The Callisto Protocol’s AI is more interested in scaring you than killing you

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The Callisto Protocol gets constantly compared to Dead Space – and it makes sense, really. A lot of the developers are the same, a lot of the core ideas are the same, and it even looks quite similar, really. But this new venture from young developer Striking Distance is doing more with its horror than Dead Space could back in 2008; we’re 14 years down the line, now, and technology has come a long way.

Striking Distance really cares a lot about horror. The staff have been ruthless in studying the psychology of fear, and have boiled down the tenets of human dread to how we respond to atmosphere, tension, brutality, helplessness, and humanity. Taking each of these five strands and tinkering with them individually, Striking Distance reckons it’s made one of the scariest games ever made – no matter what your own personal tolerance for horror is.

Why is the developer so confident? A lot of it comes down to its tech. Mark James, chief technical officer at the studio, tells me in an interview that new-gen games can do things that just weren’t possible, even a few years ago. Whilst “50% of horror is in audio,” James assures me that a large portion of The Callisto Protocol’s dread comes from its, frankly, sadistic AI.

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