The Callisto Protocol series returns as... top-down roguelike geezer shooter [REDACTED]

Not only is it "punk", they're "cranking it to 11"

If you've been necromantically dreaming of a Callisto Protocol sequel, I'm afraid the monkey paw finger hasn't just curled - it's jammed itself right up your nose and scratched an FU on your hypothalamus. Developers Striking Distance and publishers Krafton have revealed [REDACTED], a scifi roguelike dungeon crawler set in the same universe.

The square brackets are part of the title, yes, and they're also calling it "punk rock" - a combination of factors that fills me with a rage so obliterating, I can barely perceive the announcement trailer, below. It's a machinegun montage of comicbook panels and sizzling melee arcs and quips like "there's a lot of wankers between you and the sweet taste of freedom". I didn't even like The Callisto Protocol that much but still, what have they done to you, boy? Where did all the horror game go?

In [REDACTED], you are a lone security guard trying to make it out of Black Iron Prison, the original game's Jovian correctional facility. In The Callisto Protocol, you slithered and skulked through crammed and shadowy corridors, fending off squamous mutant convicts in a passable facsimile of Dead Space. In [REDACTED], you beast hordes of colourful monsters in frenetic Hades-style arena brawls. There are skills to upgrade, metas to finesse, "experiments" (mods, I guess?) to equip, weapons and suits to loot.

"This game is all about fighting, dying, dying again, dying some more, and adapting, taking the classic roguelike formula and cranking it to eleven," bellows the press release, because nothing says "punk rock" like unironically quoting a piece of mockumentary dialogue that was originally intended as a gag about the meaninglessness of rising numbers. At the very least, I'd like video games to start cranking it to 12. Maybe next time.

I'm probably being too mean. Or at least, I'm venting too much at the press release, and not saying enough about the game. Forgive the Poochie The Dog presentation and judge it purely as a genre piece with no Callisto affiliations, and [REDACTED] seems performant enough. The visuals are very Void Bastardy and hey, the melee combat certainly looks more entertaining than that of The Callisto Protocol, which admittedly is a bit like saying that running a cheesegrater over your face is more fun than sitting on a blowtorch. The game has at least one clever idea, though I don't think it's unique to [REDACTED]: when you die, your corpse revives as an enemy equipped with all the gear and upgrades you were carrying.

Each run is an exercise in crafting a bossfight, in other words, and I do wonder how that might affect your tactics deeper in: if you confident you're going to cop it, should you throw away all of your potent gear to make life easier for your successor? Aside from your own reanimated flesh, the game also features other human survivors locked in the same race for the very last prison escape pod. They'll either try to kill you directly or throw "unexpected challenges" into your path. Typical geezer shenanigans. When will they learn.

[REDACTED] is out 31st October. If you preferred the previous incarnation of Black Iron Prison, you might be interested in former Striking Distance bossman Glen Schofield's thoughts about the rigours of development and their abandoned plans for a sequel.