The Callisto Protocol Cover Story - The Dark Side Of The Moon

Jupiter looms large, serving as an imposing backdrop as cargo ship pilot Jacob Lee crashes on the Gas Giant’s second-biggest moon. Our solar system’s largest planet may play host to a seemingly eternal storm, but something far fiercer is brewing on Callisto. It’s here that the creator of the Dead Space series, Glen Schofield, stages perhaps his most horrifying project yet.

Set 300 years in the future, The Callisto Protocol unmistakably carries Schofield’s creative DNA, but through innovative technology, an uncompromised vision, and lessons learned from decades of development experience, Striking Distance Studios feels it has something more than a spiritual successor on its hands. The Callisto Protocol challenges players to face their fears as they descend into the depths of a lunar prison overrun by monstrous, infected humans and uncover what happened to one of our great hopes for life beyond Earth. We witnessed never-before-seen gameplay and spent hours picking the brains of Striking Distance Studios’ veteran developers to learn how this team is creating one of the scariest, most intense games of 2022.

In 2019, Schofield took a trip out to the desert to get away from the hustle and bustle of the game industry. Just months prior, he had left Activision, a publisher with whom he had worked for nearly a decade. While there, he helped lead a studio he cofounded, Sledgehammer Games, as it worked on three mainline Call of Duty titles: Modern Warfare 3, Advanced Warfare, and WWII. Schofield eventually transitioned to an executive role within Activision before leaving the company less than a year later. He decided to take some time off and plot his next move.