The Callisto Protocol will build on the usual scares of Alien Isolation thus bringing a new kind of horror to the industry.
The Callisto Protocol Will Build On the Usual Scares of Alien Isolation
Callisto Protocol is all set to take a leaf out of Alien Isolation’s horror playbook by making use of intelligent mutant monsters in delivering scares that are non-scripted. Revealing to TechRadar Gaming at the Gamescom 2022, Mark James, the chief technical officer said that the Callisto Protocol will be featuring a ‘variable environment’ that is set to change the independence of the player. He further described the game as a ‘simulated world’ that runs constantly but will be altered gradually through the behavior of its enemies.
“If I have an enemy that walked through the world ahead of me, I can show what that enemy did to the world,” James cited. “I can put attacks in the world – like if they killed something here, I can show the remains of that kill.”
The Idea behind the Game Play of Callisto Protocol
The whole idea here is that the enemies in the game will wander the corridors of the Black Iron prison alongside the player. And as they do this, they will interact with the environment surrounding them and they will then leave clues of their presence for players to later discover. This is supposed to be suggestive thus indicating to the player that there is something in the vicinity waiting for the right time to pounce.
“[If an] an enemy is behind you, he can work out a route to you through the vent system,” James says. “If he goes behind you, he’s entered a vent, which means he’s knocked that vent plate off. The first time I walked through that corridor there wasn’t a vent plate on the floor, but now there is, so I know something’s used that corridor. It’s really creepy the first time you see it. ”
Chief Technical Officer James’ Take on the Atmosphere of Callisto Protocol
James also reckons that this unstable environment will put a pin on the horror atmosphere of the protocols of Callisto. And just as the xenomorph in Alien Isolation kept you on the verge by scurrying about in response to your actions, it is hoped that the enemies in this very game will make it feel very dynamic too.
“One of [the things we wanted to achieve] was to make every step feel different,” James cited. “As you walk through the corridors, you feel like ‘I’ve never been here before.’ Even though it was a corridor in the same habitat, in the same area. We want the place to feel alive – it’s moving and changing, even when you’re not there.”
The Construction of the Changing World of the Game
The level of organic change as you should know might not have been possible before this time. James however reckons that the SSDs of the Xbox Series X|S, the PS5, and modern gaming PCs have been very vital and important to the construction of the changing world of the game. Their high speeds simply mean that objects can be quickly loaded and the behavior of enemies can be easily modeled on the fly.
“On the old consoles, [games could] only change things through player interaction,” James says. “So these kinds of variable aspects are really something that wasn’t possible with a hard drive, but [now] we can load these things in really quickly and apply this extra detail that we couldn’t do with just having a static load.”
“Everybody concentrated on the SSD’s ability to create large environments. Well, our game’s not about these substantial open worlds, it’s about creepy corridor environments. But it means I can change the corridor every time I walk through it.“
