The Callisto Protocol Interview: Why It May Be Closer To God Of War Than Dead Space

ign.com:

When The Callisto Protocol was shown during Geoff Keighley’s Summer Games Fest event last week, the kneejerk reaction among fans and observers was that it looked a lot like Dead Space — same style and a similar UI, even more gore. But one action game may loom even larger than Visceral’s genre classic: God of War 2018.

Released a full decade after Dead Space, it’s proven highly influential in the way that it split the difference between open world adventures and more linear action-adventure games. The Callisto Protocol is among the action games that appear to be following its lead, with optional paths and exploration that sound very similar to PlayStation’s seminal action game. With apologies to the Dead Space fans who are still traumatiezd by the series' most infamous scenes, it suggests that there may be more to Striking Distance Studios' new project than meets the eye..

Speaking with IGN at Summer Games Fest 2022, Callisto Protocol director Glen Schofield talks about what he terms “beta paths” — optional routes that in some ways function similarly to sidequests in role-playing games.

“We added beta paths for exploration. We added a lot. And you don't have to do them if you don't want, but there is a lot of hidden stuff in the game,” Schofield says. "You learn more about the story, you learn more about the characters. Like, each character has a story which you can take off for them. So I think there's going to be a lot more replayability for this game than for Dead Space."

Like God of War 2018, it seems that The Callisto Protocol will generally follow a linear story path, but that there will be plenty of optional content for curious players who want more. Schofield says he doesn’t expect players to find all of the beta