The Callisto Protocol Has Been Cancelled In Japan

In space, no one can hear you scream. Well, that's unless you're playing Striking Distance Studios' The Callisto Protocol. This spiritual successor to Dead Space has the co-creator of EA's sci-fi horror on board, and while it's looking pretty great, not all of us will be able to play. 

The Callisto Protocol takes us to the depths of outer space and the monster-ravaged Black Iron prison colony in the year 2320. Playing as inmate Jacob Lee (Josh Duhamel), you have to navigate a mysterious alien outbreak that looks like it's been engineered by the warden. In case you didn't know, things will be pretty graphic.

Why Has The Callisto Porotcol Been Banned?

aking its influence from Japanese favourites like Resident Evil and Silent Hill hasn't done The Callisto Protocol any favours, and apparently, it's been banned in the country. Posting on the game's official social media accounts, a statement explained, "We have decided to discontinue the Japanese version of The Calisto Protocol."

Explaining what's happened, the studio continued, "We have determined that the game cannot pass the CERO rating in its current state and that changing the content will not provide the experience that players expect. We would appreciate your understanding in Japan." Developers have made the most of The Callisto Protocol's gruesome death mechanics and hacking off limbs to survive, so it's not surprising to hear some countries want things to be toned down. 

Posting on Twitter, analyst Dr Serkan Toto said games including GTA V and Cyberpunk 2077 have been censored due to nudity and violence, while God of War Ragnarok will probably be diluted as well. "It is also important to understand that sometimes, Japanese games get 2 releases, one cut and one 'gory' version," said Toto. "The gory version typically sells better. The problem is that the gory version, which usually carries CERO’s strictest ‘Z’ rating for ages 18+, is ALSO censored when compared with the Western release."

Is The Callisto Protocol Too Gory?

In an interview with True Achievements, Chief Technical Officer Mark James explained how the team studied real-life situations to nail the gory but realistic tone of The Callisto Protocol. "You can be very analytical about it — there’s a lot of medical research journals you can happily look up about how limbs are dismembered and there are studies on how this happens," said James. "We wanted to be as realistic as we could in the way this happens."

This means the game has been built on three cores of dismemberment, "chunking," and blood. Basically, when you kick a mutation into a blade and bits of flesh are flying Jacob's way, it's how it would probably be in real life. More than this, he said that they studied physical mutations to give a more "grounded" feel. As Striking Distance remains loyal to its blood-soaked release, it promises to refund those who pre-ordered the game in Japan. Oh well, there's always The Callisto Protocol 2.