If you asked me to imagine what a spinoff of The Callisto Protocol would look like, I’d probably have some quick answers. Maybe it could be more of a horror narrative adventure akin to games like Until Dawn. Maybe there’s some sort of PVE shooter like Back 4 Blood in the franchise’s DNA. What I wouldn’t have pitched, though, is an isometric roguelike modeled after Hades that’s full of sardonic quips and punk rock music.
That’s exactly what Striking Distance Studios has cooked up with Redacted, stylized as [external-link href=”https://store.steampowered.com/app/2229940/REDACTED/” newtab=”true” nofollow=”false” noopener=”true” noreferrer=”false” norewrite=”false”]REDACTED[/external-link], an unlikely spinoff on par with Bayonetta Origins. In this total reimagining, players fight their way out of the alien-infested Black Iron Prison in style. Gone is the gritty realism and serious tone of The Callisto Protocol; in its place is bright pop art and hammy comedy. Yes, it comes off as a desperate left turn that’s way too derivative of its inspiration. Set aside the context as best you can, though, and you’ll find some reliable fun and surprising ideas in one of 2024’s oddest projects.
Race to the pod
On its surface, and even below it, Redacted feels like Hades with some nouns switched around. When I jump into my first roguelike run, I dashed from room to room bashing aliens with my baton and shooting them by holding my right joystick in their direction. Most Hades hooks have an equivalent here. There are boon-like upgrades that modify my skills, NPCs whose stories evolve through subsequent runs, and lots of currencies I can trade between runs for permanent rewards. That formula is successful for a reason, so it didn’t take long for it to hook me here.
I have a few moves at my disposal during combat. In addition to my melee and equipped gun, I have an evasive dash, a kick, and a special power that blows enemies back. Combat isn’t quite as lightning fast as it is in Hades; there’s a heaviness to my hits that better mirrors the powerful feedback of The Callisto Protocol. Upgrades help make each run feel just a bit different, imbuing each ability with health-draining effects, burn powers, and more. With a handful of weapons to mix and match, I quickly found my experimental groove run after run.
While it’s all fun, Redacted is another roguelike that doesn’t fully nail what makes Hades so special. In that game, and its excellent sequel, the Boons I receive can radically change how I use a weapon. There are tons of synergies to find that can create powerful builds. Both this and other copycats like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate tend to nail the systems around combat, but struggle to find the depth beyond simply spamming attack buttons. Redacted feels a bit limited in scope as a result – its four- biome run especially gets repetitive after a bit. Its immediate thrills are still enjoyable; just don’t expect to spend dozens of hours sinking into its evolving lore.
This isn’t to say that Redacted doesn’t bring some genuinely great ideas to the table that help differentiate it from other games like it. In fact, it’s a bit ingenious at times. The big twist is that I’m not the only one trying to escape Black Iron Prison. As I try more runs, I meet computer-controlled characters who are also racing to the escape bay. It turns out that simply clearing a run isn’t enough; I need to do it faster than my rivals, because there’s only one escape pod. That creates a more urgent, speed-focused action game that incentivizes me to get risky instead of dodging from danger.
That core idea branches off into a pair of unique systems. One of those is a disruption menu that lets me slow down my rivals during a run. When my hacking power is charged, I can call up a menu and select one of my three active competitors. Once I choose one, I dial up an interference with a specific button command – think Helldivers 2’s stratagems. I have to hit the button sequence fast or else it’ll fail. What’s more interesting is that my foes can hit me with their own disruptions. Sometimes I’ll enter a room to find that the lights have been shut off or that there’s a gas leak. That idea adds some needed variance to the otherwise stagnant run.
The other twist is that I can occasionally find computers that contain files on my foes. When I discover them, I’m able to uncover one piece of blacked-out information. This doesn’t just tell me what they were in space jail for, but permanently debuffs them. That’s important, because they double as powerful sub bosses that can ruin a run when I catch up to them. All of these ideas make Redacted feel distinct, with an emphasis on slowly stripping rivals of power in tandem with my own power rise.
An uneven tone
What’s less successful is its tone, which is where it’s most unrecognizable as a Callisto Protocol spinoff. It looks like a comic book and sounds like Hi-Fi Rush with its wailing guitar riffs. That part is fine, as it gives the roguelike a stylish punk rock sheen, but it falters when it goes for comedy. Redacted is full of faux-edgy writing that had me cringing anytime a character spoke. Dialogue snippets are childishly irreverent, peppered with dull dirty jokes and left-field pop culture references. They also pop up constantly, as all three of my rivals fire off bad one-liners during my runs. It feels more like Dead Rising than anything.
None of this is to say that Striking Distance can’t have fun with its IP. This is meant to be a playful side-game that goofs around with its existing lore in ways that a true sequel couldn’t. I’m just left feeling like it’s so far removed from The Callisto Protocol’s dark world that I’m not even sure why it was envisioned as a spinoff as opposed to a new game. I don’t feel like I’ve gotten a deeper understanding of that world here so much as a Scary Movie-style parody of it. Maybe that’s the point, but I’m not sure that the series has enough die-hards fans yet to earn that kind of treatment.
Redacted feels a bit like a hail Mary for Striking Distance Studios. The Callisto Protocol was a commercial flop that received a lukewarm reception from fans and critics alike. A high-budget sequel was already feeling like it was out of the cards, but the studio had already poured so much into crafting the universe. This feels like a fast way to salvage what it can from those ashes and reimagine The Callisto Protocol as a smaller-scope title in a popular genre framework. It’s a fair survival instinct that sees the studio dashing for the closest escape pod. I’m not sure it has the fuel to get very far, but there are plenty of intriguing ideas here that are worth saving.
Redacted launches on October 31 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.