‘The Callisto Protocol’ Developers Studied “Real Life Examples Of Horror And Gore”

The Callisto Protocol looks incredible, but it also looks really damn disturbing. From Dead Space creator Glen Schofield, this sci-fi horror is set to be the “single most scariest game for PC and consoles.”

Set aboard the Black Iron Prison located on one of Jupiter’s moons, The Callisto Protocol is a single-player experience and in a recent gameplay reveal, we got to see some of the terrifying monstrosities we’ll be facing off against. The game looks like a gorefest but what’s more disturbing than some of the game’s animations is their origins.

Take a look at The Callisto Protocol’s gruesome gameplay below.

If you haven’t watched the gameplay, let me set the scene. The clip ends with a guy getting sucked into a very powerful fan, quickly chopping him up into tiny little pieces. Gross. The reason the developers at Striking Distance Studios were able to make such vivid animations is because they studied “real life examples of horror and gore” which I’m not going to lie, sounds like the most disturbing kind of day you could possibly have at work.

In an interview with PCGamesN, Striking Distance Studios chief creative officer Chris Stone explained, “We've found ourselves looking at a lot of real-life examples of horror and gore. While these were a lot less fun to research, it was some of the most memorable and valuable content when it came to creating realistic visuals and experiences." Less fun to research? I imagine it was not fun at all.

Stone also opened up about the title’s less graphic influences. He added that Silent Hill and Resident Evil are “obvious influences,” but that the team took “a lot of inspiration from movies like The Thing and Event Horizon” as well.

As PCGamesN points out, Mortal Kombat 11 took a similar approach studying real life gore, stirring some controversy over the wellbeing of the developers. Hopefully, solutions have been put in place at Striking Distance Studios for those who do feel affected by the troubling work.