Throughout The Callisto Protocol, you're put into ever-increasingly perilous situations involving plenty of powerful and creepy monsters. And you're tasked with surviving it all.
The game helps you a little by providing various tutorials. But it doesn't hold your hand too much, and the title certainly doesn't give you all the tips and tricks you may need. After all, there are a bunch of things you can do or avoid doing to improve your experience and increase your chances of survival. For example, the following tips will help you get through, at least, the first few hours of the adventure.
Updated December 16, 2022: We've updated this article to include a handy video guide that shows you our top tips.
Be Cautious In Combat
As with many survival horror titles, you don't have an abundance of health or healing items in the game. So, you need to limit how much HP you lose in every battle. And the easiest way to drain your health is by being overly aggressive.
After all, you're not controlling a superhero with unlimited amounts of energy. The more you attack in quick succession, the slower you become, making it easier for the opposing creatures to get the upper hand. The best method for the average fight is to be cautious and a bit defensive. Make sure you dodge their strikes, leaving them vulnerable to your own.
Don't Be Afraid To Drop Things
Inventory management can either be really fun or annoying, depending on the game. In The Callisto Protocol, inventory management doesn't seem to be a major feature - at first. However, when you get a bit into the game, you soon realize that you have very few slots, and they fill up fairly quickly. It doesn't help that most things don't stack.
Therefore, you need to keep things in order, meaning you have to go into the inventory screen and hold the drop prompt on certain items. Dropping things can be hard to do since pretty much everything you have will be useful. Yet, you don't have the pocket space for it all. Thus, sometimes you need to stomach up the courage to place your least vital items on the ground to make room.
Spend Your Money On Upgrades Not Supplies
As this is a survival horror game, supplies are somewhat limited. However, what is even more limited are Callisto Credits. This is the name given to the title's in-game currency. You can spend them at every Reforge on upgrades to your weapons and gear or on health injectors and ammo. Your credits are better spent on the former.
This is because getting the right upgrades can make your journey through the horrific prison a lot more pleasant, as they make you much more effective in battle. As you don't get an abundance of credits, you shouldn't waste them on supplies unless you're really in need, as you can find those things elsewhere.
Look For Side Paths
While there are plenty of open-world horror titles out there, The Callisto Protocol isn't one of them. In fact, it's a fairly linear game, which makes it more atmospheric and scary. That doesn't mean that there is only a single way to go, though.
There are a bunch of little side areas and locations you can find if you head off the beaten path. It's a good idea to explore these places, as they usually contain useful items and the occasional collectible. As the game is so dark, though, these additional paths are easily missed, so keep an eye out.
Use Stealth When Possible
The main protagonist, Jacob, is no super soldier. He is a seemingly regular pilot trying to survive. Therefore, if he's going to live through this dangerous ordeal, he must be smart. And an intelligent thing to do is not rush into every battle head first.
There are moments in the game where stealth becomes a viable option. Anytime this opportunity occurs, you should take it. After all, when nobody knows you're there, you're able to creep up behind most enemies and quickly perform a takedown, killing them instantly. This saves you both health and ammo.
Don't Horde Ammo Too Much
In most survival horror games, you don't get an abundance of ammunition. For example, in all the scariest Resident Evil games, it's rare to find bullets. The Callisto Protocol follows that trope. Therefore, you would naturally be more hesitant to use your ammo. But this creates an issue in your inventory.
Not only do bullets take up a spot in your limited inventory, they only come in small stacks. Thus, if you horde a lot of ammunition, you won't have any space for health injectors, energy converters, or batteries. So, don't be afraid to fire some bullets at the less impressive enemies, as long as you've still got enough for any stronger monsters who may turn up.
Stomp On Every Defeated Enemy
One of the things that initially caught the eye about The Callisto Protocol is that it is directed by one of the co-creators of Dead Space. And fans of that series will certainly know the importance of stomping on enemy corpses.
Callisto informs you of the stomp mechanic early, and it's something you shouldn't ignore. In fact, you should be bringing your foot down on the enemy corpses after every fight. After all, when you stomp on an enemy's body, a useful item pops out of it. Moreover, certain creatures can get back up after you've seemingly killed them, but stomping on their bodies puts a stop to that.