Striking Distance Studios’ upcoming title, The Callisto Protocol, has both a lot of potential and hype thanks to the studio working on the game having shared a lot of experience on the Dead Space series. However, as powerful as that Dead Space legacy is, this could also be a major hinderance for when the game finally releases, as the developer will have to walk a fine line to keep the new title fresh.
There’s a limit as to how much The Callisto Protocol can lean on the past successes with Dead Space before using the developer’s namesake as a support causes it to snap. So, while the marketing will likely make mention of who is working in Striking Distance Studios and fan expectations will get hyped from that, this adds an extra level of risk.
In fact, considering what’s already been seen in the initial trailer for Callisto Protocol, there does seem to be some level of overlap between this latest title and the previous series. Both appear to have some sort of cosmic body horror element, with a government that is either complicit or actively participating in the destruction, and similar levels of sci-fi technology. This is a lot of weight to shift onto the legacy of Dead Space, and the final legs of that previous series might not exactly be the best jumping off point for a new franchise to try attaching itself to.
Leaning heavily on the original Dead Space, as well as the masterpiece that is Dead Space 2, can be a huge benefit to The Callisto Protocol, considering how well they did. However, the discussion of this series isn’t complete without mentioning the mistakes of Dead Space 3, which loosely ended the series at the height of the story’s epic scope, leading into a follow-up title that Visceral Games never got to finish. This title that acts as the unfortunate end of the series was heavily criticized on release for having shifted too far into the shooting aspect and away from the horror that made the series explode off the scene in the first place.
So, it’s this direction that Dead Space went in general that The Callisto Protocol needs to avoid if it wants to properly ride on the success of its predecessor. While a lot of fans are excited to see if Striking Distance Studios plans on bringing the Dead Space 4 they never got, this is thin ice that the developer is on. This means the upcoming game can go for the size and scale of Brethren Moons, but at the core of the gameplay loop, it should do its best to keep the original Dead Space‘s intimate, claustrophobic horror.
There is, however, a give and take when it comes to trying to maximize on the previous success of the Dead Space franchise while also developing an entirely new world. The worst effect of resting on the developer’s laurels like this is being labeled as derivative, or being so recognizably connected to the previous series that The Callisto Protocol doesn’t get to stand on its own two feet. While there is a lot of Dead Space that fans want to see from The Callisto Protocol, the game needs to have its own brand to build off of as well.
The derivative label specifically is a subjective critique that some may care more or less about, but it does address the issue that anything that is given this criticism lacks originality. It’s clear already from The Callisto Protocol‘s trailers that the game is looking to lean on the reputation of Dead Space. However, Striking Distance Studios is going to have to prove that it can tell an original story within an original world that has enough degrees of separation to avoid being called a derivative of the creator’s previous works.
The Callisto Protocol is set to release in 2022.
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