The Callisto Protocol.
I enjoyed this game, I guess the general reaction has been mixed. Maybe that can be blamed on people expecting Dead Space again. I'm not sure. The game isn't perfect. Most of the complaints you've heard are correct. The melee is janky, it's linear, and the story is simple. The positives are also true in that the game is amazing looking. One of the first games for me to really feel next-gen. It looks like those Unreal tech engines come to life.
I guess I simply have low standards as I liked it and didn't find the flaws people have expressed.
The game is linear and it has no map. No puzzles. The structure is straightforward, but I'm an FFXIII fan so I guess that doesn't bother me. I don't mind linearity and I think it mostly works here. If anything because yes there is no map. While it does lead to some annoying instances where you want to know where the store is to offload things, in general, I think this confusion adds some tension. There are enough little pathways off of the main path to constantly make you feel like you are exploring and that the environment is well-realized. In a way it adds to the tension and mystery as you may not be quite sure you are going the correct way. That's kind of a nice horror feeling and since it is linear it doesn't feel making or like backtracking.
The combat is melee focused for most of the game, but honestly, I don't feel like the game is always throwing tons of enemies at you. Most of the first half is one-on-one and in a way, I feel like what they were going for is head-on tension feeling in the combat. You have to face your fear is perhaps the theme of the game and well that translates to the gameplay. When an enemy comes your way you had to meet it head-on. The melee does feel visceral and it does lend itself to the catharsis of finally waking a monster to death. As the game goes on it does become more shooter focused. It does throw more enemies at you, but in one of those game segments if you are being swamped by enemies it's because you have failed the game's simple stealth. Even then it's not like the game doesn't give you enough tools. The telekinesis is always viable and the game really does make you use all your tools.
In a way, I feel like this is an over-the-shoulder game that was not trying to be a clone of RE4 and do its own thing. I don't think it all comes together that greatly. I think if they did make another one simply putting more emphasis on shooting combat, and some crowd control, all while maintaining the dodge system would probably make more people happy. But I don't think it was needed for me. I felt like this is a game that really tried to make its progression and survival horror more natural and in a way more "hardcore". What I mean is I often feel like in say RE4 it's kind of a trick the game pulls over me to make me feel like I really do not have enough ammo. In the end, I usually do. Callisto also seems to have randomized drops of stuff, but often I did feel like I was short on ammo and melee is what I had to do. Of course, as it went on I felt more confident and my weapons were more powerful, but even up the end ammo and inventory were a concern. I legit feel like the developers were trying to make a real survival horror game and not simply an action game pretending to be one.
The story though is as typical as survival horror games go. So much so that you could fill in the blanks yourself. Nothing really exciting happens, but it's all presented well even though it is all pretty mundane.
But in the end, I really enjoyed this game and I really hope they get to make more.
