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The Callisto Protocol - Information Thread, update: Glen Schofield (CEO), CFO, and COO all "voluntarily" depart from Striking Distance Studios

Commissar SFLUFAN

By Commissar SFLUFAN
in The Spawn Point

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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PS5 version impressions from a ResetERA poster:

 

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First impressions (PS5 version) after a couple of hours: yeah, it's definitely Dead Space meets Prison Break.

 

Performance mode looks good enough but fidelity mode clearly has better AO, and has RT (or pseudo-RT) reflections (EDIT: and shadows, it seems), but 30fps is a bit choppy imo. Still

 

Performance mode (seemingly at 1440p) has great SSR implementation. Faces look amazing and voice performance from all characters are great so far (except when Jacob keeps saying "Nice!" when you find an item, it's annoying).

 

I've been switching between 60 and 30RT every so often, I don't know what to settle on yet. But probably 60fps. Game still looks great in that mode, quite frankly.

 

Combat is harsh. Monsters hit HARD, sometimes simultaneously, and often in groups of 2 to 4. I'm playing in Normal mode and getting my ass wrecked many times. The beginning, before you get a gun, can be tough, because enemies are hit sponges (and I have some trouble getting used to the dodge system with the left stick). They are also bullet sponges if you only use bullets (I only have the one gun, so later weapons might kick a bigger punch). However, if you take advantage of the "weakness" system where you melee until a weak spot appears for you to shoot, they're not all that resistant and it's just the right amount of tension imo.

 

Sound design is great, headphones recommended ! Music is okay. Very Dead Space-ish.

 

There are no manual saves whatsoever it seems, only autosaves (they tell you when the last autosave was when you press start, like in Naughty Dog games). It's fine, but sometimes the gaps between them are pretty long, especially when you need to fight 4 enemies again (before the having the gun) because you died a stupid death. It's not dreadful though.

 

There are some accessibility options too, such as dyslexia subtitles, high contrast, hold button with a single press, that kind of thing.

 

EDIT: Haptic feedback on PS5 is very good. Not as good as say Returnal or Astro, but very well implemented imo.

 

Minor gripes:
- You can't move while in the inventory or listening to audio logs (you could in Dead Space so...????)
- Inventory is full quickly (for now, haven't had any potential upgrade yet)
- I miss Dead Space's locator, but it's okay

 

 

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Bloodporne

Bloodporne

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1 hour ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

New Ars Technica video with the developers:

 

 

Glen Scofield answers questions from the Muskrat's Hell Site:

 

 

I will say that I've always found Schofield likeable going back to interviews about Dead Space. The crunch bullshit aside, guess I have to make that disclaimer now. His interviews and breakdowns of gaming are actually interesting imo. 

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ShreddieMercury

ShreddieMercury

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23 minutes ago, Bloodporne said:

I will say that I've always found Schofield likeable going back to interviews about Dead Space. The crunch bullshit aside, guess I have to make that disclaimer now. His interviews and breakdowns of gaming are actually interesting imo. 

 

I agree, I find all his videos really insightful and I do think he's a very likable and intelligent guy.  And not to dismiss the crunch issues, but I found his original tweets to be more out-of-touch than malicious.  It was more just "we love making games and we're working as hard as we can to make this good", but the wording ended up illuminating concerning labor practices and feeding into the broader discussion about the toll of game development.  It helps that he took full accountability for what he said and treated it very seriously, which you tend not to see in lots of similar cases.  Cory Barlog came off much worse in a similar situation I recall.

 

1 hour ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

PS5 version impressions from a ResetERA poster:

 

 

 

Sounds amazing.

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Xbob42

Xbob42

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Minor gripes:
1. You can't move while in the inventory or listening to audio logs (you could in Dead Space so...????)
2. Inventory is full quickly (for now, haven't had any potential upgrade yet)
3. I miss Dead Space's locator, but it's okay

1. That's weird. I'm hoping that's a bug. When I was inventorying on Impossible in Dead Space, I'd often be doing it on the move. You'd move slow but it was crucial to avoid being hit in certain circumstances where just standing still would be lethal.

2. As these are survival horror games, I actually think this is a good thing so long as it's not TOO quickly and it can be upgraded a bit. 

3. I'm not sure what this means, but I hope it means the waypoint system is gone. We had 3 games with that and it was a super clever system but it really killed the excitement of exploration. You never had to memorize a single part of the ship or use signage (of which there was plenty) to figure out where to go. I really liked the waypoint system, but I'd be VERY interested in the game being designed without it in mind so you can just read the environment to get around and map it out in your head.

 

I think The Sphere Hunter nailed it in her recent video:

 

Relevant bit at 27:35 if it doesn't auto-link.

 

I think the waypoint system was awesome, but I think for a survival horror game in particular, and with how well the environment in Dead Space was naturally explained to the player with signs everywhere (long before Control, which I think did a great job at this too) it was superfluous to the point where I think it actually took away from the game somewhat.

 

 

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Xbob42

Xbob42

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Also, Glen retweeted someone asking him if there was a Day One Patch™ for the performance some folks were having, to which he replied simply "Yes."

 

He did not, however, reply to someone further asking if there was anything done about the Unreal Engine's notorious shader compilation stutter on PC lately. :notsure:

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Mr.Vic20

Mr.Vic20

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2 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

Also, Glen retweeted someone asking him if there was a Day One Patch™ for the performance some folks were having, to which he replied simply "Yes."

 

He did not, however, reply to someone further asking if there was anything done about the Unreal Engine's notorious shader compilation stutter on PC lately. :notsure:

Bring on UE5! :sun:

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ShreddieMercury

ShreddieMercury

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56 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

The sixth and final episode of the "Helix Station" audio drama has been released on the various podcast platforms.

 

I'll post the YouTube version of the fifth episode once that one is available.

 

Have you listened to the podcast?  I've heard good things but I haven't checked it out yet.

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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2 minutes ago, Zaku3 said:

Question guys. The digital deluxe edition bonuses are all available at launch? I think I recall seeing it mention story DLC so I might just wait for it to be released.

 

No - not all of the Digital Deluxe Edition bonus content will be available at launch such as the new death animations and story DLC.

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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1280x720.jpg

Sony Assigned Over 150 Employees to Aid The Callisto Protocol's Production

WWW.PUSHSQUARE.COM
That's a lot - We already know that Sony contributed to the development of The Callisto Protocol, but the extent of its su...

 

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We already know that Sony contributed to the development of The Callisto Protocol, but the extent of its support may surprise you. Images of the credits – posted on ResetEra – reveal that around 150 employees from the platform holder’s Visual Arts Services Group and Malaysian team aided developer Striking Distance Studios on the project.

 

PlayStation often supports the creation of third-party titles by loaning out its state-of-the-art motion capture studios, and assisting on things like audio mixing and cinematics. But this looks like one of its biggest assignments on a non-first-party game to date, with the aforementioned 150 employees credited as contributing to the title.

 

 

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  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to The Callisto Protocol (02 December 2022, PlayStation/Xbox/PC) - Information Thread, update: post-launch content schedule announced
Xbob42

Xbob42

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Uh. That specs chart is useless. It doesn't say the resolution or the frame rate. We talking 1080/30? I mean obviously not but this is why you put it on the chart. :lol:

 

Anyway, game is preloaded, very excited. Cannot wait! Haven't been this excited for a release in a long, long time. Dunno if it can live up to my hopes, but maybe!


Gonna listen to the audio dramas now, didn't even know those were out. Just like Dead Space 1, a bunch of pre-game material that I just don't hear about. Well, at least I heard about this prior to release rather than several years after launch. I think the only thing I saw for Dead Space was the little animation.

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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First review is now in the wild:

 

mtKSbrwre2kVvsJFFqjQjM-1200-80.jpg

The Callisto Protocol review: "An impressive game derailed by unforgiving combat" | GamesRadar+

WWW.GAMESRADAR.COM
A fantastic looking game that builds a great sci-fi world only to trash it with an unenjoyable combat challenge.

 

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I'd honestly recommend playing The Callisto Protocol on 'easy'. Once I'd finished the game on default difficulty I restarted it on the lower setting and it's so much more enjoyable. There's still some challenge, but it's a much more manageable, and far less crushing journey. There's obviously a whole discourse here to be had on difficulty but I've reviewed the game as presented by the developers, aware that many will resist changing the challenge for one reason or another. There's a great sci-fi game here but one marred by its combat system. Which seems such a shame given the world Striking Distance has built, and the quality of The Callisto Protocol overall. It's a hard thing to love as a result, but even after all the frustration I'd still like to see a sequel in the future. 

 

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