During The Game Awards 2020, players saw the reveal of the trailer for The Callisto Protocol, a title that was very reminiscent of the Dead Space franchise. The game is being developed by Striking Distance, which explains the similarity to Electronic Arts' trilogy, as the studio is run by Glen Schofield, the co-creator of Dead Space.
The game's atmosphere really conveys a lot of what players felt with the old space horror trilogy, which made the public consider the announced title as a spiritual successor to the famous EA franchise. However, despite having similarities to Dead Space, The Callisto Protocol actually has a direct link to another game already established in the industry. Striking Distance's new IP takes place in the same universe as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
Although some players received the information with surprise, others were already expecting this announcement, due to the fact that Striking Distance was established by PUBG Corp. precisely to create other titles within the universe of the famous battle royale.
Confirmation was given by Glen Schofield himself, in an interview with IGN.
"The funny thing is that when I came up with this story and met the people at PUBG for the first time, I started talking about the game and about setting up a studio. I introduced the game to them and so what we did was date- so to the PUBG storyline"
Steve Papoutsis, development director of Striking Distance, also commented on the new title in an interview with vg247.
"There's a passion for horror games, mine, Glen's and others of the wonderful team we've put together. We were hoping to make something that was player-driven, story-focused, that provided plenty of opportunity for scares."
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One of the scariest games of the next generation
Despite being set in the same universe as PUBG, Glen Schofield's new game will follow a different path, with a strong focus on the atmosphere of tension and horror. The trailer revealed at The Game Awards already makes this evident, as, after a few seconds of suspense, a gigantic creature attacks a man who appears to be a prisoner.
Glen seems to want to do something that will stick in players' memories, stating that he wants to deliver one of the scariest games of the next generation.
The co-creator acknowledged that Dead Space was one of the most terrifying games of its time and stated that he wants to do that on the next generation of consoles.
"I'm looking forward to really trying to make the scariest game on the next-gen platforms. From what I've heard - it's hard to be creative and talk about it - but from what I've heard... it was one of the scariest games of its generation and I want to do the same in next-gen, which is considered the current generation now"
