The Callisto Protocol vs Dead Space remake. Both are excellent games without question. X35 Earthwalker has conquered all three Dead Space games including the Hard core modes and extra challenges. People have their own takes on this subject and it’s interesting to see. Sadly, most of the views and opinions from others, especially youtubers have been dumb and illogical. Straight up false at times. Both games are made by some of the same developers, mainly Glen Schofield who is the co-creator of Dead Space; so both have a similar style and both get the job done. That’s for sure. X35 Earthwalker is the smartest and wisest gamer of all time, so his explanations and views actually mean something. [Quick notice: We will include videos that are reviews or opinions of Callisto Protocol that are actually good. Intelligent ones.] Let’s take a look.
The first issue we will address. We saw from a reviewer online in written form state that The Callisto Protocol “wants to be Dead Space so badly”. This is actually a retarded take. Maybe The Callisto Protocol is soo similar to Dead Space because the co creator of Dead Space himself are behind this game. The Callisto Protocol is suppose to be like their new direction. Their next big thing. If anyone has the right to make a game similar to Dead Space, it’s the dude who co-created Dead Space. This first take is just proof of the illogical takes and views that we mentioned earlier. Some counted the fact that The Callisto Protocol was not that new compared to Dead Space, as a negative. That’s not good reviewing, nor is it fair. The Callisto Protocol was design to be similar to Dead Space. Even the names of the main characters are related. Isaac Clarke and Jacob Lee. Isaac and Jacob. Fine we will spell it out for you. Historically recorded in the Bible there was Abraham, whose son is Isaac. Isaac’s son is Jacob. Jacob comes after Isaac just like how The Callisto Protocol comes after Dead Space. Yep, it’s all intentional.
Next point and here’s a big one. The combat. Muppets like angry joe and his lackies complained about it and saying it’s what ruined the game. We have covered this on the X35 Earthwalker podcast. Literally read what ‘girlstalkingsmack’ said in their review, “The fighting system is fundamentally incapable of dealing with more than one enemy. Even in one-on-one combat, The Callisto Protocol is prone to absolutely merciless battles that can seemingly inflict insta-death on you at will.” This is completely false and maybe they should never play a video game ever again if they are that bad at the game. X35 himself is playing Hardcore mode and has successfully fought three enemies at the same time and only got hit once. We have witnessed others fight two at once successfully as well. If the mechanics are easy and all you have to do is hold left and right to dodge, like angry joe said, then how is the combat merciless? It should also be easy. We have watched others like markiplier, coryxkenshin, fusionzgamer, PG and more stated that they liked the combat.
So people have praised Dead Space’s combat but hate The Callisto Protocol. Here’s the problem. The Callisto Protocol’s combat is the same as Dead Space. If you ignore the melee dodge system then both games combat is literally the same. You see an enemy, you can shoot of it’s limbs or blast it apart. Once dead you stomp on the enemy to get goodies. Both are the same. So in The Callisto Protocol you can forget the melee dodge and instead take the hit just like you would in Dead Space. There’s no actual dodge in original Dead Space. There’s an action roll in Dead Space 3 though. If a necromorph gets close to you and lunges, you are getting hit. Rare for it to miss. The Callisto Protocol is the same except you can dodge in case something gets close. So you can’t say Dead Space remake has better combat than The Callisto Protocol when they are the same. It’s The Callisto Protocol has just as good combat or better as it’s the same plus more. You have more tools to deal with the situation. So yes, we say that The Callisto Protocol has better combat. You have more options.
Next. Combat options. In Dead Space your combat options are shoot, throw something at your enemies using the kinesis or stasis the enemy and then hit them to death or stomp. There’s more options in The Callisto Protocol. People have stated that The Callisto Protocol’s combat is shallow and just “dodge, dodge, hit, hit until the enemy is dead” (like Elden Ring). Wrong again. The Callisto Protocol actually has much deeper combat. People like angry joe just don’t know how to play the game. If you block the last hit of an enemies combo string you can counter with a low counter strike that knocks enemies to the ground. If you time your attacks you can sometimes get a three or four hit combo. You can get the heavy strike to knock an enemy or sometimes multiple enemies down and backwards. If you remove an enemies leg, they crawl and then can be one melee hit killed. If you get rid of an arm, the enemy can no longer do multiple hits. They can only swing once. You can use the GRP to throw enemies of the edge and they instantly die or drown. If you upgrade the GRP’s throw strength you can pick up an enemy and throw them into something hard to instantly kill them. After you do a melee combo you have the option most of the time to quickly shoot the enemy which staggers them and allows you to continue with another combo. Keep doing that and your enemy NEVER gets a turn to fight back. So angry joe and the many others are idiots who don’t know how to play the game and told lies about it. The Callisto Protocol has way more options. The Callisto Protocol wins this category as well.
Let’s compare the GRP and Kinesis. Both are powerful and useful. Kinesis is unlimited and you can grab regular objects or sharp objects to knock enemies down or straight up impale. You can beat entire areas of the game in Dead Space with just kinesis alone. Kinesis is strong and feels good to use but it’s also very easy. You have unlimited attempts to grab and throw things. Enemies can never get close. Carry whole items with you wherever you go with no consequences. The GRP in The Callisto Protocol has more limits but is more powerful. The GRP has charges and so isn’t unlimited. You cannot just grab and throw objects infinitely. You have to be more strategic and think more about how to use it. So more room for skill. So wait? How is the GRP more powerful than kinesis then since it’s not unlimited? Well the GRP can grab entire enemies. Something the kinesis doesn’t do. You can literally grab and restrain a whole enemy and throw them. This can lead to combos with environmental hazards even more so than you would in Dead Space. For example if Isaac was to fight Jacob, Jacob can easily win through GRP alone. He can just grab Isaac and throw him into a fan or bomb or spikes etc. Remember that the grabbed enemy can’t move or do anything. So the grabbed person is literally disabled like what Leon ferris did to Jacob in that cutscene. Jacob could grab Isaac and stab in in the throat. Now this isn’t a VS gaming blog post. Obviously the Kinesis is more favoured due to it being unlimited energy basically. So it’s a matter of ‘weaker but unlimited’ vs ‘stronger but limited’. Factor in that the GRP when fully upgraded becomes a brutal weapon. Just throwing an enemy against the wall can instantly kill it. It has more charges and self recharges. So you don’t need the batteries really. It will recharge by itself. We pick the GRP over the kinesis. You can rely on the GRP to crowd control and make space… not dead. See what we did there?
Next is how next gen they are. The Callisto Protocol made it their mission to be the new standard for survival horror. The next gen survival horror game. Almost everyone seems to agree that The Callisto Protocol is top tier graphics and visuals, including details. Some even said it is the best looking game of 2022. The graphics are next gen especially when played on Xbox Series X. The sounds are ridiculous levels of good. Others have agreed. X35 had headphones on and could hear enemies moving around in the ventilation systems accurately. The graphics in The Callisto Protocol is better than Dead Space remake. Sounds as well. Listen to the sound of the GRP. Something next gen about The Callisto Protocol is the death animations. Enemies that kill you have a chance to trigger a death animation. These animations are brutal. Get put in a headlock and then beat in the head to death, even after you are clearly dead, it is still beating you. This shows the brutality here. Dead space only has those animated kills if the enemy already triggered a grab sequence. Also the player can get animated kills on some enemies in the Callisto Protocol depending on where you are located like if there’s a wall nearby. If there is a wall nearby and you are fighting a humanoid enemy Jacob might push shove it into the wall and then part and bust its legs with the baton and then finish it off. If not near a wall he might do the overhead clean sink the baton into head and pull out or give them the clean two tap. We saw a super rare kill that we have never seen before where you move around the enemy quick and kill it with the shiv. We actually don’t know what triggers that kill sadly. It was cool.
Next which game is more scary? Have to say The Callisto Protocol. With Dead space you know what to expect. Every room you go in, you expect a necromorph to jump out. You see an intact necromorph body on the floor, you shoot it as players assume it’s getting back up to attack you. When a room locks down in quarantine, you know what time it is. X35 Earthwalker doesn’t get scared by Dead Space. We can be surprised but that’s it. The Callisto Protocol does things differently. There’s no quarantine sequence. You have enemy corpses that’s like fused into a wall. The blind enemies. Some are just corpses while others can be woken up and attack you. There’s even frozen, literally ice frozen bodies. Some are literally ice and brittle while others are living enemies who can pop out and attack you. In The Callisto Protocol you will multiple times hear enemies moving around you but out of sight and actually not come after you. Making you think you have to get ready for a fight but actually no, you are safe. Messing with your head. So at times you don’t know what’s going to happen. When that head enemy that lives in a hive like cone pops out and grabs you, it can scare you and catch you completely off guard or drag you into the centre of a room to get jumped by other enemies. Some say that foes is used too much. We disagree. There’s literally only one place in the game where you can’t avoid getting grabbed and it’s in a side path for extra goodies. All the others, if you are vigilant and aware enough you can spot, shoot and prevent. Plus you get so powerful in Dead Space that it isn’t scary. Run into a room and blow up everything with ease.
Which brings us to the next point. Which is more ‘Survival horror?’ That’s easily The Callisto Protocol. No one can argue with that. Here’s why. True Survival horror is about survival. You are suppose to be weak or weak-ish. Fighting may be a last resort as it could be too risky to fight. Managing resources is a big deal. You don’t have an abundance. Look at old resident evil games. Some enemies you skipped by running past. Others you shot a bullet to stun, so you can avoid. Also stealth is a factor in some. In Dead Space there isn’t any survival really. You soon become master chief or a powerful action hero. Seriously in all Dead Space games including Dead Space remake, we don’t fear the necromorph… the necromorph fears us! We walk around everywhere cocky because anything that shows up we know we can use and abuse. Literally enemies get molested by us. If we get hit, it doesn’t matter. Our armour is so strong and tough that… WE EAT THOSE! WE have seen players get swarmed, take many hits but live as they have instant heal as long as a medkit is n the inventory. Heal and tank to live. Can’t do that in The Callisto Protocol. We have so much ammo for our extremely powerful weapons that we can fire like a cheap American movie, spraying everywhere. There’s no survival really. By the way Dead space has the superior weapons without question. While in The Callisto Protocol, you have to sneak in some areas, assassinate some foes. You try to fight like in Dead Space you will run out of ammo guaranteed. Health items is limited. Some blind enemies you can skip. Rely on environmental hazards more, which means you need to use your head more. There’s far more survival in The Callisto Protocol than there is in Dead Space and we’d argue, there’s more horror in The Callisto Protocol as well. So yes, The Callisto Protocol is the better survival horror game.
Resource management. Let’s be real. There isn’t really any resource management in Dead Space, unless you are really bad at the game. At the start of the game you have to be aware of your supplies. Once you get started though… oooooooooo boy! It’s a different story. You will have so much ammo and the money those necromorphs drop, you can buy lots from the shops and since the upgrades for rigs and weapons are a different currency, aka the nodes, you don’t have to decide whether to get supplies or upgrade. In the Callisto Protocol is can get similar if you play in medium security difficulty or lower. In Maximum security difficulty you run out of ammo fast. The game has melee far more in mind. Other players have stated that you don’t have enough ammo for every foe. The Callisto credits are far inferior to the money from Dead Space, especially in quantity. The amount the enemies drop after killing them is laughable. It’s so little that you can’t afford supplies like how you can in Dead Space. Also upgrades and supplies share the same currency. So if you are aiming for the big upgrades, you kind of have to ignore the supplies. X35 Earthwalker has never… not once… bought a medkit or ammo as he was focused on the upgrades. What’s worse is the storage. Dead Space has a storage system at thee shop. You can store tons of ammo and stuff in there. Storage in Callisto Protocol… THERE IS NONE! Literally. Which makes sense as you aren’t an employee but an inmate. Everything you hold is all you have. You have very limited space. You truly have to manage what you have. We had to drop a medic for a rare item or drop ammo for something valuable etc. Not an issue in Dead Space. Another reason why Dead Space is the easier game. Callisto Protocol has harder resource management and requires more management as you certainly cannot carry everything. Start of game, super limited space.
Lastly story. Dead Space wins. Dead Space originally was built as a complete story game. No develop really knows if their game is going to be successful enough to get a sequel. What happened to ship? Aliens?! What’s a marker? Bring marker to planet and deal with it, the end. This was a whole story start to finish with no idea if there was going to be a continuation based on the design. The Callisto Protocol is a shorter game and ends in a way that’s clearly expecting a sequel or follow up DLC. The Callisto Protocol is clearly the start to something. We learn about the ‘Circle’ who the warden is a part off. Wearing masks saying “the greater good” and “the saviour”. You learn that these guys are bigger than what’s going on in black iron prison. This secret society is centuries old, you even find their secret rooms throughout the game if you have average level awareness. The warden reveals that humanities destiny is further than Callisto. There’s clearly lots to learn and discover. It’s design with a franchise and sequels in mind. This is literally just the beginning. Dead Space is a more complete and longer story. The Callisto Protocol isn’t. So it’s not up for debate. Story belongs to Dead Space.
There’s a good comparison video done by… DSP. That’s right. Dark syde Phil himself. He did a good video and so we are leaving it here for you to see for yourself. His video is a vs between Dead Space and The Callisto Protocol.
Overall the results are in. The Callisto Protocol wins the majority of categories We believe that The Callisto Protocol is better than the Dead Space remake. Matter of fact the Dead Space Remake felt more like a Dead Space remaster to be fair. Not a remake. Too much is the same. Look at the resident evil remakes, and off course the odd world: soul storm vs Abe’s exodus. Now those are remakes. Regardless The Callisto Protocol is the the better survival horror, it’s more next gen and it’s the more difficult game. Especially if you play hardcore mode. The Callisto Protocol hardcore mode is ridiculous. Unfair even. There’s more we can say like the characters for example which we talked about on the podcast but we will leave it here. X35 Earthwalker is the smartest, the wisest, most talented and the best in gaming. Remember that. Now The Callisto Protocol and Dead Space may be excellent games but both are weak compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
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