I have nothing but respect for Josh Duhamel and Sam Witwer for trying to make this work. All the voice actors are pretty good, but those two really stood out. Which isn't surprising.
I loved Ferris' voice so much (such a good combination of charisma and "evil") I was really sad his human self and therefore his voice was gone so soon. He should have been the real antagonist. The warden seemed so bland compared to it ("evolution blabla").
Same the casting were great, but yeah the melee mechanic is so bland, lack of enemy variations, even seriously we need more weapon variation not just assault rifle with grenade launcher, handgun with grenade launcher, handcannon with grenade launcher, shotgun with grane launcher, the story is seems nothing new here
@@KevinHelpUs I would love to see it, this game deserve better imo, even though this game could not compete with RE4 remake or even with Deadspace remake, and if there's gonna be the sequel i hope its gonne be better one
One specific change I would have made would have been the setting. MandaloreGaming briefly mentioned it in his review of the game, but hear me out... Callisto is an ice moon. And well, beneath that ice, is a massive, abyssal ocean. See where I'm going? Black Iron Prison isn't just built on the surface of Callisto...it's built under that ocean. Imagine the horror that could be leveraged with that. Being trapped in a slowly breaking metal coffin, as the water pressure tears the prison apart. Entire sections are flooded, bringing in terrors from the deep.
Yeah, if anything he did the game a service by not showing them all, the game abuses them so much that I don't think jump scares can be scary anymore lol.
Another thing that could be fixed (that made my eyes roll) would be the removal of freaker Sam Witwer's jump scare after Jacob killed all those infected. It was cheap and didn't have to be Ferris, who mutated and died a few minutes prior. Instead have Dani get launched in the escape pod, then have Jacob turn around and get jump scared by a fully mutated prisoner. Creating the possibility that Jacob died as Dani monologues on spreading the truth to stop the Evolution Cult. Credits roll, then it's revealed that Jacob fought off the infected like a boss. Mahler's holo pops up and delivers the same lines. Then cut to black. No cheap last second jump scare.
I personally would've changed the intro. Let Max live and let Ferris be hostile, let the guards take Deni as prisoner, but don't let them take Jacob. Instead let them take Max into infirmary with Jacob waiting on his healing operation. Some time here to watch nice graphics, get accomodated into the world and everything is still in working order. Then the outbreak starts and nobody cares about Jacob. Infirmary gets cut off the powergrid for some reason, everything turns dark. Then he understands that no doors will open for him if he has no implant, so he can't even get out of the infirmary. Then we take some inspiration from the intro of a game called Surge - the completely automated installation of the implant in particular with no pain inhibitors. Let's say that the machines there have separate power source, since it's important medical equipment. He passes out due to pain and blood loss. After that he wakes up during the same time he wakes up in the original line. Stumbles upon Elias or Elias stumbles upon him while searching for some medical stuff - second one is even better, since it establishes Elias as a good character that wants to help. Then Elias tells him that he's not in the system and so even with the implant the doors and services won't work for him, and in the same dialogue it's revealed that Jacob is a pilot and Elias wants out. But the only way Elias can get him into the system is as a new inmate, since he does not have any more clearance. And thus Jacob becomes the same #521 he is in the original line. Now his goal is to find out what the hell happened to Max and try to get out of the place. Possibly a new guilt line, since he literally told Max that it was their last job and probably convinced him to do it with him. Possibly a new mechanic of security clearance, since we will have Dani that can tap into the systems more competently than Elias. Possibly it's not just Ferris that could become Alpha, but also Max and we need to fight or just mercy kill Max at some point and only after that Ferris emerges as the only potential Alpha. And no unreasonable "let's catch this pilot that served us good before and didn't ask any question and use him as another body in the experiment, so that we will need to find another pilot after that and convince him to do the runs" plot choice that I personally really don't like.
I do like the angle of Jacob just being a nobody instead of a part of the "experiment" on Callisto. And YES, there should have been more guilt regarding Max (there was some, but we pivoted off it too quickly), especially since he had told Max it was their last job.
Bro. Someone should hire you as Story Director. Seriously. Your changes not only pretty much fix the game's narrative problems. You added more depth to Jacob and more opportunities for Elias and Dani to get better character progression.
@@DJWeapon8 There's been some other good suggestions in the comments too! That's what frustrates me so hard about this game, all the elements of a way better game were already there!
@@KevinHelpUs Like making Max his Lover or Something more significant than just Pilot. Then he would be more guilty if he Let his Boyfriend/Fiance Die and the guilt would be more earned.
The only thing I like is Jacob because he’s hella realistic. He’s clueless and stubborn because he is what he is which is a survivor. His character is actually pretty good
Funnily, if you look at what kinks could be drawn to the pubg universe, a lot of the shit that happens here would make a lot of sense. In the end, this whole outbreak, was a fight for the lone survivor. A battle royale of sorts. The strongest will survive by any means. And, jacob is the one who survived.
Wish we could have played as Farris. A new head of the facility forced to do questionable things thinking it's for the greater good, but slowly starts to realize that the price is too high.
i love how people are calling out the story for trying to make Jacob look evil because he was *doing his goddamn job*. And Dani, the one who was willing to blow up a spaceship out of spite and acting bitchy (even desecrating Jacob's new friend) is basically barely said a word, lmao.
Right? He’s not a scientist, how was he supposed to know what that was? Why is everything his fault for not intervening in a situation he had nothing to do with?
@@KevinHelpUs i guess all mailmen are now evil for not knowing if someone had a bomb in their box. lmao. Hell i think Glenn was confident of this "twist" being good. Like, he said on a interview if Lee was good or not "it depends on you, the player/it's up to you to decide."
I definitely thought that too. Dani has her reasons, but theres a bit of imbalance when she's like "you killed my friends too!". Yeah, cause they boarded his ship with weapons, talking about how they were going to find him. Can't really blame him for defending himself
BROOOOOOO you absolutely fixed it and made the story have actual thematic weight and impact with the same themes it was stabbing around in the dark trying to grasp in the first place!! Absolutely phenomenal job!
Add "Katana" as a 1-hit-kill weapon for melee (to reward players); Have more enemy-types and break up sequences with something rewarding, like "upgradables" scavenging (think metroid), this way you reward players for linearity and even encourage partial side/back tracking.
@@stealthynaxo I would love this, but it would feel kinda weak if Gray fox just kinda slow dodged everything. Funny thing is, if the game was more realistic, the dodge mechanic is too important compared to the gunplay. If this had a more fantasy streak, the dodge would be insufficient. Let's see what changes with the dlc. I feel the game (and franchise) still have plenty of potential, but the vision has to be executed better.
I think the fundamental problems with Callisto protocol is that it tries so hard to be dead space without being dead space, and towards the end it tries to piece the bigger picture in when it should have done what the dead space trilogy did with giving foundations of the bigger picture into its sequels, but obviously they didn't want to play how many years of catch up to lead to something like Brethren moon. I said this in another video but I'll say it here as well. I think the only hope for Callisto is for some of the developers attaching themselves onto a Dead space 2 remake if Motive does one
They needed some upgrades that actually change your melee Imagine you can “over charge” your baton and your next hit would leave the enemy and any close to it “shocked” by the electricity. This can give you time to reload, change weapon, or make some distance
I like your story rewrite using the CORE memory sharing mechanic, it frustrated me they didn’t utilise that enough in game when it has huge narrative potential. I also think it could set up Dani as a future sequel protagonist, returning to the prison to find out what happened to Jacob after she has memory bleeds that reveal he didn’t die there.
Imagine if Dead Space dropped first, left people wanting more, then months later, Callisto drops. Except this time it's stable, has dismemberment mode, horde mode, hardcore mode, NG+ (seriously) better fighting mechanics, and includes the real ending in the base game instead of locking it behind a paywall. It would have been a hit, and they could have still worked on a DLC after the fact that would have sold well. It really needed around 3-6 more months of work.
@KevinHelpUs they must have been so scared and childish of the dead space remake to the point they lost the battle because of fear. It's ironic how a remake done by a ea studio did better then the original dead space director and team
@@KevinHelpUs blame Krafton then. It’s their fault. Glen was promised around that exact time frame to finish the game and then Krafton just yanked the rug from underneath him and said nope it’s gotta ship NOW thank you
Story-wise, I can see two rewrites being possible: one keeping what the game went with, but have it actually make sense while also have the characters develop overtime, and not be there just to keep the “story” going. The other being a drastic reimagining of The Callisto Protocol that would have Jacob Lee being a career criminal who’s been locked away in Black Iron long enough for him being able to fight with a stun baton the way he does so fast make more sense; he’s been in his share of riots, and is quite the fighter, indicating a violent criminal record (which I have to wonder - why didn’t they just go with that? That would’ve made him more interesting and his “arc” easier to rip off Dead Space 2- I mean...easier to make him a competently written protagonist.
@@KevinHelpUs At first, Callisto was supposed to be set in the pubg universe, and the plot would revolve around this mysterious organisation that was trying to create a perfect human by forcing people to survive, hence the battle royale, but 6 or so months before the release, this concept was scrapped. And because there was not enough time to flesh out the changes, the plot of Callisto Protocol became very strange and less than ideal. This video explains it very well and tries to guess what the story was supposed to be originally. ruclips.net/video/YbmOZfbBz4A/видео.html Also, if you speculate a bit and try to guess, what the original story set in pubg universe was by examining what’s left of it in the game, you get much more exciting plot.
So, I've played the DLC. I don't know if you're going to come back to play it, but if you aren't, I'll sum up what the DLC Final Transmission is. Final Transmission happens just after the ending of Callisto Protocol. Jacob awakens back in Dr. Mauler's lab and now has to fight through a completely new section of Black Iron with all new BioBot enemies to deal with. With hallucinations, visions, and other crazy shit tormenting Jacob along the way to collecting the last of the data to incriminate the Circle, we find that the DLC was inside his head, as his dismembered body was kept alive through Life Support thanks to Mauler. Since Jacob was still connected to Dani, all that evidence went to her in the transfer, and Jacob dies, thinking he'd escaped Callisto.
I like your story tweaks. For my part, I would have liked the horror to be more Lovecraftian. Mutated people aren't scary. In fact, I was always looking forward to fighting them. I really liked the mechanic. But make the horror more unpredictable. More unknown. Your video was very funny also. Good job!
@@KevinHelpUs having some of them have mutations that would make sense in terms of lethality and survival. Stuff that is to us, utterly abhorrent and against anything that could be considered humane. But, I mean, evolution does what it has to.
This may sound harsh but this game looking so beautiful I think is what hurt it. I would remove a lot of the spikes from the environment and actually synergize the kinesis aspect with the melee part of the game, allowing you quick burst of increase in damage and speed at the cost of burning through your kinesis. I would've given the player more kinesis abilities to use and kept the ammo aspect sparse.
That’s not harsh! I was saying this the other day, I know the graphics and art aren’t done by the same team that manages gameplay elements, but I would have preferred a less beautiful game with better gameplay than a gorgeous one with worse gameplay. Look at Signalis, it came out at roughly the same time, is PS1-style retro and everyone loves it.
I'd say the Dead Space remake funnily enough looks amazing while keeping it horror. Of course, a lot of people wouldn't be scared by this point due to how we climatise to things, but the game genuinely was scary for people who never played it before
To me, the most annoying part of The Callisto Protocol is that it had so much potential. Despite all of its flaws, I personally love it just as much as Dead Space. I wanted to see this game become a series so bad, but the developers fumbled the ball so hard at launch by trying to rush the game out that it completely ruined any potential it could have had. Player reception was poor, optimization was abysmal, gameplay and weapon variety was lacking. So the game obviously flopped which undoubtedly made the publisher Krafton cancel any funding for a sequel. Now, it’s forever going to stay a game series that will be a “what if?” SPOILERS BELOW Also the fact they killed off Jacob in the DLC after hyping you up for a continuation of the story at the end of the original game? That was a real slap in the face for no reason. It completely killed any of the hype left you had going forward for the series.
I realize I'm a year later here but... no, they didn't skip playtesting. We are aware of cut content, as one of Witwer's unused lines ended up in one of the trailers, but in fact, the project leads actively ignored junior staff's feedback warning them about the rough spots. It's casually brought up as -something funny- in a pre-release Ars Technica interview. By all accounts I've been able to find online, the dev cycle in general just does not sound good. One of the art leads even pricked his hand to smear actual blood "for visual reference", which visibly unnerves someone else in the game's own BTS documentary.
Damn, that was entertaining! Calm voice, no cringy jokes, nice montage, no slapping the game just because it's popular to do so. Nice content, gonna check out more videos.
@@KevinHelpUs Well, I meant that Callisto Protocol could have possibly been that if they had as you said in the video "infinite budget and infinite dev. time". Alas hypotetical dream games are just that "dreams".
17:06 my first fix: have the player spend some time in the prison before the outbreak. Get to know Elias for a bit, become friends. Other fixes I’d suggest: Get into a fistfight with a prison gang to serve as our combat tutorial pre-outbreak. Have the guards be utter d-bags to some prisoners for no good reason. Interact with people who claim innocence and plant the seeds of doubt about the situation more firmly. Give us more time with Mahler as she runs tests on inmates and gives them mysterious injections before the outbreak. Give Jacob some time to really be haunted by his friend’s death. Show us a time lapse of nights in prison tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Do more things with the CORE devices and their memory transfer capabilities. For example, have Jacob unlock new skills by integrating the COREs of dead prisoners and guards-like learning how to hack door panels by downloading a technician’s CORE. Have the Conspirators pressure the warden prior to the outbreak so it feels more like an act of desperation-a shot in the dark to finally produce results.
I just watched your Dead Space Voice video and dude, you have a fucking knack for video essays. Very thought provoking. Time to binge. Thanks for sharing this man!!
Honestly I am suprised that we didn't have some psychopath prisoners ala Outlast hunting Jacob and Jacob having to kill them also I can't be the only thinking that the CORE system giving Jacob hallucinations might have played a bigger part
- You had an entertaining video. After I beat the game I watched dozens of videos and the feelings towards the game and it's elements are all over the place. I have to say that your take is the closet to how I feel about the game and it's aspects. But one thing is that I can't call this survival horror. It's straight up action with horror themes. Like House of the Dead. Just wasn't scary and didn't fill me with dread, just frustration.
Thanks so much! And yeah, playing the Dead Space Remake this weekend has been a totally different experience. I really hope Striking Distance take the feedback they've received and apply it to the DLC, because the makings of a way better experience are already there.
21:34 also i would make the escape pod bigger for more people than 1 person and there be multiple escape pods. the whole theres just 1 (insert here) left is cliche now. it would be more impactful showing that a person have a clear escape but feel obligated to stay, ik this is late but still
I love the idea of different melee weapons. Chainsaw: make it like the doom 2016 chainsaw, limited fuel but it's a one hit kill on just about anything Sledgehammer: trade the speed of the stun baton with the power of the sledgehammer Golf club: make it a new game plus weapon
The funniest part is that the secret cult in Callisto Protocol effectively apes the highest tier of Unitologist in Dead Space known as Enigmas. Enigmas wear masks and are effectively in charge of everything, and are well-informed on what the true purpose of the Markers is.
There was actually a video released talking about the connections to PUBG and the Callisto Protocol and the lore of PUBG and, surprisingly, they connect really damn well. For one, PUBG apparently takes place in the 22nd century, where the higher class of people, specifically this circle of "golden mask" wearing leaders, put on battle royale games among the poor from the slums and send them to isolated areas, where the winners would be allowed into the higher class, though the games were also a long lasting tradition to find the evolution in humanity and make the perfect being, exactly like what happens in this game, only with the twist of the virus.
Huh. I think I’ve seen that video about (it has the Charlie Day Always Sunny meme on the thumbnail?), I played PUBG a few years back, but never got into the lore. I’ll check it out!
@@KevinHelpUs Yeah, that's the one. It's in the second half of the video where it starts do delve into the lore and how it connects to the Callisto Protocol. When you see it, you realise how much the two's connection actually makes sense.
Your fix on the story helps to make these characters more likeable. Not as "great" or even good characters, but about how their conflict makes them more compelling, just like Isaac's grief and guilt in Dead Space 2. He was not a great character, but his conflict was interesting and it's resolution was good enough. I was forgiving with the story because it is congruent with it's main theme/message, even in the Final Transmision DLC (the only story based one). But I like your solution more, it adds a dramatic twist that I did not see coming and impacts me in my manfeelz. What I would have fixed in this game? -Counter mechanic unlocked from the start. -More diverse enemies -Your story fix. -Not so many two-head, and if they repeat it, not padding its difficulty with playing dirty. -More chances to send exploders (can you see that pun) into enemies. I liked doing that in last boss fight and prision hardest/last level. Keep these coming good sir.
I was actually really excited for Callisto but as release came closer I started to see red flags and ended up not getting it. I did however get Dead Space Remake because I never played the original and heard great things about the original that I had no frame of reference to compare it. After playing through Dead Space Remake, I have to say, it was a fantastic game and I really enjoyed it. It really is to bad that Callisto did not do well and seems like it was rushed.
From a gameplay standpoint, due to it being a melee centric combat, it should have had more depth and complexity to it. This isn’t because the gameplay itself was bad, but rather, it doesn’t feel too replay-able from a gameplay standpoint. But I do find it interesting and want it further expanded upon for a space horror game to focus on melee.
They need to make the block viable Like if an enemy is going for a grab, you can block instead of dodge and you get rewarded with an enemy stun or something. Also dodging should be on another button. Not the move button
Sometimes, it aint the devs ruining a game but the suits rushing out an inferior product just so they can say, "FiRsT." One, Kevin mentioned that they wanted to release this game before the dead space remake, it made more sense as to why the game was clunky ass hell.
@@Aw3someOpZyea I said as much in another comment. Glen recently came out and pulled zero punches and explained Krafton effectively promised him and the team about 3-6 months of extra development time and then without warning forced them to ship the game.. (so it would launch before the dead space remake I’m assuming)
It think it would of been great too if we actually spent some time at Black Iron BEFORE the outbreak. We could of spent more time with the characters and seen how this place was bad then the outbreak happens and it only gets worse
I liked callisto protocol when it came out, was definitely worth the money for me. I think the major thing that's holding back the horror element is the melee combat. Monsters are suddenly not as scary when you can take them on in a melee fight
I wouldn't bother trying to fix Callisto Protocol, the story is serviceable. Where I would make my pivot is the next game. I'd take inspiration from Dead Space 2 and Resident Evil 2 and have Jacob have to battle his way out of a city that is going to hell. I'd also limit the melee to more of a glory kill to get more drops from enemies and focus gameplay on ranged acts.
More levels set in locations like the part of Europa we got to see would be awesome. The Prison had its moments and the snow areas too, but the caves were a bit dull. Come city/civilian areas would be awesome
Make the audio log auto play like Dead Space instead of freezing the gameplay. Provide more ammo to allow gunplay. More enemy and Boss variety. More text/audio log for warden/Jacob/Danie. More puzzle room/backtracking instead of push forward walking simulator.
Just finished the game for the first time last night. During the first half I was having a lot of fun. Couldn't see why people were hating on it. It was around the fourth or fifth arena with the blind enemies that I started getting worn out. The four two-heads were a massive tipping point too since I put all my money into upgrading the Baton and the GRP, with no damage boosts to my guns.
I have to admit I kinda liked horror Punch Out, and it's a rarity in that it's one of the few times I preferred using one of those drop-in bonus skins games these days love to add. Specifically, the retro "prison stripes" style outfit which I just think looks a lot nicer and more obviously "prisony" than the (to us modern) orange jumpsuit. I only wish changing your prison outfit also changed all the other prisoner's uniforms.
@@NGPODDGAMING It is, but my channel mostly grew on long-form videos and some people don't like streams. I wish RUclips would let you opt-in/out of certain content types, but they don't, and I don't want to push streams on folks who don't enjoy them. This seemed the best compromise that would let me stream as often as I'd like.
i LOVE the Callisto Prootocol, Ive considered making a video just like this on how i would better the story, but truly all this game needed was another couple months in the oven, hell imagine all that they couldve accomplished in a year. The game is so good, the action isnt overbearing, its really fun and engaging too. I just want dead space to have a horde mode :( I think Callisto Protocol was a proof of concept that would have succeeded if it wasnt rushed
We need a part 2 to this video now that the DLC is out. I would love to hear your thoughts I heard so many interesting things about the DLC ending, especially when i played it
I enjoyed the game for what it was once I got used to the combat but definitely the story would’ve worked better with more connection to the characters like Elias I was upset he died cause I barely got to know the guy enough to truly care for his death. Dani of coarse she’s crucial to the story as is so we got some time to understand her and Ferris I think we could’ve gotten more conflict with him before turning him into the beast that shouts 521 a lot lol the story definitely has dead space beats all over sure but it’s fun just character development for sure wish got more of.
Also, I was preaching about how the combat is based on melee and that should be more melee weapons. At the very least, like Soul Reaver (or game that got remade), have one time use weapons you pop off the wall like a spear or a cinderblock to smash their head in.
The union makes the force. Both games are awesome, but as you said; it needed more of the spice that made Dead Space (and Resident Evil 4) great: the possibility of sweep & clean the halls of the lunar prison with ease.
Hope you read this cuz in this comment i'll try to fix/add mecchanichs to the game ( sorry for bad english ) 1 change the dodge sistem: instead of dodge by only have the stick to left and right for every attack make that you need to dodge to left if the attack from from the left ( same for right ) and if you only hold your stick instead of dodge jacob will block with take little damage also but if you put the input before the attack hit jacob start to dodge and also add attack from up and down to dodge with the analog ( basically add more challenge to the dodge mecchanic instead of just go ultra instinct ) 2 make enemy less tanky but have more multiple encounter ( at the start some 1v1 encounter last 40 sec ) 3 i don't think we need more melee weapon but more moveset, an idea is base on where is the direction of the analog jacob will aim a limbs to remove it with the last attack of a combo: Down for legs: enemy slower Left and right for arms: enemy don't do many attack Up for the head: deals extra damage Cleary if the enemy is more big he'll need more attack on the same limb to broke it and since this rebalance will have more enemy on the same encounter it make a lot of sense to slow down 4 add a fast heal like in dead space while the other become a medikit 5 improve stealth and add the "clicker enemy way before to have a situation where you want to stealth kill him since he spot you if do the same to a different enemy ( not like now ) And for now that all simple ideas but they might work well
I remember hearing how Callisto Protocol was being presented to be a "spiritual successor to Dead Space" with Glen Schofield, being the original game's producer, helming it I was probably one of the only people who decided to save for the Dead Space remake and skip out Callisto Protocol, merely cause I'm so much more familiar of Dead Space &, of course, being a Dead Space fan. And given how Callisto Protocol turned out, I'm glad I skipped it out for the Dead Space remake (I could still get the game, just not too interested). Given how Callisto Protocol turned out, especially with the story & lore, & the reception, this feels like Glen & the team are in a lose/lose situation. They wanted to make Callisto Protocol its own thing, but they also wanted it to be a spiritual successor to Dead Space, so those ended up clashing. And it also doesn't help that there was genuine hype for the Dead Space remake, especially with how open the Dead Space remake team has been showing in their process in recreating Dead Space. The Dead Space remake team may not be the exact team of the original 2008 game, but they are genuine & passionate fans of Dead Space. So the competition is genuinely difficult for Callisto Protocol to go up against, & again, given how it Callisto Protocol turned out, especially the lore & story, & with the Dead Space remake already out, Callisto Protocol easily lost to Dead Space. It's genuinely difficult to compete with Dead Space given just how deep, well made, and standout its world & lore is (Dead Space 3 is literally just the only sore eye in the whole picture & that's only cause of EA interfering as the devs for Dead Space 3 had a completely different direction they were supposed to do originally that would've properly align well with the first 2 Dead Space games). In short, Dead Space was too good to go up against, hence it's a losing battle nevertheless for Glen & the team. Best they could've done was focus on doing 1 idea: either make it its own thing, but it won't be like Dead Space, or don't hesitate to take all of what made Dead Space so great, but you run at extremely high risk of missing the points &, nevertheless, will be very often be compared to Dead Space. We can only hope they'd continue Callisto Protocol & as much as I'm not interested in the game like Dead Space, I do wish for success for Callisto Protocol.
Wow man on video in and I really like your commentary, jokes, voice and presentation. You just earned another subscriber! (Also the endcard with the Matrix code? It’s like you’re trying to be my friend 😂)
One way I would make the Grip (kinesis let’s be real) less overpowered is by having it only able to pick up enemies that have lost limbs/their heads (could make it so it recharges outside of combat as well so it’s not ridiculously situational.) This would make it so that it isn’t just an instant win button but rather a tool to give you breathing room in combat by either finishing them by sending them into a piece of machinery or throwing them into another enemy; knocking both of them down for a few seconds allowing better control over the fight.
After I was done playing, there was only thing in the story I would have fixed. Have Jacob actually responsible for the outbreak. After reading some of the comments, I would have also had Ferris be Subject Zero in disguse and the true mastermind of this outbreak. The Circle and the Warden thought they cause it, but Ferris reveals he can control the other infected like a hive mind and can make them dormant (normal) or active. He been waiting for The Circle to reveal themselves to get his revenge and army. He would infect the Warden, making him the final boss while he escaped.The series would become a three-way war with Humanity(Jacob & Dani); The Circle (finding new ways to evolve); and Ferris (and his Hive)
There's usually a curse for reboots, remakes and "spiritual successors" for movies and video games. This one is no exception. I mean, remember when 4 former Valve employees put their names on Back 4 Blood?
I’ve had some folks say they should have gone harder on it, and I kinda agree! If they built the whole game around it, fine, but as is it really comes out of nowhere.
@@KevinHelpUs yeah, that's what I was thinking. I believe that a lot of the plot contrivances could have been excused had they leaned harder into the battle royale aspect of it. It's just a fun premise. Besides, while the market is quite saturated with br multiplayer games, a single player game that focuses on this aspect could be a fresh take on the idea.
I agree with this thinking. Almost a shame to see that the plot doesn't need a rewrite, just fixes here and there ;_; Callisto Protocol feels like a house built on sound foundation, but with rushed structure.
I made a much less high quality video about some ways to fix the weakest shortcomings of Callisto Protocol, mostly revolving around Jacobs responsibility and guilt for his failure to act on his suspicions. I think that would make a drastic improvement for the overall character writing and story of the game, but I think your fix is a much better one in terms of a wholistic approach and looking at the entire games plot and not simply Jacob himself. Great video. I’ll be checking out more from you.
So glad you enjoyed it! I’ll have to check out yours too - and I think we’re both right that Jacob’s arc is one of the biggest missteps in the game, and that the solutions for fixing it were already there to use.
@@KevinHelpUs absolutely. The biggest tragedy of Jacob is he had an actual compelling arc…it just didn’t start until the last 30 minutes of the game. I appreciate that! Getting ready to dive into your back log! You deserve way more eyes on your content for how good your quality is!
Don't know how I'd make Calisto Protocol better, besides adding different melee weapons that control differently, but I feel Mentioning the Circle might have been a bad choice. Like you don't say the name so there's more mystery. Not saying this from lack of trying but I come up with blanks when trying to fix stuff. Still your ideas sound great.
Thanks! Yeah, it sounds like The Circle was an even bigger plot element for a while, then cut, but not fully. Like a lot of issues with this game, they never committed in one direction for long enough.
@@KevinHelpUs sounds like it to be honest, i just feel like this game had some cool elements. I feel it was rushed and that hurt it more than just giving it say another couple of months to finalize the store. Also to give a bad comparison, the second Resident evil movie Apocalypse had the main character and the monster fight it out, with their fists i must add
Going between both Calisto and Dead Space Remake, Calisto felt like I had more options thanks to the baton melee combat. While in Dead Space kenesis is infinitely usable and not needing of any recharge unlike stasis. Which is also powerful.
How would I fix The Callisto Protocol.. I'd simplify the melee down to the usual single button attack and focus on the guns (4 max) and explosives (burning, freezing, acid damage) with limited inventory, resources and crafting materials (the glove is cool though, I'd totally keep that). Also I'd add a stealth element (with stealth takedowns) so you could pretty much navigate through the whole game without having to shoot at all. As for the story I'd employ a lot more ambiguity so that we're putting the pieces together along with Jacob. So I'd start with him hallucinating about Max and the pink box in his cell. There would be instances throughout the story where his guilt would flare up incomprehensibly, and it wouldn't be clear why even to him because the traumatic installation of his implant would have allowed him to suppress the memory of what he did. We'd find out about him and Max being freighter pilots during his sync with Dani, and all his memory blocks would be lifted. Dani would also uncover the truth when they synced, but she'd keep it to herself until she could screw him over in return (by making sure there's only one available escape pod and she gets it), and this is where we'd learn that the core sync works both ways. Also having the pink box show up every now and then in appropriate locations (in hindsight) in the environment during gameplay would add to the mystery. The 'alpha' should probably be Max so that his bossfight would have a lot of that "look what you did to me" energy (also the alpha is just a stable container for the alien dna, and Max is absolutely not stable). I'd also make Captain Ferris less of a jerk and just a hard-headed by-the-book military guy who does inadvertently get infected and runs into Jacob every now and then, but in a Mr X sort of way. Not really a boss fight, more of an environmental hazard. He's also still the actual alpha, but slips through the net because only inmates were selected as subjects for the program (because they're disposable) and it isn't explicitly stated that he's the alpha, we're just left to infer that from the fact that his mutation is totally stable. In his final encounter with Jacob, whatever happens to him leaves his fate unclear (he falls a long way down and isn't seen again until the DLC for example). One more thing, the Circle wouldn't be some weird illuminati group, it's a ruthless, faceless Weyland Yutani-like corporation who only care about their 'property'.
17:01 I'd have scrapped Jacob being a delivery guy and made him an actual prisoner. He's done something in his past and has been on death row for a long time because of it. His time in prison has changed him from whatever animal he was that landed him there. He wasn't framed. He BELONGS in prison and WANTS to pay for what he has done. This makes him a bit morally ambiguous. Pretty much my idea for Jacob would be more along the lines of James Earl Cash from Manhunt. I've grown tired of traditional hero protagonists and really like stories where a terrible person is placed in a worse situation (similar to what was done in the movie Predators). Jacob is transferred to Black Iron for execution but this is a front to transporting prisoners for experimentation. Many allegories are made to Black Iron being Hell for Jacob. Jacob is injected with something that causes hallucinations. His memories take the form of ghosts of people he's possibly killed(what he's done isn't out right stated). These "ghosts" can attack the player, and will cause Jacob to die of shock or cause harm to himself(think of the scene from Dead Space 2). Insert a older mentor like prisoner who is responsible for Jacob's path to redemption as an ally character. Keep the Sam Witwer character. Give him and Jacob some history. Maybe Jacob killed a guard in a fight who was a buddy of his when he first arrived(further hinting at Jacob's previous savagery) and the two have been enemies ever since. Add more scenes with him.This is all off the top of my head.
I found your channel through the Dead Space 2 video and I've been hooked to your content. Have you played Callisto Protocol's DLC yet? I really want to know your thoughts about it
@@KevinHelpUs It was a little bit predictable ending-wise, but I enjoyed it. I really liked the hallucinations mechanic, and actually spent time replaying them just to see "what would happen if I do this instead?"
*SPOILERS* Yeah, with the DLC that came out, being basically a re-use of existing game assets and some likely cut content (a new melee and 1, count it, 1 new enemy type) that wrapped up the story as "and everyone died, the end" I think it's safe to say they're cutting their losses, and there's no chance any of this will be expanded upon in any kind of sequel or additional story DLC. I really, really don't like Callisto's gameplay and the final story is wrought with plotholes, cliches, and plain ol' poor writing choices, but I think they did have some really stellar aspects hidden in there that could've been expanded upon if they weren't rushing to beat Dead Space Remake to market and gave it like another 6-8 months of oven time. Like you said they swung first, but they should've focused on hitting harder. The gameplay probably would've been the same boring clunky mess, given they talked about how early in development they apparently "finalized" the combat system, but the story could have at least carried the experience and set up room for a sequel to improve on it's many gameplay mistakes and expand on a more solid narrative and universe. But as it stands there's just so much missed potential and I think the franchise was already killed off before it began. Can't say I'm *too* saddened by this given the final product is so... lackluster, but it could've been decent and blossomed into a greater franchise that could've ended up clicking with me a lot more. Quite a shame. Just hope Krafton is more merciful to poor ol' Striking Distance than EA was to Visceral, and they can at least move on to a new game/franchise instead of being shuttered instantly. Even if a studio messes up big-time they still deserve a second chance.
If I were to fix The Callisto Protocol, I would get more in depth with the infestation the Warden unleashed in his and the circle's obsession with the survival of the fittest. More specifically, Fierre's descent into madness as he evolves into that Mr X knockoff you see, and perhaps he could be one of the enemies that pursues you in many levels, each time Fierre being more insane, having new moves to throw at you (including but not limited to throwing objects at you, using a massive bar of metal as a weapon, summoning minions to assist him, etc). And not only that, but get in detail with his descent to emphasize the horror and perhaps even add cult-like themes because that's the vibes I'm getting from the circle and the Warden. Especially when he said "The Warden opened my eyes. Showed me my purpose.".
P.S. He could also have stuble but gradually more obvious hints to his transformation into that bloated behemoth in phase 2 of the final boss fight (I think him straining before saying the infection was a gift was a hint but that's all we got.) Jittiness, groaning, sounds of writhing flesh and crackling bones, and perhaps even some tendrils poking underneath his skin from time to time each time you encounter him. In his phase 2 in his final boss fight, he would use all of his movesets from each confrontation and then some, including hulk smashing or ripping apart metal to make them fall on you with the intent to crush you with them, tendrils, etc. To show Ferris still retains his intelligence despite his mental state turned into mush and the man reduced into a raging animal. And to also give the player the opportunity to flex their labor from all of the fighting. I'd probably also make the victory a lot more dramatic, Ferris crying out as mutated flesh sloughs off him from all of the damage he sustained, his body becoming less and less human in desperation to keep fighting only for it go in vein and Ferris eventually collapsing into a disgusting mess.
P.S #2 And when the DLC is qeud, Ferris could come back to confront Jacob yet again in the ending, this time even more uncanny, but slim and still sloughing and generating mutated flesh, as if he... well, _it_ , is making its last waning effort to kill you.
P.S #3 Forgot to mention. As for how Ferris transforms into the behemoth, it could be because of Jacob causing so much damage to him, he isn't able to sustain his human form anymore, leading him to reach the epitome of his insanity and inhumanity.
The villains (The circle) having a dumb motivation is great to my mind because these rich, powerful, and successful people are using this organization to both ask a question and give the answer. What did I succeed? Why am I winning and others not? The Circle's goal is to find winners and study them but then also to make themselves winners to. To make themselves winners not just societally but physically as well, even possibly becoming immortal. Their metric for being a winner is being good at killing and specifically being as an individual more capable of killing than others. The Circle opposes cooperation. Likely, they see cooperation or those who use it as weak, which is ironic since it is precisely cooperation and social organization alongside tool usage and intelligence which gave us tools and cooperation that have made mankind soo successful. We have seen recently that being wealthy does not prove you to be intelligent. The Circle is likely made up of idiots who think themselves wise, who need to prove to themselves their wealth and power are deserved, and that only looking out for their own good is morally correct and ordained by nature. It could be utterly hilarious if the Cirlce also had a supremacist aspect since, in the quest to prove that their chosen group is superior, they would remove themselves from that group and mankind through the tool of this mutation virus. It would be like someone deciding that crows are the best bird and proving it to be by messing with a crow's DNA, so it has scales, teeth, and extra eyes but claiming it to be a crow still.
I don’t believe there’s ever much mention of their motivations, but yeah, they clearly see themselves as worthy to direct the course of humanity, so them being supremacists wouldn’t be a stretch.
i am quite the fan of sam witwer, the man is darth maul and starkiller after all so seeing him in this game was quite the plus and im sad we didnt see more of him, perhaps a dlc of him following jacob through the game and getting to try out his infected strength on lesser biophages and robots, and granted ive only played it recently so i enjoyed a smoother version of the game but on max difficulty it really came into its own as a tough but fun game when you came out on top, minus some of the bullshit like the two heads and mob spawns in the middle of fighting bosses
Idk what it is but I have a soft spot for The Callisto Protocol because Glen Schofield is such a creative guy when it comes to making horror in games. Plus Josh Duhamel is loyal to him since they met during Call of Duty WW2. WW2 zombies was a taste of what he was able to do in Dead Space and what he was planning to do in The Callisto Protocol. It was a good test of a game so I have hope the DLC for the game and future games will be produced a whole lot better and maybe it’ll really be a competitor to a Dead Space 2 remake if they end up doing one.
I hope the DLC does more to bring the game world to life - and I hope they don’t have any competition from other games so they don’t have to rush their next one.
@@KevinHelpUs Very true, plus I’ve heard the DLC is a prequel to the original game so hopefully it’ll knock out some of the story plot holes, maybe even try to differentiate it from Dead Space 😂. But I agree, hoping they don’t rush on their sequel(s).
When you get to the core of the game, it seems to be about the difference between respect and control. Lee wants people to trust him, but everyone has their own agendas and he has to learn to see things from the perspectives of others. The warden wants control, and built the prison around keeping everyone in his iron grip, and molding everyone to see the world the same way. Funnily enough it reminds me of the interactions between Reed Richards and Dr. Doom. Reed is a genius, but needs to learn to relax and trust others. Meanwhile Doom is so arrogant that he thinks the only way to live in utopia is for him to literally take over the universe. I feel like that could work in the world of this game, with Lee breaking the rigid structure the warden has created, in the hopes of getting through to him before he reaches the real point of no return.
The “apex predator, ultimate survivor” thing would be better if the game was like the recent reboot of Prey. There is nothing “evolved” about Jacob. He is just a dude relying on technology. But in Prey, you have to inject yourself with synthesized alien DNA to upgrade your abilities. If that was the means to upgrade, slowly becoming a monster to survive (in prey, after so many upgrades the ship’s systems don’t recognize you as human) THAT would make the natural selection motif make sense.
The thing that I hate about modern game development is that the team is asked to create a picasso from scratch while timed. Give them a normal salary and bonus per copy sold. Screw visuals. Dead space 1 was the perfect example of how just making the main character and lighting good is just enough to hide garish textures and view distance. Heck I'm still playing it at least once a year
I know that the graphics and gameplay weren’t handled by the same people, but I would have much rather had simpler graphics and better gameplay than the opposite we got.
I bought the 20 euro Callisto Protocol deluxe edition and holy shit, for 20 euro's, this game was an absolute banger. I loved every part of it because... Well, for 20 euro's you cant go wrong. Really good game with just one gripe that you mentioned as well... You are forced in to melee combat the whole damn time, you have limited ammo... But you only get 1 melee weapon?! Comon! (DLC introduces 1 more, but you cant choose...)
Good luck with getting Glen Schofield to even acknowledge your criticism. Personally speaking, I happened to like TCP. I have a Xbox Series S. Graphically, the game is light years ahead of Dead Space. Yes, the game is more linear, however I’m still very impressed by it.
I am gonna say I thoroughly enjoyed the game albeit it was short and I played on easy difficulty I had a good time tho i am not opposed to your story changes because I am easily pleased so anything is really fine with me but nice video
I think I would add a mechanic that would see where the longer you take the harder the enemies become. So those in the prison become more mutated and more easily able to lay you out, but otherwise I agree more with the story changes.
one frustrating thing for me was Sam Witwers characters was giving a speech in the trailer with so much emotion but in the game he barely cared... so anticlimatic
I'm ngl I think the pubg references in this game were done in a surprisingly interesting way The idea of it sounds bizarre, but the actual execution of it was quite subtle and clever
I’m glad you liked it! I think MAYBE if it had been more apparent earlier, it would have worked for me, but they left so much to chance (what if the killer robots shot the alpha?), that the story made no sense once I thought about it, at least to me.
@@KevinHelpUs oh yeah don't get me wrong your fixed version of the story is still way better, I haven't played the game myself but while watching your video I was pleasantly surprised by the way the writers integrated the pubg aspects, especially the name of 'The Circle' group being a reference to the literal circle from pubg
I have nothing but respect for Josh Duhamel and Sam Witwer for trying to make this work. All the voice actors are pretty good, but those two really stood out. Which isn't surprising.
True, I have no complaints about the acting. I may not have liked Ferris, but Sam Witwer did as much as he could have with the material he was given.
I loved Ferris' voice so much (such a good combination of charisma and "evil") I was really sad his human self and therefore his voice was gone so soon. He should have been the real antagonist. The warden seemed so bland compared to it ("evolution blabla").
Same the casting were great, but yeah the melee mechanic is so bland, lack of enemy variations, even seriously we need more weapon variation not just assault rifle with grenade launcher, handgun with grenade launcher, handcannon with grenade launcher, shotgun with grane launcher, the story is seems nothing new here
@@rezaruki3912 I hope the DLC fills in those gaps!
@@KevinHelpUs I would love to see it, this game deserve better imo, even though this game could not compete with RE4 remake or even with Deadspace remake, and if there's gonna be the sequel i hope its gonne be better one
One specific change I would have made would have been the setting.
MandaloreGaming briefly mentioned it in his review of the game, but hear me out...
Callisto is an ice moon. And well, beneath that ice, is a massive, abyssal ocean.
See where I'm going?
Black Iron Prison isn't just built on the surface of Callisto...it's built under that ocean.
Imagine the horror that could be leveraged with that. Being trapped in a slowly breaking metal coffin, as the water pressure tears the prison apart. Entire sections are flooded, bringing in terrors from the deep.
I love Deep Fear!
When being on a moon is not remote enough, you put the prison under the ice in the ocean.
@@rustyshackle8000 some body get this man a writing team
i like how you have the confidence to show the jumpscares without saying anything beforehand because you know theyre so bad
I do like the game, but it’s definitely not scary.
Wait there were jump scares? I feel dumb.
@@Wormy_fren Yes, but they were more mood-setters. Nothing objectively ‘scary’. Don’t feel dumb!
@@KevinHelpUs I was on edge on my first playthrough
You never know what can happen in a brand new horror game.
Yeah, if anything he did the game a service by not showing them all, the game abuses them so much that I don't think jump scares can be scary anymore lol.
"give me a golf club and I'll turn this place into Bioshock"
Quality content
A MAN CHOOSES (to say thank you!)
@@KevinHelpUs imagine if Callisto Protocol had a Foam Finger equivalent (lethal joke weapon that one shots) and it's just a golf club
@@KevinHelpUs mr Schofield, please, through updates, fix this game...won't you kindly.
@@KevinHelpUsyo, I love your dead space 2 videos.
@@anastasiosgkotzamanis5277lmao. Homie dipped a year after the game out.
Another thing that could be fixed (that made my eyes roll) would be the removal of freaker Sam Witwer's jump scare after Jacob killed all those infected. It was cheap and didn't have to be Ferris, who mutated and died a few minutes prior.
Instead have Dani get launched in the escape pod, then have Jacob turn around and get jump scared by a fully mutated prisoner. Creating the possibility that Jacob died as Dani monologues on spreading the truth to stop the Evolution Cult.
Credits roll, then it's revealed that Jacob fought off the infected like a boss. Mahler's holo pops up and delivers the same lines. Then cut to black. No cheap last second jump scare.
Good thoughts. It’s a horror game, we know the danger is still out there, but Ferris isn’t scary at all. Tease something new!
or ... I mean they aren't that close ... but come one there was enough snuggle room in that pod
Or a fully mutated Max :)
I personally would've changed the intro. Let Max live and let Ferris be hostile, let the guards take Deni as prisoner, but don't let them take Jacob. Instead let them take Max into infirmary with Jacob waiting on his healing operation. Some time here to watch nice graphics, get accomodated into the world and everything is still in working order.
Then the outbreak starts and nobody cares about Jacob. Infirmary gets cut off the powergrid for some reason, everything turns dark. Then he understands that no doors will open for him if he has no implant, so he can't even get out of the infirmary. Then we take some inspiration from the intro of a game called Surge - the completely automated installation of the implant in particular with no pain inhibitors. Let's say that the machines there have separate power source, since it's important medical equipment. He passes out due to pain and blood loss.
After that he wakes up during the same time he wakes up in the original line. Stumbles upon Elias or Elias stumbles upon him while searching for some medical stuff - second one is even better, since it establishes Elias as a good character that wants to help. Then Elias tells him that he's not in the system and so even with the implant the doors and services won't work for him, and in the same dialogue it's revealed that Jacob is a pilot and Elias wants out. But the only way Elias can get him into the system is as a new inmate, since he does not have any more clearance. And thus Jacob becomes the same #521 he is in the original line.
Now his goal is to find out what the hell happened to Max and try to get out of the place. Possibly a new guilt line, since he literally told Max that it was their last job and probably convinced him to do it with him. Possibly a new mechanic of security clearance, since we will have Dani that can tap into the systems more competently than Elias. Possibly it's not just Ferris that could become Alpha, but also Max and we need to fight or just mercy kill Max at some point and only after that Ferris emerges as the only potential Alpha.
And no unreasonable "let's catch this pilot that served us good before and didn't ask any question and use him as another body in the experiment, so that we will need to find another pilot after that and convince him to do the runs" plot choice that I personally really don't like.
I do like the angle of Jacob just being a nobody instead of a part of the "experiment" on Callisto. And YES, there should have been more guilt regarding Max (there was some, but we pivoted off it too quickly), especially since he had told Max it was their last job.
Bro. Someone should hire you as Story Director.
Seriously. Your changes not only pretty much fix the game's narrative problems. You added more depth to Jacob and more opportunities for Elias and Dani to get better character progression.
@@DJWeapon8 There's been some other good suggestions in the comments too! That's what frustrates me so hard about this game, all the elements of a way better game were already there!
@@KevinHelpUs Like making Max his Lover or Something more significant than just Pilot. Then he would be more guilty if he Let his Boyfriend/Fiance Die and the guilt would be more earned.
@@lockskelington314 oh no, you have infuriated the anti woke imaginary gods!
The only thing I like is Jacob because he’s hella realistic. He’s clueless and stubborn because he is what he is which is a survivor. His character is actually pretty good
He is! I don’t dislike Jacob as a character, I wanted to know more about how he fit into the world. Maybe we’ll get that in the DLC!
Agreed, I enjoyed his character a lot
I thought he was just really boring as a main character
@@finnancahill2644 my brother in christ
Issac Clarke didn’t even speak in the first game
Funnily, if you look at what kinks could be drawn to the pubg universe, a lot of the shit that happens here would make a lot of sense. In the end, this whole outbreak, was a fight for the lone survivor. A battle royale of sorts. The strongest will survive by any means. And, jacob is the one who survived.
Wish we could have played as Farris. A new head of the facility forced to do questionable things thinking it's for the greater good, but slowly starts to realize that the price is too high.
This, right here, would have been so much more interesting than what we got.
let's keep the same actor then, he does a great job.
i love how people are calling out the story for trying to make Jacob look evil because he was *doing his goddamn job*. And Dani, the one who was willing to blow up a spaceship out of spite and acting bitchy (even desecrating Jacob's new friend) is basically barely said a word, lmao.
Right? He’s not a scientist, how was he supposed to know what that was? Why is everything his fault for not intervening in a situation he had nothing to do with?
@@KevinHelpUs i guess all mailmen are now evil for not knowing if someone had a bomb in their box. lmao. Hell i think Glenn was confident of this "twist" being good. Like, he said on a interview if Lee was good or not "it depends on you, the player/it's up to you to decide."
I didn’t see the game as painting him in a bad light
I definitely thought that too. Dani has her reasons, but theres a bit of imbalance when she's like "you killed my friends too!".
Yeah, cause they boarded his ship with weapons, talking about how they were going to find him. Can't really blame him for defending himself
@@PineappleStickers Sigh. Women
BROOOOOOO you absolutely fixed it and made the story have actual thematic weight and impact with the same themes it was stabbing around in the dark trying to grasp in the first place!! Absolutely phenomenal job!
Agreed. A choice needs to have weight, needs to be an actual dilemma, to matter the way this one was intended to have.
Add "Katana" as a 1-hit-kill weapon for melee (to reward players); Have more enemy-types and break up sequences with something rewarding, like "upgradables" scavenging (think metroid), this way you reward players for linearity and even encourage partial side/back tracking.
Ohhhh I didn't even think of a katana - that'd be great!
I can smell the Gray Fox mods from here 😤😤😤 DELICIOUS!!!
@@stealthynaxo I would love this, but it would feel kinda weak if Gray fox just kinda slow dodged everything. Funny thing is, if the game was more realistic, the dodge mechanic is too important compared to the gunplay. If this had a more fantasy streak, the dodge would be insufficient. Let's see what changes with the dlc. I feel the game (and franchise) still have plenty of potential, but the vision has to be executed better.
How about a Lightsaber Katana? I think it'll fit slightly better.
I think the fundamental problems with Callisto protocol is that it tries so hard to be dead space without being dead space, and towards the end it tries to piece the bigger picture in when it should have done what the dead space trilogy did with giving foundations of the bigger picture into its sequels, but obviously they didn't want to play how many years of catch up to lead to something like Brethren moon.
I said this in another video but I'll say it here as well. I think the only hope for Callisto is for some of the developers attaching themselves onto a Dead space 2 remake if Motive does one
I’m hoping they are taking this feedback to heart for the DLC. I don’t need it immediately, take the time to make it really good. I’ll wait.
It's the fact it's just a plain old virus which is scary and all but has nothing a lovecraftian virus
They needed some upgrades that actually change your melee
Imagine you can “over charge” your baton and your next hit would leave the enemy and any close to it “shocked” by the electricity. This can give you time to reload, change weapon, or make some distance
Oh, that’d be great. I wish we got more stun out of that stun baton if we used it well. But apparently we can just smack a guy’s arms off.
I like your story rewrite using the CORE memory sharing mechanic, it frustrated me they didn’t utilise that enough in game when it has huge narrative potential. I also think it could set up Dani as a future sequel protagonist, returning to the prison to find out what happened to Jacob after she has memory bleeds that reveal he didn’t die there.
Right? Dani has Ferris’ blood, is she the new alpha? I hope the DLC explains a lot of this.
I'm gonna come back to this later to avoid more spoilers, but the first 1/3 has been great!
Thank you! And yes, we do cover the ENTIRE story, so if you want to avoid being spoiled, play the game first.
Imagine if Dead Space dropped first, left people wanting more, then months later, Callisto drops. Except this time it's stable, has dismemberment mode, horde mode, hardcore mode, NG+ (seriously) better fighting mechanics, and includes the real ending in the base game instead of locking it behind a paywall. It would have been a hit, and they could have still worked on a DLC after the fact that would have sold well.
It really needed around 3-6 more months of work.
It really did, whomever decided to rush it out clearly didn’t care about making a great game.
@KevinHelpUs they must have been so scared and childish of the dead space remake to the point they lost the battle because of fear. It's ironic how a remake done by a ea studio did better then the original dead space director and team
@@KevinHelpUs blame Krafton then. It’s their fault. Glen was promised around that exact time frame to finish the game and then Krafton just yanked the rug from underneath him and said nope it’s gotta ship NOW thank you
Story-wise, I can see two rewrites being possible: one keeping what the game went with, but have it actually make sense while also have the characters develop overtime, and not be there just to keep the “story” going. The other being a drastic reimagining of The Callisto Protocol that would have Jacob Lee being a career criminal who’s been locked away in Black Iron long enough for him being able to fight with a stun baton the way he does so fast make more sense; he’s been in his share of riots, and is quite the fighter, indicating a violent criminal record (which I have to wonder - why didn’t they just go with that? That would’ve made him more interesting and his “arc” easier to rip off Dead Space 2- I mean...easier to make him a competently written protagonist.
I am excited for the dead space remake, I do think that the Callisto protocol should be given a chance to be a franchise
I agree, there’s a lot of untapped potential there. And we streamed the Dead Space Remake this morning, it’s great!
If only they didn’t change the story concept a couple months before the release, and worked on Callisto properly, it could’ve been an awesome game
@@demifiendrussia I hadn’t heard that! Do you know what they changed?
@@KevinHelpUs At first, Callisto was supposed to be set in the pubg universe, and the plot would revolve around this mysterious organisation that was trying to create a perfect human by forcing people to survive, hence the battle royale, but 6 or so months before the release, this concept was scrapped. And because there was not enough time to flesh out the changes, the plot of Callisto Protocol became very strange and less than ideal.
This video explains it very well and tries to guess what the story was supposed to be originally.
ruclips.net/video/YbmOZfbBz4A/видео.html
Also, if you speculate a bit and try to guess, what the original story set in pubg universe was by examining what’s left of it in the game, you get much more exciting plot.
So, I've played the DLC. I don't know if you're going to come back to play it, but if you aren't, I'll sum up what the DLC Final Transmission is.
Final Transmission happens just after the ending of Callisto Protocol. Jacob awakens back in Dr. Mauler's lab and now has to fight through a completely new section of Black Iron with all new BioBot enemies to deal with. With hallucinations, visions, and other crazy shit tormenting Jacob along the way to collecting the last of the data to incriminate the Circle, we find that the DLC was inside his head, as his dismembered body was kept alive through Life Support thanks to Mauler. Since Jacob was still connected to Dani, all that evidence went to her in the transfer, and Jacob dies, thinking he'd escaped Callisto.
Yeah, I haven’t heard great reviews of the DLC. “It was all a dream” is like the most hackneyed trope ever.
2 head is the perfect chainsaw kill
THAT’S WHY WE NEED A CHAINSAW
I like your story tweaks. For my part, I would have liked the horror to be more Lovecraftian. Mutated people aren't scary. In fact, I was always looking forward to fighting them. I really liked the mechanic. But make the horror more unpredictable. More unknown. Your video was very funny also. Good job!
Thank you! Yeah, the monster designs were…fine, but they just looked like angry prisoners. Made them easier to beat up on, but it wasn’t scary.
@@KevinHelpUs having some of them have mutations that would make sense in terms of lethality and survival. Stuff that is to us, utterly abhorrent and against anything that could be considered humane. But, I mean, evolution does what it has to.
This may sound harsh but this game looking so beautiful I think is what hurt it. I would remove a lot of the spikes from the environment and actually synergize the kinesis aspect with the melee part of the game, allowing you quick burst of increase in damage and speed at the cost of burning through your kinesis. I would've given the player more kinesis abilities to use and kept the ammo aspect sparse.
That’s not harsh! I was saying this the other day, I know the graphics and art aren’t done by the same team that manages gameplay elements, but I would have preferred a less beautiful game with better gameplay than a gorgeous one with worse gameplay. Look at Signalis, it came out at roughly the same time, is PS1-style retro and everyone loves it.
I'd say the Dead Space remake funnily enough looks amazing while keeping it horror. Of course, a lot of people wouldn't be scared by this point due to how we climatise to things, but the game genuinely was scary for people who never played it before
To me, the most annoying part of The Callisto Protocol is that it had so much potential. Despite all of its flaws, I personally love it just as much as Dead Space. I wanted to see this game become a series so bad, but the developers fumbled the ball so hard at launch by trying to rush the game out that it completely ruined any potential it could have had. Player reception was poor, optimization was abysmal, gameplay and weapon variety was lacking. So the game obviously flopped which undoubtedly made the publisher Krafton cancel any funding for a sequel.
Now, it’s forever going to stay a game series that will be a “what if?”
SPOILERS BELOW
Also the fact they killed off Jacob in the DLC after hyping you up for a continuation of the story at the end of the original game? That was a real slap in the face for no reason. It completely killed any of the hype left you had going forward for the series.
I realize I'm a year later here but... no, they didn't skip playtesting. We are aware of cut content, as one of Witwer's unused lines ended up in one of the trailers, but in fact, the project leads actively ignored junior staff's feedback warning them about the rough spots. It's casually brought up as -something funny- in a pre-release Ars Technica interview.
By all accounts I've been able to find online, the dev cycle in general just does not sound good. One of the art leads even pricked his hand to smear actual blood "for visual reference", which visibly unnerves someone else in the game's own BTS documentary.
Damn, that was entertaining! Calm voice, no cringy jokes, nice montage, no slapping the game just because it's popular to do so. Nice content, gonna check out more videos.
All my jokes are cringy.
@@KevinHelpUs Well, then they are not bad enough to make me turn the video off.
Imagine 3rd Person Condemend Criminal Origins in Space with actually more complex brawling system and proper weapons variety.
Ooooh I’d play that.
@@KevinHelpUs Well, I meant that Callisto Protocol could have possibly been that if they had as you said in the video "infinite budget and infinite dev. time". Alas hypotetical dream games are just that "dreams".
17:06 my first fix: have the player spend some time in the prison before the outbreak. Get to know Elias for a bit, become friends.
Other fixes I’d suggest:
Get into a fistfight with a prison gang to serve as our combat tutorial pre-outbreak.
Have the guards be utter d-bags to some prisoners for no good reason. Interact with people who claim innocence and plant the seeds of doubt about the situation more firmly.
Give us more time with Mahler as she runs tests on inmates and gives them mysterious injections before the outbreak.
Give Jacob some time to really be haunted by his friend’s death. Show us a time lapse of nights in prison tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
Do more things with the CORE devices and their memory transfer capabilities. For example, have Jacob unlock new skills by integrating the COREs of dead prisoners and guards-like learning how to hack door panels by downloading a technician’s CORE.
Have the Conspirators pressure the warden prior to the outbreak so it feels more like an act of desperation-a shot in the dark to finally produce results.
Yes, give us some moments to breathe with your characters and mechanics if you want them to hold significance later.
I just watched your Dead Space Voice video and dude, you have a fucking knack for video essays. Very thought provoking. Time to binge. Thanks for sharing this man!!
Thanks for saying so! They’re a lot of fun to make. Glad you enjoyed!
Honestly I am suprised that we didn't have some psychopath prisoners ala Outlast hunting Jacob and Jacob having to kill them also I can't be the only thinking that the CORE system giving Jacob hallucinations might have played a bigger part
Right? There were those few in the tutorial and then suddenly nothing. Would have made sense if the battle royale theme was introduced much earlier.
- You had an entertaining video. After I beat the game I watched dozens of videos and the feelings towards the game and it's elements are all over the place. I have to say that your take is the closet to how I feel about the game and it's aspects. But one thing is that I can't call this survival horror. It's straight up action with horror themes. Like House of the Dead. Just wasn't scary and didn't fill me with dread, just frustration.
Thanks so much! And yeah, playing the Dead Space Remake this weekend has been a totally different experience. I really hope Striking Distance take the feedback they've received and apply it to the DLC, because the makings of a way better experience are already there.
I was actually scared af throughout the whole game
They did the same with Dead Space 3, it wasn't survival horror it was a glorified third person shooter with necromorphs thrown in.
I'd take out the dumb reveal of the circle being a bunch of aliens. adding them just made it silly imo
Yeah, I get wanting to tie it into PUBG because of the publisher, but they REALLY forced it. It was pretty hard to take seriously after that.
21:34 also i would make the escape pod bigger for more people than 1 person and there be multiple escape pods. the whole theres just 1 (insert here) left is cliche now. it would be more impactful showing that a person have a clear escape but feel obligated to stay, ik this is late but still
Still counts even if it’s late!
@@KevinHelpUs thx
@@KevinHelpUs also i'd add more enemies with body horror and different types of robots too
I like glen as a creative director and I think he’s super dope as a developer man. He’s gained a little bit of the benefit of the doubt from me.
I like him too, and he’s been super-transparent and open to feedback on Twitter throughout Callisto’s launch.
I love the idea of different melee weapons. Chainsaw: make it like the doom 2016 chainsaw, limited fuel but it's a one hit kill on just about anything
Sledgehammer: trade the speed of the stun baton with the power of the sledgehammer
Golf club: make it a new game plus weapon
I liked the running joke at the time “who knew the real successor to dead space was dead space”
The funniest part is that the secret cult in Callisto Protocol effectively apes the highest tier of Unitologist in Dead Space known as Enigmas. Enigmas wear masks and are effectively in charge of everything, and are well-informed on what the true purpose of the Markers is.
There was actually a video released talking about the connections to PUBG and the Callisto Protocol and the lore of PUBG and, surprisingly, they connect really damn well. For one, PUBG apparently takes place in the 22nd century, where the higher class of people, specifically this circle of "golden mask" wearing leaders, put on battle royale games among the poor from the slums and send them to isolated areas, where the winners would be allowed into the higher class, though the games were also a long lasting tradition to find the evolution in humanity and make the perfect being, exactly like what happens in this game, only with the twist of the virus.
Huh. I think I’ve seen that video about (it has the Charlie Day Always Sunny meme on the thumbnail?), I played PUBG a few years back, but never got into the lore. I’ll check it out!
@@KevinHelpUs Yeah, that's the one. It's in the second half of the video where it starts do delve into the lore and how it connects to the Callisto Protocol. When you see it, you realise how much the two's connection actually makes sense.
You mean like hunger games.
@@588holly Pretty much
Your fix on the story helps to make these characters more likeable. Not as "great" or even good characters, but about how their conflict makes them more compelling, just like Isaac's grief and guilt in Dead Space 2. He was not a great character, but his conflict was interesting and it's resolution was good enough.
I was forgiving with the story because it is congruent with it's main theme/message, even in the Final Transmision DLC (the only story based one). But I like your solution more, it adds a dramatic twist that I did not see coming and impacts me in my manfeelz.
What I would have fixed in this game?
-Counter mechanic unlocked from the start.
-More diverse enemies
-Your story fix.
-Not so many two-head, and if they repeat it, not padding its difficulty with playing dirty.
-More chances to send exploders (can you see that pun) into enemies. I liked doing that in last boss fight and prision hardest/last level.
Keep these coming good sir.
I was actually really excited for Callisto but as release came closer I started to see red flags and ended up not getting it. I did however get Dead Space Remake because I never played the original and heard great things about the original that I had no frame of reference to compare it. After playing through Dead Space Remake, I have to say, it was a fantastic game and I really enjoyed it. It really is to bad that Callisto did not do well and seems like it was rushed.
The Remake is fantastic, you made the right choice. Callisto COULD have been too, but hopefully they take their time with the DLC.
@KevinHelpUs spoilers they don't
From a gameplay standpoint, due to it being a melee centric combat, it should have had more depth and complexity to it. This isn’t because the gameplay itself was bad, but rather, it doesn’t feel too replay-able from a gameplay standpoint.
But I do find it interesting and want it further expanded upon for a space horror game to focus on melee.
Exactly! The potential is 100% there, they just rushed it out. I hope they take their time with the DLC.
They need to make the block viable
Like if an enemy is going for a grab, you can block instead of dodge and you get rewarded with an enemy stun or something. Also dodging should be on another button. Not the move button
Its actually insane how you made a wayy better story by yourself then the multiple people making the story together
Hire me, Striking Distance!
Sometimes, it aint the devs ruining a game but the suits rushing out an inferior product just so they can say, "FiRsT." One, Kevin mentioned that they wanted to release this game before the dead space remake, it made more sense as to why the game was clunky ass hell.
@@Aw3someOpZyea I said as much in another comment. Glen recently came out and pulled zero punches and explained Krafton effectively promised him and the team about 3-6 months of extra development time and then without warning forced them to ship the game.. (so it would launch before the dead space remake I’m assuming)
It think it would of been great too if we actually spent some time at Black Iron BEFORE the outbreak. We could of spent more time with the characters and seen how this place was bad then the outbreak happens and it only gets worse
That would have made Ferris’ change have SO MUCH more importance than what we got.
I liked callisto protocol when it came out, was definitely worth the money for me. I think the major thing that's holding back the horror element is the melee combat. Monsters are suddenly not as scary when you can take them on in a melee fight
I wouldn't bother trying to fix Callisto Protocol, the story is serviceable. Where I would make my pivot is the next game. I'd take inspiration from Dead Space 2 and Resident Evil 2 and have Jacob have to battle his way out of a city that is going to hell. I'd also limit the melee to more of a glory kill to get more drops from enemies and focus gameplay on ranged acts.
More levels set in locations like the part of Europa we got to see would be awesome. The Prison had its moments and the snow areas too, but the caves were a bit dull. Come city/civilian areas would be awesome
Make the audio log auto play like Dead Space instead of freezing the gameplay. Provide more ammo to allow gunplay. More enemy and Boss variety. More text/audio log for warden/Jacob/Danie. More puzzle room/backtracking instead of push forward walking simulator.
Ugh, I didn’t have time to mention having to stand in place for the audio logs, but YES.
@@KevinHelpUs you can actually play audio logs without the UI open but there's no clear guide for it
@@xzraiderzx308 Wait, really?!
@@KevinHelpUs I've seen someone do a big where you pause and unpaude during the audio log and it continues to play backed out of the menu
Just finished the game for the first time last night. During the first half I was having a lot of fun. Couldn't see why people were hating on it. It was around the fourth or fifth arena with the blind enemies that I started getting worn out. The four two-heads were a massive tipping point too since I put all my money into upgrading the Baton and the GRP, with no damage boosts to my guns.
I wish Jacob was just a prisoner. A violent criminal who escaped only to fight monsters. Hell of a lot interesting then just Isaac 2.0
I have to admit I kinda liked horror Punch Out, and it's a rarity in that it's one of the few times I preferred using one of those drop-in bonus skins games these days love to add. Specifically, the retro "prison stripes" style outfit which I just think looks a lot nicer and more obviously "prisony" than the (to us modern) orange jumpsuit. I only wish changing your prison outfit also changed all the other prisoner's uniforms.
best way to play this game is like a generic 3rd person action game
NG+ baton blazing throughout, even Below is kinda fun when you ignore the stealth
I still haven’t tried NG+! You can finish Below without stealth?
@@KevinHelpUs walking through Below and the rest of the game with a fully damage upgraded Baton is a pretty fun experience
21:40
Now you KNOW!!! Glen is trying his best to contact and set up a meeting with someone in either Motive or EA about a dead space 2 remake
yeah... in retrospect maybe not such a great idea lol
motive seems to be doing well on their own
10:03 The Circle you say ?
Damn who knew Jacob "Elton Johns" Danik and his Unitologists also dipped their fingers into the events of Callisto..
My guy Kevin back in the booth with another banger
Thanks! I really enjoyed this one. :)
@@KevinHelpUs it's good video be proud but when are you gonna stream again
@@NGPODDGAMING Oh! I actually split off my streaming channel from my main one. If you want to join, pop on over here:
youtube.com/@KevinHelpUs-Live
@@KevinHelpUs starting again is hard brave for doing it
@@NGPODDGAMING It is, but my channel mostly grew on long-form videos and some people don't like streams. I wish RUclips would let you opt-in/out of certain content types, but they don't, and I don't want to push streams on folks who don't enjoy them. This seemed the best compromise that would let me stream as often as I'd like.
Haven't played the game myself but the story fix does add more intrigue, good job
Thank you! Hoping the DLC will fix some of these.
@@KevinHelpUs they are feasible changes, let's hope they do add these scenes.
i LOVE the Callisto Prootocol, Ive considered making a video just like this on how i would better the story, but truly all this game needed was another couple months in the oven, hell imagine all that they couldve accomplished in a year. The game is so good, the action isnt overbearing, its really fun and engaging too. I just want dead space to have a horde mode :(
I think Callisto Protocol was a proof of concept that would have succeeded if it wasnt rushed
We need a part 2 to this video now that the DLC is out. I would love to hear your thoughts I heard so many interesting things about the DLC ending, especially when i played it
I’ll get to the DLC eventually, if this next video doesn’t kill me first…
I'll be honest, I played Callisto on launch day and enjoyed my time with it, its not amazing but the amount of hate it got felt well overboard.
I agree that the hate bandwagon was overblown. There’s a lot to like about the game, I just think it needed more time in the oven.
I enjoyed the game for what it was once I got used to the combat but definitely the story would’ve worked better with more connection to the characters like Elias I was upset he died cause I barely got to know the guy enough to truly care for his death. Dani of coarse she’s crucial to the story as is so we got some time to understand her and Ferris I think we could’ve gotten more conflict with him before turning him into the beast that shouts 521 a lot lol the story definitely has dead space beats all over sure but it’s fun just character development for sure wish got more of.
Some more from Elias would have been nice. We get one scene with him with actual character development for Elias and then he immediately dies.
Also, I was preaching about how the combat is based on melee and that should be more melee weapons.
At the very least, like Soul Reaver (or game that got remade), have one time use weapons you pop off the wall like a spear or a cinderblock to smash their head in.
Great minds think alike! (Also, good to see you, Is It Dead Yet?!)
The union makes the force. Both games are awesome, but as you said; it needed more of the spice that made Dead Space (and Resident Evil 4) great: the possibility of sweep & clean the halls of the lunar prison with ease.
Hope you read this cuz in this comment i'll try to fix/add mecchanichs to the game ( sorry for bad english )
1 change the dodge sistem: instead of dodge by only have the stick to left and right for every attack make that you need to dodge to left if the attack from from the left ( same for right ) and if you only hold your stick instead of dodge jacob will block with take little damage also but if you put the input before the attack hit jacob start to dodge and also add attack from up and down to dodge with the analog ( basically add more challenge to the dodge mecchanic instead of just go ultra instinct )
2 make enemy less tanky but have more multiple encounter ( at the start some 1v1 encounter last 40 sec )
3 i don't think we need more melee weapon but more moveset, an idea is base on where is the direction of the analog jacob will aim a limbs to remove it with the last attack of a combo:
Down for legs: enemy slower
Left and right for arms: enemy don't do many attack
Up for the head: deals extra damage
Cleary if the enemy is more big he'll need more attack on the same limb to broke it and since this rebalance will have more enemy on the same encounter it make a lot of sense to slow down
4 add a fast heal like in dead space while the other become a medikit
5 improve stealth and add the "clicker enemy way before to have a situation where you want to stealth kill him since he spot you if do the same to a different enemy ( not like now )
And for now that all simple ideas but they might work well
I read it - I like your suggestions!
I remember hearing how Callisto Protocol was being presented to be a "spiritual successor to Dead Space" with Glen Schofield, being the original game's producer, helming it
I was probably one of the only people who decided to save for the Dead Space remake and skip out Callisto Protocol, merely cause I'm so much more familiar of Dead Space &, of course, being a Dead Space fan. And given how Callisto Protocol turned out, I'm glad I skipped it out for the Dead Space remake (I could still get the game, just not too interested).
Given how Callisto Protocol turned out, especially with the story & lore, & the reception, this feels like Glen & the team are in a lose/lose situation. They wanted to make Callisto Protocol its own thing, but they also wanted it to be a spiritual successor to Dead Space, so those ended up clashing. And it also doesn't help that there was genuine hype for the Dead Space remake, especially with how open the Dead Space remake team has been showing in their process in recreating Dead Space. The Dead Space remake team may not be the exact team of the original 2008 game, but they are genuine & passionate fans of Dead Space. So the competition is genuinely difficult for Callisto Protocol to go up against, & again, given how it Callisto Protocol turned out, especially the lore & story, & with the Dead Space remake already out, Callisto Protocol easily lost to Dead Space. It's genuinely difficult to compete with Dead Space given just how deep, well made, and standout its world & lore is (Dead Space 3 is literally just the only sore eye in the whole picture & that's only cause of EA interfering as the devs for Dead Space 3 had a completely different direction they were supposed to do originally that would've properly align well with the first 2 Dead Space games).
In short, Dead Space was too good to go up against, hence it's a losing battle nevertheless for Glen & the team.
Best they could've done was focus on doing 1 idea: either make it its own thing, but it won't be like Dead Space, or don't hesitate to take all of what made Dead Space so great, but you run at extremely high risk of missing the points &, nevertheless, will be very often be compared to Dead Space.
We can only hope they'd continue Callisto Protocol & as much as I'm not interested in the game like Dead Space, I do wish for success for Callisto Protocol.
Another good video! 😁😁
Loved it, Keep up the great work! And I totally agree with your remade story 😌
Thanks so much for saying so!
@@KevinHelpUs well Good work is appreciated 😌
Wow man on video in and I really like your commentary, jokes, voice and presentation. You just earned another subscriber! (Also the endcard with the Matrix code? It’s like you’re trying to be my friend 😂)
Thanks so much for saying so - glad to have you here!
21:36 We need Callisto Proticol Sequel
One way I would make the Grip (kinesis let’s be real) less overpowered is by having it only able to pick up enemies that have lost limbs/their heads (could make it so it recharges outside of combat as well so it’s not ridiculously situational.) This would make it so that it isn’t just an instant win button but rather a tool to give you breathing room in combat by either finishing them by sending them into a piece of machinery or throwing them into another enemy; knocking both of them down for a few seconds allowing better control over the fight.
I like it!
After I was done playing, there was only thing in the story I would have fixed. Have Jacob actually responsible for the outbreak.
After reading some of the comments, I would have also had Ferris be Subject Zero in disguse and the true mastermind of this outbreak. The Circle and the Warden thought they cause it, but Ferris reveals he can control the other infected like a hive mind and can make them dormant (normal) or active. He been waiting for The Circle to reveal themselves to get his revenge and army. He would infect the Warden, making him the final boss while he escaped.The series would become a three-way war with Humanity(Jacob & Dani); The Circle (finding new ways to evolve); and Ferris (and his Hive)
I would also make Subject Zero actually be possessed with the Big Alien/Mother's mind; hence, why they were so intune with the mutation.
There's usually a curse for reboots, remakes and "spiritual successors" for movies and video games. This one is no exception. I mean, remember when 4 former Valve employees put their names on Back 4 Blood?
I have to say this because I didn't see any other comments pointing this out: your PUBG connection theory just BLEW my mind
I’ve had some folks say they should have gone harder on it, and I kinda agree! If they built the whole game around it, fine, but as is it really comes out of nowhere.
@@KevinHelpUs yeah, that's what I was thinking. I believe that a lot of the plot contrivances could have been excused had they leaned harder into the battle royale aspect of it. It's just a fun premise. Besides, while the market is quite saturated with br multiplayer games, a single player game that focuses on this aspect could be a fresh take on the idea.
I agree with this thinking. Almost a shame to see that the plot doesn't need a rewrite, just fixes here and there ;_;
Callisto Protocol feels like a house built on sound foundation, but with rushed structure.
I made a much less high quality video about some ways to fix the weakest shortcomings of Callisto Protocol, mostly revolving around Jacobs responsibility and guilt for his failure to act on his suspicions. I think that would make a drastic improvement for the overall character writing and story of the game, but I think your fix is a much better one in terms of a wholistic approach and looking at the entire games plot and not simply Jacob himself. Great video. I’ll be checking out more from you.
So glad you enjoyed it! I’ll have to check out yours too - and I think we’re both right that Jacob’s arc is one of the biggest missteps in the game, and that the solutions for fixing it were already there to use.
@@KevinHelpUs absolutely. The biggest tragedy of Jacob is he had an actual compelling arc…it just didn’t start until the last 30 minutes of the game.
I appreciate that! Getting ready to dive into your back log! You deserve way more eyes on your content for how good your quality is!
Don't know how I'd make Calisto Protocol better, besides adding different melee weapons that control differently, but I feel Mentioning the Circle might have been a bad choice. Like you don't say the name so there's more mystery. Not saying this from lack of trying but I come up with blanks when trying to fix stuff. Still your ideas sound great.
Thanks! Yeah, it sounds like The Circle was an even bigger plot element for a while, then cut, but not fully. Like a lot of issues with this game, they never committed in one direction for long enough.
@@KevinHelpUs sounds like it to be honest, i just feel like this game had some cool elements. I feel it was rushed and that hurt it more than just giving it say another couple of months to finalize the store. Also to give a bad comparison, the second Resident evil movie Apocalypse had the main character and the monster fight it out, with their fists i must add
Going between both Calisto and Dead Space Remake, Calisto felt like I had more options thanks to the baton melee combat. While in Dead Space kenesis is infinitely usable and not needing of any recharge unlike stasis. Which is also powerful.
How would I fix The Callisto Protocol.. I'd simplify the melee down to the usual single button attack and focus on the guns (4 max) and explosives (burning, freezing, acid damage) with limited inventory, resources and crafting materials (the glove is cool though, I'd totally keep that). Also I'd add a stealth element (with stealth takedowns) so you could pretty much navigate through the whole game without having to shoot at all.
As for the story I'd employ a lot more ambiguity so that we're putting the pieces together along with Jacob. So I'd start with him hallucinating about Max and the pink box in his cell. There would be instances throughout the story where his guilt would flare up incomprehensibly, and it wouldn't be clear why even to him because the traumatic installation of his implant would have allowed him to suppress the memory of what he did.
We'd find out about him and Max being freighter pilots during his sync with Dani, and all his memory blocks would be lifted. Dani would also uncover the truth when they synced, but she'd keep it to herself until she could screw him over in return (by making sure there's only one available escape pod and she gets it), and this is where we'd learn that the core sync works both ways. Also having the pink box show up every now and then in appropriate locations (in hindsight) in the environment during gameplay would add to the mystery.
The 'alpha' should probably be Max so that his bossfight would have a lot of that "look what you did to me" energy (also the alpha is just a stable container for the alien dna, and Max is absolutely not stable).
I'd also make Captain Ferris less of a jerk and just a hard-headed by-the-book military guy who does inadvertently get infected and runs into Jacob every now and then, but in a Mr X sort of way. Not really a boss fight, more of an environmental hazard. He's also still the actual alpha, but slips through the net because only inmates were selected as subjects for the program (because they're disposable) and it isn't explicitly stated that he's the alpha, we're just left to infer that from the fact that his mutation is totally stable. In his final encounter with Jacob, whatever happens to him leaves his fate unclear (he falls a long way down and isn't seen again until the DLC for example).
One more thing, the Circle wouldn't be some weird illuminati group, it's a ruthless, faceless Weyland Yutani-like corporation who only care about their 'property'.
That whole hook and setup was so amazing, yet ended disappointing.
Right? Everything it needed to be good was already there.
They things that feeks that were missing other survivors becoming your opponents to make the Survivor of the fittest narative
17:01
I'd have scrapped Jacob being a delivery guy and made him an actual prisoner. He's done something in his past and has been on death row for a long time because of it. His time in prison has changed him from whatever animal he was that landed him there. He wasn't framed. He BELONGS in prison and WANTS to pay for what he has done. This makes him a bit morally ambiguous. Pretty much my idea for Jacob would be more along the lines of James Earl Cash from Manhunt. I've grown tired of traditional hero protagonists and really like stories where a terrible person is placed in a worse situation (similar to what was done in the movie Predators).
Jacob is transferred to Black Iron for execution but this is a front to transporting prisoners for experimentation. Many allegories are made to Black Iron being Hell for Jacob. Jacob is injected with something that causes hallucinations. His memories take the form of ghosts of people he's possibly killed(what he's done isn't out right stated). These "ghosts" can attack the player, and will cause Jacob to die of shock or cause harm to himself(think of the scene from Dead Space 2). Insert a older mentor like prisoner who is responsible for Jacob's path to redemption as an ally character. Keep the Sam Witwer character. Give him and Jacob some history. Maybe Jacob killed a guard in a fight who was a buddy of his when he first arrived(further hinting at Jacob's previous savagery) and the two have been enemies ever since. Add more scenes with him.This is all off the top of my head.
I like it!
I found your channel through the Dead Space 2 video and I've been hooked to your content. Have you played Callisto Protocol's DLC yet? I really want to know your thoughts about it
Thanks! I haven’t yet. I didn’t hear good things, and most folks had moved on from the game by then. Did you enjoy it?
@@KevinHelpUs It was a little bit predictable ending-wise, but I enjoyed it. I really liked the hallucinations mechanic, and actually spent time replaying them just to see "what would happen if I do this instead?"
*SPOILERS*
Yeah, with the DLC that came out, being basically a re-use of existing game assets and some likely cut content (a new melee and 1, count it, 1 new enemy type) that wrapped up the story as "and everyone died, the end" I think it's safe to say they're cutting their losses, and there's no chance any of this will be expanded upon in any kind of sequel or additional story DLC. I really, really don't like Callisto's gameplay and the final story is wrought with plotholes, cliches, and plain ol' poor writing choices, but I think they did have some really stellar aspects hidden in there that could've been expanded upon if they weren't rushing to beat Dead Space Remake to market and gave it like another 6-8 months of oven time. Like you said they swung first, but they should've focused on hitting harder.
The gameplay probably would've been the same boring clunky mess, given they talked about how early in development they apparently "finalized" the combat system, but the story could have at least carried the experience and set up room for a sequel to improve on it's many gameplay mistakes and expand on a more solid narrative and universe. But as it stands there's just so much missed potential and I think the franchise was already killed off before it began.
Can't say I'm *too* saddened by this given the final product is so... lackluster, but it could've been decent and blossomed into a greater franchise that could've ended up clicking with me a lot more. Quite a shame. Just hope Krafton is more merciful to poor ol' Striking Distance than EA was to Visceral, and they can at least move on to a new game/franchise instead of being shuttered instantly. Even if a studio messes up big-time they still deserve a second chance.
If I were to fix The Callisto Protocol, I would get more in depth with the infestation the Warden unleashed in his and the circle's obsession with the survival of the fittest. More specifically, Fierre's descent into madness as he evolves into that Mr X knockoff you see, and perhaps he could be one of the enemies that pursues you in many levels, each time Fierre being more insane, having new moves to throw at you (including but not limited to throwing objects at you, using a massive bar of metal as a weapon, summoning minions to assist him, etc).
And not only that, but get in detail with his descent to emphasize the horror and perhaps even add cult-like themes because that's the vibes I'm getting from the circle and the Warden. Especially when he said "The Warden opened my eyes. Showed me my purpose.".
P.S.
He could also have stuble but gradually more obvious hints to his transformation into that bloated behemoth in phase 2 of the final boss fight (I think him straining before saying the infection was a gift was a hint but that's all we got.) Jittiness, groaning, sounds of writhing flesh and crackling bones, and perhaps even some tendrils poking underneath his skin from time to time each time you encounter him.
In his phase 2 in his final boss fight, he would use all of his movesets from each confrontation and then some, including hulk smashing or ripping apart metal to make them fall on you with the intent to crush you with them, tendrils, etc. To show Ferris still retains his intelligence despite his mental state turned into mush and the man reduced into a raging animal. And to also give the player the opportunity to flex their labor from all of the fighting.
I'd probably also make the victory a lot more dramatic, Ferris crying out as mutated flesh sloughs off him from all of the damage he sustained, his body becoming less and less human in desperation to keep fighting only for it go in vein and Ferris eventually collapsing into a disgusting mess.
P.S #2
And when the DLC is qeud, Ferris could come back to confront Jacob yet again in the ending, this time even more uncanny, but slim and still sloughing and generating mutated flesh, as if he... well, _it_ , is making its last waning effort to kill you.
P.S #3
Forgot to mention. As for how Ferris transforms into the behemoth, it could be because of Jacob causing so much damage to him, he isn't able to sustain his human form anymore, leading him to reach the epitome of his insanity and inhumanity.
The villains (The circle) having a dumb motivation is great to my mind because these rich, powerful, and successful people are using this organization to both ask a question and give the answer. What did I succeed? Why am I winning and others not? The Circle's goal is to find winners and study them but then also to make themselves winners to. To make themselves winners not just societally but physically as well, even possibly becoming immortal.
Their metric for being a winner is being good at killing and specifically being as an individual more capable of killing than others. The Circle opposes cooperation. Likely, they see cooperation or those who use it as weak, which is ironic since it is precisely cooperation and social organization alongside tool usage and intelligence which gave us tools and cooperation that have made mankind soo successful.
We have seen recently that being wealthy does not prove you to be intelligent. The Circle is likely made up of idiots who think themselves wise, who need to prove to themselves their wealth and power are deserved, and that only looking out for their own good is morally correct and ordained by nature.
It could be utterly hilarious if the Cirlce also had a supremacist aspect since, in the quest to prove that their chosen group is superior, they would remove themselves from that group and mankind through the tool of this mutation virus.
It would be like someone deciding that crows are the best bird and proving it to be by messing with a crow's DNA, so it has scales, teeth, and extra eyes but claiming it to be a crow still.
I don’t believe there’s ever much mention of their motivations, but yeah, they clearly see themselves as worthy to direct the course of humanity, so them being supremacists wouldn’t be a stretch.
i am quite the fan of sam witwer, the man is darth maul and starkiller after all so seeing him in this game was quite the plus and im sad we didnt see more of him, perhaps a dlc of him following jacob through the game and getting to try out his infected strength on lesser biophages and robots, and granted ive only played it recently so i enjoyed a smoother version of the game but on max difficulty it really came into its own as a tough but fun game when you came out on top, minus some of the bullshit like the two heads and mob spawns in the middle of fighting bosses
i'd probably add more crawling and venting tbh
10% more crawling would have really sold this game.
How can you only have 5+k subs? Great vid, have a sub
Because I need your help! (And welcome!)
Idk what it is but I have a soft spot for The Callisto Protocol because Glen Schofield is such a creative guy when it comes to making horror in games. Plus Josh Duhamel is loyal to him since they met during Call of Duty WW2. WW2 zombies was a taste of what he was able to do in Dead Space and what he was planning to do in The Callisto Protocol. It was a good test of a game so I have hope the DLC for the game and future games will be produced a whole lot better and maybe it’ll really be a competitor to a Dead Space 2 remake if they end up doing one.
I hope the DLC does more to bring the game world to life - and I hope they don’t have any competition from other games so they don’t have to rush their next one.
@@KevinHelpUs Very true, plus I’ve heard the DLC is a prequel to the original game so hopefully it’ll knock out some of the story plot holes, maybe even try to differentiate it from Dead Space 😂. But I agree, hoping they don’t rush on their sequel(s).
When you get to the core of the game, it seems to be about the difference between respect and control. Lee wants people to trust him, but everyone has their own agendas and he has to learn to see things from the perspectives of others. The warden wants control, and built the prison around keeping everyone in his iron grip, and molding everyone to see the world the same way.
Funnily enough it reminds me of the interactions between Reed Richards and Dr. Doom. Reed is a genius, but needs to learn to relax and trust others. Meanwhile Doom is so arrogant that he thinks the only way to live in utopia is for him to literally take over the universe.
I feel like that could work in the world of this game, with Lee breaking the rigid structure the warden has created, in the hopes of getting through to him before he reaches the real point of no return.
The “apex predator, ultimate survivor” thing would be better if the game was like the recent reboot of Prey.
There is nothing “evolved” about Jacob. He is just a dude relying on technology. But in Prey, you have to inject yourself with synthesized alien DNA to upgrade your abilities. If that was the means to upgrade, slowly becoming a monster to survive (in prey, after so many upgrades the ship’s systems don’t recognize you as human) THAT would make the natural selection motif make sense.
YES, I just booted up Prey for the new video and you’re 100% right.
They should add a skin to the game where you play as a space marine
The thing that I hate about modern game development is that the team is asked to create a picasso from scratch while timed.
Give them a normal salary and bonus per copy sold.
Screw visuals.
Dead space 1 was the perfect example of how just making the main character and lighting good is just enough to hide garish textures and view distance.
Heck I'm still playing it at least once a year
I know that the graphics and gameplay weren’t handled by the same people, but I would have much rather had simpler graphics and better gameplay than the opposite we got.
I bought the 20 euro Callisto Protocol deluxe edition and holy shit, for 20 euro's, this game was an absolute banger. I loved every part of it because... Well, for 20 euro's you cant go wrong.
Really good game with just one gripe that you mentioned as well... You are forced in to melee combat the whole damn time, you have limited ammo... But you only get 1 melee weapon?! Comon! (DLC introduces 1 more, but you cant choose...)
Agree that 20 euros sounds about right for what you get. Glad you enjoyed it!
Good luck with getting Glen Schofield to even acknowledge your criticism. Personally speaking, I happened to like TCP. I have a Xbox Series S. Graphically, the game is light years ahead of Dead Space. Yes, the game is more linear, however I’m still very impressed by it.
Thanks - I’ll need it! Yep, the game is gorgeous. And I hope the DLC will reward everyone’s faith in the world they’ve built.
I am gonna say I thoroughly enjoyed the game albeit it was short and I played on easy difficulty I had a good time tho i am not opposed to your story changes because I am easily pleased so anything is really fine with me but nice video
Thanks - and glad you enjoyed the game!
I wouldn’t put the DLC ending… it’s the worst. I hated it 🥲
Callisto proves that Schofield was not the brains behind Dead Space.
Funny he was so keen to take the credit, though
I think I would add a mechanic that would see where the longer you take the harder the enemies become. So those in the prison become more mutated and more easily able to lay you out, but otherwise I agree more with the story changes.
Sam witwer needs to be a new voice acting staple. get this man a kojima role
All games should only be judged once it's been released, not afterwards.
one frustrating thing for me was Sam Witwers characters was giving a speech in the trailer with so much emotion but in the game he barely cared... so anticlimatic
I'm ngl I think the pubg references in this game were done in a surprisingly interesting way
The idea of it sounds bizarre, but the actual execution of it was quite subtle and clever
I’m glad you liked it! I think MAYBE if it had been more apparent earlier, it would have worked for me, but they left so much to chance (what if the killer robots shot the alpha?), that the story made no sense once I thought about it, at least to me.
@@KevinHelpUs oh yeah don't get me wrong your fixed version of the story is still way better, I haven't played the game myself but while watching your video I was pleasantly surprised by the way the writers integrated the pubg aspects, especially the name of 'The Circle' group being a reference to the literal circle from pubg
Overall, I had a great time playing the game. It did have its issues but I feel like they’ll make it better with time.
Yeah, in Dead space, Mercer was being manipulated by the marker just like everyone else. So his motivation makes way more sense to me.