The Callisto Protocol is Actually More Resident Evil Than Dead
The Callisto Protocol is Actually More Resident Evil Than Dead
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The Callisto Protocol is Actually More Resident Evil Than Dead Space
The Callisto Protocol is undoubtedly inspired by Dead Space, but it is ultimately even more comparable to the Resident Evil franchise.
Comparing The Callisto Protocolto Dead Space is like beating a dead horse at this point, but it is still important to note that these comparisons were obviously intentional. The Callisto Protocol’s GRP is clearly Dead Space’s Kinesis, The Callisto Protocol’s CORE is Dead Space’s RIG, and so on. Likewise, The Callisto Protocol attempts to depict protagonist Jacob Lee as psychologically susceptible as Dead Space’s Isaac Clarke. On a more minor note, The Callisto Protocol’s ending also features a jump scare, though it falls much flatter than Dead Space’s final jump scare.
It is clear that The Callisto Protocol’s conclusion hopes to establish story-driven DLC or future franchise potential, but where this franchise is headed may reflect another survival-horror franchise more than Dead Space itself. Instead, The Callisto Protocol actually has much more in common with Capcom’s Resident Evil franchise.
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The Callisto Protocol Shares Multiple Commonalities with Resident Evil
The further that fans progress through The Callisto Protocol, becoming more familiar with controls and combat, the clearer it becomes that Resident Evil may have been an even bigger influence than Dead Space. Most prominently, the fact that the narrative revolves around horrific bioweapon experimentation is undoubtedly reminiscent of Resident Evil. Kallipolis, UJC, and Black Iron Prison are reminiscent of Umbrella in their operations and goals, looking at human survival and evolution. Moreover, Dani Nakamura searches for a UJC bioweapon stashed aboard Jacob’s UJC Charon freighter, which is obviously reminiscent of the various bioweapons seen throughout the RE franchise.
This turns Jacob into a sort of reluctant Chris Redfield, though obviously that’s more in the role than personality. Resident Evil games typically do not excel due to their narratives, instead gaining popularity from their iconic characters and memorable gameplay sequences, and it will be interesting to see how The Callisto Protocol’s primary characters and gameplay moments are looked back upon after some time has passed since launch.
In terms of imagery that seems familiar, Max resembles the Raccoon City police officer that also has his jaw extended and agape in the Resident Evil 2 remake’s RPD. The biophages that rapidly mutate—and need to be killed stealthily in order to avoid an ambush—resemble the Ivy Zombies from Resident Evil 2. Much of this could be circumstantial, but there are too many similarities to simply write them off as such.
The Callisto Protocol is More Comparable to Resident Evil’s Modern Remakes
In gameplay, The Callisto Protocol echoes a lot of design features from the modern remakes of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3. Movement is extremely slow in an effort to bottleneck or corner players without being able to flee, though The Callisto Protocol’s movement is decidedly more bothersome because its dodge input is automatically triggered if an enemy’s strike lands anywhere near them, forcing them into a dodge.
This makes simple left and right movements tedious when players are trying to get away from combat, not enter into it. The boss fight with Captain Leon Ferris is essentially a mockup of Resident Evil 2’s William Birkin, complete with increasingly dramatic mutation phases and corny dialogue.
To top it all off, The Callisto Protocol ends in a clandestine facility with a self-destruct sequence. Many fans may not have expected the game to have so many comparisons with Resident Evil, but it truly makes the franchise more intriguing than it would have been if it was simply trying to bandwagon onto Dead Space’s popularity. It is unknown how these comparisons will fare for The Callisto Protocol in the future, and other survival-horror inspirations would be welcome too. But in the meantime, it remains to be seen how it lives up to either Dead Space or Resident Evil in the long run.
The Callisto Protocol is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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