When it comes to facing down the dangers lurking around corners in horror games, most players would like to be able to keep their distance while playing games such as Resident Evil or Dead Space. It doesn't end up being the case, though, and some of these creatures need a good fist to the face to put them down permanently. It appears The Callisto Protocol is going to be no different as the game's design director says roughly "half" of the upcoming game's combat will be melee-centric.
The Callisto Protocol is the debut title from developer Striking Distance Studios, with Dead Space creator Glen Schofield serving as the new game's lead director. As the title teases, the game is set on a prison colony on Jupiter's moon Callisto over 300 years in the future and puts players in the boots of prisoner Jacob Lee, portrayed by Josh Duhamel. Lee is forced to survive an apparent alien invasion of the prison colony, an invasion that appears to turn its victims into monstrous creatures roaming the colony's halls.
Striking Distance has recently pulled back the curtain on its upcoming horror game, such as the means by which players will need to fight the creatures lurking across Callisto. In a recent interview with Game Informer via IGN, design director Ben Walker spoke about the game's combat and what it will entail for players trying to survive the invasion. Walker said the studio was "leaning into the survival side of things" by making ammo more scarce, forcing players to close that gap and emphasize the need to survive.
"Almost half of our combat is melee," Walker said. He elaborated, saying there will be "melee combos" to use that will "push the enemy away" when finished to give players a moment to regroup before another attack.
The emphasis on melee combat has been already teased in the trailers and gameplay Striking Distance has released up to this point. As mentioned above, the studio appears to be emphasizing the survival aspect of survival horror with the players already navigating dark, claustrophobic corridors surrounded by mutated monstrosities. An easy but effective way to up this feeling is to have players wonder if one encounter is worth using ammo or risk a fistfight and save the ammo for something possibly worse.
It will also help set the game apart from Dead Space, which it has already been compared by players since it was announced. The comparisons are not without cause, given several members of Striking Distance previously worked on the Dead Space series and the overall aesthetic of the game. However, emphasizing melee combat over gunplay can help The Callisto Protocol stand apart from Dead Space, the latter of which focused on "tactical dismemberment" with an array of mining tools and guns.
The Callisto Protocol is scheduled to release December 2, 2022, on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: IGN