PLEASE NOTE: This article contains MASSIVE Spoilers for The Callisto Protocol. Proceed at your own risk.
The Callisto Protocolwas released amidst mixed reviews due to some performance issues that mainly affected PC gamers and a rather short main campaign that left a bit to be desired in terms of enemy diversity or boss fights. The game still gets many aspects of the survival horror genre right thanks to a vast array of weapons and upgrades to choose from, a limited supply of resources that doesn’t feel too barren, and a healthy amount of enemy density in multiple sections. As it stands, it seems likeThe Callisto Protocolwas not intended as a one-and-donesort of game, and there’s a lot of room for improvement either to the base game or for possible sequels.
Speaking ofThe Callisto Protocolsequels, there is a strong chance that they were at the very least considered even before launch due to the way the story develops and, mainly, the way it ends. While the story itself is multi-layered, in the sense that it revolves around the events in the recent past and those in the present,The Callisto Protocolmakes an effort to make them relevant to all the characters involved for their growth and their future enterprises. With the way the ending plays out,The Callisto Protocolcould spawn plenty of other games in the same universe it builds, becoming a full-fledged franchise.
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Why The Callisto Protocol Could Spawn Multiple Sequels and a Prequel
The Callisto Protocolfollows the journey of Jacob Lee, a ship pilot that works as a courier, and he finds himself caught up in the middle of a conspiracy and an outbreak, circumstances that force him to deal with his guilt for the death of his co-pilot and friend, Max, as well as the deaths of thousands due to the biophage virus. Jacob was in fact transporting bioweapons containing biophage larvae to various locations before the prologue, including Europa, and he has to come to terms with it towards the end.
Jacob is apprehended as a prisoner atBlack Iron Prison, where the warden is secretly orchestrating an outbreak of the biophage virus like the one on Europa, but the protagonist manages to escape with the help of Elias and Dani. While Elias dies a couple of hours into the main story, Dani becomes an incredibly important character and the moral compass of the story, with her whole arc revolving around how she wants to learn the truth about the outbreaks and reveal it to the public. Jacob and Dani team up to go against the warden, but she is infected with the virus, which makesThe Callisto Protocol’s plot more interesting.
This is because Jacob then links his CORE to Dani’s to learn what happened on Europa, and that’s when he discovers that his actions cost Dani’s sister’s life along with many others, and that’s what makes him decide he wants to do better and redeem himself. After Jacob beatsThe Callisto Protocol’s final boss, a virus-enhanced version of Captain Ferris, he recovers a single antidote dose and uses it on Dani, curing her.
However, the warden activates the self-destruction sequence of the facility, and there is only one escape pod left.Jacoblets Dani use it and gives her the proof she needed to demonstrate that there are people behind the outbreaks, and her final monologue reveals that she intends to do just as much. On the other hand,The Callisto Protocol’s finale makes it look like Jacob might survive as well. What follows is that there could be a prequel in the future that explores the events on Europa or the old colony on Callisto, and then one or even two sequels that instead focus on what happens next to both Jacob and Dani, and how their stories go separate ways.
The Callisto Protocolis out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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