Yes, The Callisto Protocol is way gorier than Dead Space

The Callisto Protocol
(Image credit: Krafton)

The Callisto Protocol will be a much gorier game than Dead Space thanks to improved enemy dismemberment.

That's according to director and Striking Distance founder Glen Schofield, who previously oversaw the Dead Space series at EA. Speaking with Eurogamer, Schofield affirmed that the gore system in The Callisto Protocol is "so advanced compared to Dead Space" and allows for "some pretty horrific moments." 

"It's a lot of rendering, and you break up the characters into jumps, cut them up with bones sticking out and all that," he said. "Then the rendering guys, they do their special thing to it which is make everything look wet. And so every character had to be done that way - and however you go at it, chunks break off, or parts of the face, parts of the head."

We also discussed the game's gore system with Schofield back at Summer Game Fest's Play Days event. He noted that dismemberment has become much more common in action games since Dead Space was released, so the team made a point to improve on it with a more reactive gore system. 

"It's got variety, you can cut off the head, take off the legs," Schofield told GamesRadar (as part of a longer The Callisto Protocol interview). "We've got a gore system, and it's just chunks. You can take pieces off the character all over." 

The uncensored debut trailer for The Callisto Protocol shows an inmate melt from the inside out after a revolting tentacle monster half-devours him, so there was never any doubt that it wasn't pulling punches on the gore factor. After Schofield's comments, we're even more eager to see how The Callisto Protocol outdoes the infamous needle death scene in Dead Space 2.

We also spoke to Schofield about why The Callisto Protocol is no longer in the PUBG universe.

Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

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