago, when the father of the Dead Space series left the Sledgehammer studio, where he worked on Call of Duty for a long time. It was then that he went to the desert to break away from the outside world and come up with ideas for new games. One of these was a project he later named meteor down, it was sci-fi survival. The first concepts allegedly showed potential, but Schofield was initially in no hurry with the project, because it turned out to be too similar to the Dead Space series, which, paradoxically, he created himself. But in the end, he got down to business, because he likes science fiction from an early age.
“I won’t turn down a good idea just because he was in one of my games.” Schofield says. “All game developers are inspired by ideas from other games. Picasso said that “good artists copy, great artists steal.” So why not rob yourself?”
So Schofield created the presentation and script and started going around the companies to see if they were interested in collaborating. According to Game Informer he addressed, for example, Google, Microsoft, Sony, but also other large companies. However, according to him, none of them were suitable for his project. He was only successful with Krafton, who is behind the PUBG hit. He met CH Kim, CEO of a South Korean company, at the DICE summit in 2019. According to Schofield, he was very comfortable with him and was delighted with his approach, which gave him 100% autonomy.
Thus, a new studio was created. Schofield assembled a team that included newcomers and other Visceral Games veterans such as Steve Papoucis, who worked as a producer on the Dead Space series. He took on the role of CDO at the new studio. Of course, the leading couple had to come up with a name for the studio. Today we know it’s Striking Distance, but how did the name come about? Schofield wanted to pass on to the new team something that he tried to do in his previous career, which was to make quality games.
“I said, ‘I want to be within striking distance of the best games.’ Schofield revealed the origin of the name.
The Meteor Impact Project has undergone some transformation over time, with the story being reworked on Jupiter’s colonized moon Callisto (hence the new name Callisto Protocol), around 2320. The game also takes place in the same universe as PUBG, but we’ll say we should only expect a little easter egg, there probably won’t be a strong connection here.
The protagonist of The Callisto Protocol is Jacob Lee, played by actor Josh Duhamel. Li is sent to the aforementioned month and thrown into prison. He can quickly get out of it, but nothing pleasant awaits him. As he soon learns, there are creatures on the moon that the developers have named Biophage. According to the description, they are in many ways reminiscent of the well-known Necromorph from the Dead Space series. We can help them again shoot limbs, and thus limit their movement. But enemies can take many different forms. From those still relatively humanoid monsters to huge creatures that are said to be grotesque.
Jacob is not a trained soldierjust a cargo ship pilot, but still a masterful player diverse arsenalwhich of course includes quite traditional survival horror movie weapons like pistols and shotguns. In addition, he can also use his own club attack at close range, which allows combination of melee attacks and shootingwhich ends with an efficient finisher. The last important piece of Jacob’s gear gravity tool for pulling and pushing objects. But not only them, Lee can also use them on living beings. The editors literally mention in the article a situation where they could throw the enemy into a rotating fan, which completely cuts him to pieces. Monsters can bite Jacob on the head. The developers are certainly not afraid of outright violence and do not hide it in any way.. They even reportedly studied real police footage of gruesome situations to authentically turn it into a video game.
Another important part of the horror is, of course, the sound design, which was highly appreciated by the Game Informer editors. Many of the sounds are said to come from an instrument called the Engine of Understanding. It was created by composer Mark Corven, who worked on films such as The Witch and The Lighthouse.
However, the main aspect is the atmosphere, which the developers have put a lot of emphasis on, which again confirms the editors of Game Informer, according to which the game is unequivocally scary. The goal was to stress the players so that they weren’t sure if they were safe or not.
“We’re trying to get you at the start of the game, like when you open the door and there’s something in there” Schofield says. “And then maybe you’re afraid of every door. And then, after some five levels, when we no longer drag you out the door, you kind of stop paying attention and we get you again. A lot depends on the timing.” The developers called this complex leveling process “horror engineering”. They want the title to have the biggest impact on the player. Be memorable, scary, and emphasize tension, fear, terror, and anxiety.
Above you can see the screenshots that are included in the new release of Game Informer. We don’t know yet if there will be gameplay footage in the magazine. But if not, then most likely the game will appear at the Summer Game Fest.
The Callisto Protocol comes out in second half of this year. Officially aimed at PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X | S, however according to Game Informer, also on older consoles – PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. In any case, the developers have not confirmed this anywhere.
Source :Indian TV
