Screenshots & trailers
What players say
Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 300 sampled Steam reviews (202 positive / 98 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.
What positive reviews talk about
- Story & writing36% mention it
- Combat30% mention it
- Visuals & art28% mention it
- World & exploration15% mention it
- Performance14% mention it
What negative reviews complain about
- Story & writing34% mention it
- Combat29% mention it
- Visuals & art17% mention it
- Bugs & crashes16% mention it
- Performance9% mention it
Satisfaction by hours played
Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.
Under 5h
44%
61 reviews
5-15h
71%
159 reviews
15-40h
75%
68 reviews
40-100h
90%
10 reviews
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 67 | 106 |
| Creator reviews (5 tracked) | – | 40 | 5 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 65% | 64 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | – | 0 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 79% | 73 | 50 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 142 reviews sampled · 113 total reviews in window · weighted 85.5 up / 22.6 down · computed 2h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (160)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 30
“The Callisto Protocol isn’t scary. It isn’t fun. It isn’t entertaining, fascinating, or mildly enriching. It lays a self-entitled claim to Dead Space’s stylistic and mechanical elements yet wields not a single one with grace, instead performing a crude pantomime.”
read full review ↗ - 50
- 50
“Good graphics and lighting can only go so far and unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing else here worth getting excited about. The Callisto Protocol is this generation’s The Order: 1886. It could have been great. There are flickers of greatness here. But in the end, this turns into a great big disappointment.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“If you still really want to play The Callisto Protocol it would be wise to wait for any upcoming updates and significant price drop.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Although the game suffers from some flaws, they are pretty mild. The Callisto Protocol is visually stunning, but unfortunately, the gameplay is mildly mediocre.”
read full review ↗ - 50
“A pretty but uninspired platformer. Even though one of its developers made Limbo and Inside, don't expect the same level of quality here.”
read full review ↗ - 30
“The game’s dedication to graphical fidelity feels like a blinder to thinking outside the box in every other regard. It can’t help but feel like intensive overcompensation for inconsistent, tension-less stealth, one-note combat, level design that doesn’t reward exploration, generically fleshy enemies, upgrades that don’t reward experimentation, and ineffective jump scares, from enemies that get cheap hits in on Jacob every single time, regardless of how well-prepared the player is. Much has been made of the fact that this was meant as the heir apparent to beloved survival horror series Dead Space, a game that, 12 years later, can still induce goosebumps just from its terrifying attract sequence. By contrast, if not for its graphics, The Callisto Protocol feels like a relic from 1998, undone creatively even by the decaying likes of Shadow Man.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“So is The Callisto Protocol ultimately the new Dead Space? In the sense that it brings many of Dead Space’s signature elements into the cutting-edge technical world of today’s video games, certainly yes. However, anyone expecting this new title to deliver groundbreaking design innovations, a fresh gaming experience, and the ability to evoke genuine fear will inevitably be disappointed.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“The Callisto Protocol continues Dead Space’s legacy in a very competent manner. It might very well be the beginning of a new series, because the most important thing, scaring the player, works very well here.”
read full review ↗ - 75
“I appreciate what Striking Distance has created for their first IP, and I’m excited to see where they take it from here.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Overall there’s a lot to like about The Callisto Protocol. It’s a tight and well paced 10 hour experience and looks and runs great on the PS5 and It’s art direction and sound design help portray some really unsettling and horrific moments. It’s held back by some frustrating scare choices, repetitive combat and boss encounters and it’s push towards focussing on action in it’s later half. If the team at Striking Distance decide to flesh out the world they’ve established with a sequel, I’d love to see where they could take these characters and build out the setting next while having the benefit of having this first game to look back on.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“The Callisto Protocol is a beautiful audio-visual experience, but it is a hole in the water on both the gameplay and narrative sides. The game offers breathtaking settings, but this is not enough if the product lacks ideas and a well-calibrated combat system.”
read full review ↗
The Jimquisition
Stryftek
TheReviewGeek
GameMAG
INDIANTVCZ
3DNews
Slant Magazine
Gaming Professors
GRYOnline.pl
Seasoned Gaming
ani-game.com
SpaceNerd.it…and 148 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- 7/25 Patch UpdateJul 25, 2023
- 7/17 Patch UpdateJul 18, 2023
- 6/29 Patch UpdateJun 29, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- 4/18 Patch UpdateApr 18, 2023
- 2/14 Patch UpdateFeb 14, 2023
- 2/7 Patch Update - Hardcore Mode is Live!Feb 7, 2023
- 2/7 - Steam Deck UpdateFeb 7, 2023
- 1/19 Patch UpdateJan 20, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- 12/15 Patch UpdateDec 15, 2022
- 12/6 Patch UpdateDec 7, 2022
- 12/2 Patch UpdateDec 4, 2022