The horror game The Callisto Protocol is getting a graphics upgrade for the PS5 Pro. It impresses particularly with an unusually high resolution for consoles – though a bit of trickery is involved.
What kind of game is this? The Callisto Protocol is a survival horror game developed by Striking Distance Studio. Glen Schofield, who worked on this title, is among its developers. Schofield created one of the best horror games of all time with Dead Space, so expectations were high for The Callisto Protocol.
The Callisto Protocol was intended to be a spiritual successor to Dead Space, but it never reached the acclaim of its predecessor and flopped at release. Nevertheless, Sony has now released a trailer on the official PlayStation channel on YouTube, announcing the game for the PS5 Pro.
You can see this trailer here:
Up to 8K resolution including ray tracing
How big is the difference between PS5 and PS5 Pro? On the regular PS5, The Callisto Protocol runs in quality mode at 4K resolution and full ray tracing at 30 frames per second (FPS). On the PS5 Pro, you get double the FPS with the same features – and that’s in performance mode.
In quality mode, you can expect 8K resolution (4320p) and ray tracing at 30 FPS. At this point, however, Sony does a little trickery, as the PS5 Pro does not deliver native 8K. As you find out when reading the fine print, the game is rendered at a resolution of 6K and upscaled.
The upscaling works thanks to PSSR: In short, the image is calculated at a lower resolution and then upscaled to the target resolution using AI. This way, players end up with more FPS at comparable image quality.
Is The Callisto Protocol worth it? That really depends on what you expect. It is by no means a bad game, but it’s also not a milestone. However, the title has found its fans. Some of them are even hoping for a sequel in the comments section under the trailer.
YouTube user dangiambrone7350 captures the appeal of the game quite well:
This game reminds me of The Order: 1886 (and Ryse: Son of Rome): It is a very atmospheric and technical powerhouse with impressive graphics and audio, but it has a number of flaws and issues that prevent it from being a classic. And like The Order: 1886, there is a lot of potential to build upon.
If you are looking for a horror game that impresses with its cinematic presentation rather than demanding gameplay, The Callisto Protocol may be for you.
While a sequel is rather unlikely, you can play another game in the universe of The Callisto Protocol with [REDACTED]. MeinMMO introduces it here: In a new action game on Steam and PS5, you have to fight against your own corpse
