The Callisto Protocol (survival/horror)

[KickAssCop]

Didn't you like MW2? Similar campaign length. I don't mind if it is very good. This seems to be a bit of a let down. A horror game that runs long might get old. After a while there is only so many ways you can scare the player. Original Dead Space was around 13 hours. I bet this is similar length for the average gamer. Typically the people who finish first rush through it. Just check how long to beat.com. Initial reviews are always short, then as a few weeks pass the average time to beat goes up. This is probably closer to 11-13 hours for anyone not speed running.

Yes I finished MW2 in 6-7 hours. However, since then I have spent over 20 hours in MP as well.

This is just an average game at best. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

 

[Mchart]

I personally think it’s a brilliant game. However, it’s completely marred by the technical issues.

 

[T4rd]

Don't think I've ever watched this channel, but this popped up in my recommended for it.

 

[polonyc2]

Don't think I've ever watched this channel, but this popped up in my recommended for it.

Skill Up is one of my favorite reviewers...the guy goes into detail on every facet of the game, doesn't play favorites and is overall just very thorough with his reviews

the very first sentence of his review is why I love his work...he states that reviews are subjective...it's OK to love something a reviewer hates and vice versa...I personally have around 5 sites that I trust their opinions as they generally line up with mine...I don't care if 95 out of 100 reviewers say one thing, I only care about the 5 sites that I trust

 

[Comixbooks]

lol Mostly Negative review due to "stuttering" though not the gameplay. I'll keep it anyway I refunded in a few months back.

 

[polonyc2]

the biggest issue I have with Callisto Protocol (outside of the performance) is that it doesn't try and innovate or enhance the Dead Space experience...it literally copies and pastes the exact same game while removing the one really cool feature that deserved to be copied- the dismemberment system...Schofield being the lead developer on both should have given him a unique viewpoint which allowed him to innovate more...this is pretty much a DS remake on a prison planet (with the actual Dead Space remake arriving in January 2023)

even the enemy designs seem disappointing...the only positive about this game is the character models (and gore)...sounds like a game to pick up around $20

 

[Mchart]

Yeah, i'd just wait. Given the awful technical issues on PC, etc. This will be at $40 after the new year easily. I may just wait on it until next October. Should go on a decent sale by then and the issues will be fixed for PC at that point.

 

[Comixbooks]

Might refund this I mean Darktide has better reviews. Just refunded it so many better games on the Horizon.
I mean if it's worse than Deadspace doesn't have much going for it. 62.00 is 62.00 that is like a whole days Pay for me basically.

 

[Domingo]

Still no discount on CDKeys, either. I figured it might not be a terrible purchase at $35. At $58.29...not so much. I figure I'll get NFS: Unbound instead. Maybe they'll fix the PC version and then discount it.

 

[Comixbooks]

Don't buy it Domigo IGN said it's not a very intense game.
Get Darktide or wait for something else.

 

[Mchart]

I was willing to support them and do the full price, but I refuse to support how awful the game is on PC right now. It's just unacceptable. Even beyond how bad the UE4 shader cache stutter is - It's just the simple things as well. The PC options suck, there is no FOV adjustment so on 21:9 it just has issues since you can't back the FOV out, etc.

 

[Domingo]

Don't buy it Domigo IGN said it's not a very intense game.
Get Darktide or wait for something else.

NFS Unbound is apparently fantastic, and I dig the series to begin with. I just bought that instead.

 

[Lateralus]

Well, damn. Disappointing to read all of these replies, but then again, that's one reason I didn't preorder.

I had all weekend to dedicate to playing it, too. Sounds like I'll just work on the backlog and pick this up when it's cheaper and/or the issues get fixed. I'm OK with what's essentially more Dead Space, but it needs to be technically sound at least.

 

[RJ1892]

The game is unoptimized, not getting full gpu utilization at 4K Max Settings + RT averaging around 50FPS, CPU isn't being fully utilized as well. It's not just shader compilation issues. I think they wanted to rush it out the door before Dead Space Remake comes out. I'll mess around with it a bit more later, but likely will refund it and buy it on sale 6 months from now.

 

[polonyc2]

https://twitter.com/CallistoTheGame/status/1598458091569569792

 

[Armenius]

The game seems fantastic in my short time with it so far, but the performance issues are absolutely ridiculous. Nothing I do can get the game running smoothly on the PC in my signature. The lighting system is something else, and I would love to be able to run the game with all of it turned up to 11. This is why I am always hesitant about UE4 games. Going to play it on my Series X, for now.

When someone play this.. Tell me if QTE's can be turned off..

You can have the game auto complete all QTEs in the accessibility options. I turned it on, myself. QTEs in 2022 are inexcusable. If an action can't be completed by the player through the course of normal gameplay, then it shouldn't be in the game.

The game is unoptimized, not getting full gpu utilization at 4K Max Settings + RT averaging around 50FPS, CPU isn't being fully utilized as well. It's not just shader compilation issues. I think they wanted to rush it out the door before Dead Space Remake comes out. I'll mess around with it a bit more later, but likely will refund it and buy it on sale 6 months from now.

Since we're on NVIDIA cards the utilization issue may be fixed by a driver update. At least I am hoping. The load hitches won't be fixed by that, but hopefully the stuttering will.

 

[RJ1892]

Since we're on NVIDIA cards the utilization issue may be fixed by a driver update. At least I am hoping. The load hitches won't be fixed by that, but hopefully the stuttering will.

I hope so, Nvidia did include a profile in the latest driver for the game, but probably didn't put it in the release notes because it was incomplete or something.

From my few minutes of experience with the game, it seems like it has a solid foundation for a good game.

 

[RJ1892]

DF Tech Review

 

[Lamont]

The shader compile Unreal Engine nonsense is A LOT. Really annoying. Gonna wait for a fix. It would be nice to have an option to compile all shaders... I don't mind waiting 5~7 minutes (Horizon Zero Dawn...) if it means no stutter.

 

[Furious_Styles]

Sounds like a really poor PC release. Guess they really wanted to get it out the door prior to xmas. No way am I buying this crap.

 

[Domingo]

Jeez. That DFTech video makes it sound like a freakin' disaster of a port. Beyond the game not being particularly great, this version is a technical dumpster fire on top of that. I might never bother buying this game at this rate.

 

[Mchart]

Jeez. That DFTech video makes it sound like a freakin' disaster of a port. Beyond the game not being particularly great, this version is a technical dumpster fire on top of that. I might never bother buying this game at this rate.

It's virtually unplayable. This has some of the worst shader comp stutter i've ever seen in a game. The PC version really feels like an early beta build with how poor it runs. They really should have delayed this a few months for the PC version.

Also, the performance, even if you remove the shader stutter, isn't great, in my opinion. You can really tell that this game is doing more than UE4 can handle.

 

[vegeta535]

Jeez. That DFTech video makes it sound like a freakin' disaster of a port. Beyond the game not being particularly great, this version is a technical dumpster fire on top of that. I might never bother buying this game at this rate.

They are really good on putting a magnifying glass on the smallest issue.

 

[w35t]

Yeah the stutter really is painful. I also just got a crash to desktop right after the first monster encounter, right after he killed me.

It really is a shame too, I’m actually liking what I’m seeing content wise after playing through the intro, thinking this could be a really good game if the performance issues were sorted.

 

[StryderxX]

I just loaded the game and used the built in benchmark to test performance. The shader compilation stutter issue is bad. If you run the benchmark multiple times the stuttering goes away. On my rig (13900K + 4090) I'm getting an average of 68fps at 4K. There are no options for DLSS (2 or 3) only AMD FSR but that seems to be broken. I get the same performance with or without FSR enabled. I'm probably going to refund this and buy it later once it's discounted.

 

[Mchart]

I just loaded the game and used the built in benchmark to test performance. The shader compilation stutter issue is bad. If you run the benchmark multiple times the stuttering goes away. On my rig (13900K + 4090) I'm getting an average of 68fps at 4K. There are no options for DLSS (2 or 3) only AMD FSR but that seems to be broken. I get the same performance with or without FSR enabled. I'm probably going to refund this and buy it later once it's discounted.

Problem is that to 'fix' the current shader comp issue - You'd have to play through the entire game. It would then be smooth on the second playthrough.

Trust me, every new area you go into there is always something new that requires shader comp that just tanks performance. The worst part is that every jump scare / monster appearance has new shader comp attached to it, so the first time you enter any fight it's a complete slideshow, and completely kills immersion.

 

[polydiol]

I noticed the studdering within the first few minutes during the opening part when flying on the ship and I thought it was my system since I’m on an old video card and wasted an hour adjusting settings to no avail. Refunding and going back to Midnight Suns.

 

[Furious_Styles]

Problem is that to 'fix' the current shader comp issue - You'd have to play through the entire game. It would then be smooth on the second playthrough.

Trust me, every new area you go into there is always something new that requires shader comp that just tanks performance. The worst part is that every jump scare / monster appearance has new shader comp attached to it, so the first time you enter any fight it's a complete slideshow, and completely kills immersion.

They could just require a shader comp before playing (and let you know that changing settings will require a re-comp), I mean this IS PC after all and one of the advantages is we typically get more options.

 

[Mchart]

They could just require a shader comp before playing (and let you know that changing settings will require a re-comp), I mean this IS PC after all and one of the advantages is we typically get more options.

Yeah, you'd think.

But they didn't.

It's not as if other people using UE4 haven't figured this out. Tiny Tina does a shader comp on boot, and that game runs butter smooth.

 

[Furious_Styles]

Yeah, you'd think.

But they didn't.

It's not as if other people using UE4 haven't figured this out. Tiny Tina does a shader comp on boot, and that game runs butter smooth.

I agree, it's a baffling decision. I have to imagine the QA team told them it was garbage as well.

 

[zamardii12]

Not recommended.

 

[MavericK]

I only played Fallen Order for the first time a few months ago...it was probably much worse at launch but the game is mostly fine now...people confuse stuttering with hitching...stuttering is a more constant issue whereas hitching happens infrequently...there's still hitching but it's not so bad that it makes the game unplayable

There's both in my experience. But I agree, the game is playable, but the hitching is really noticeable and bad.

 

[Domingo]

I found Fallen Order's occasional millisecond hitching to be annoying, but nothing that kept me from playing an otherwise pretty great game. The closest thing I've experienced to this was the GamePass version of the Ascent. Literally every time you did anything for the first time, the entire screen would pause for about 1/2 second. It was unbearable. It's all about severity and and frequency.

 

[Armenius]

Not recommended.

So he doesn't know that you can completely turn off autoaim for both melee and firearms.

I disagree with his assessment of the combat. It feels intense and visceral, and the simplicity makes it flow. Encounters with more than one enemy at a time are there for you to do more than just try to get up in the face of them.

This is why I usually try to avoid SkillUp's reviews. He is either completely wrong, lacking completeness, are pandering to confirmation bias.

 

[w35t]

While the stuttering is bad and super annoying it’s not constant, and will hopefully improve drastically with a patch. I think all the feedback is a bit harsh, game runs and looks pretty good otherwise, and so far, I like it. At 4K with a 3080 RT is not an option unfortunately. HDR is pretty decent on the LG C7 though.

 

[Armenius]

While the stuttering is bad and super annoying it’s not constant, and will hopefully improve drastically with a patch. I think all the feedback is a bit harsh, game runs and looks pretty good otherwise, and so far, I like it. At 4K with a 3080 RT is not an option unfortunately. HDR is pretty decent on the LG C7 though.

The HDR implementation is really good, so I'm happy about that. It annoys me when games that would greatly benefit from it, like Dying Light 2, don't implement it.

 

[Mchart]

While the stuttering is bad and super annoying it’s not constant, and will hopefully improve drastically with a patch. I think all the feedback is a bit harsh, game runs and looks pretty good otherwise, and so far, I like it. At 4K with a 3080 RT is not an option unfortunately. HDR is pretty decent on the LG C7 though.

Yeah, no, I 100% disagree. The stutters are awful. Doesn't matter what your GPU is - You can turn all the settings to potato mode - The game will still stutter just the same. Even with a 13900k CPU, the stutters are still horrendous. I can only imagine how bad it is for people with a CPU a couple years old if it's that bad with the best CPU you can buy.

And again, a game like this requires smooth gameplay. Even more so with how fast these monsters move and the combat mechanics. You can't have stuttering.

 

[Comixbooks]

Maybe it doesn't stutter with a 13900KS

 

[StryderxX]

Maybe it doesn't stutter with a 13900KS

I ran the game on a 13900K with a 4090... it stutters badly. Review the video below. It's bookmarked to start during the PC performance section of the review:

 

[jobert]

Again I just don't get how a game like this was released on PC. Literally less than 2 minutes of gameplay or just running the damn benchmark would have shown you the game is a broken stuttery piece of shit. They spent all that time marketing the game acting like they were paying so much attention to detail when they couldn't even do the most simplest basic of all things which was playtest the game and fix obvious issues before release.