The Callisto Protocol is better than you've heard, and now costs less than $10

Resident Evil 9, formally titled Requiem, is on the way. There's a remake of the original Silent Hill coming, and Alien Isolation 2 is officially in development. All things considered, when it comes to long-running or well-loved horror game series, the future looks bright - or rather, choked in shadow, dripping with blood, and deliciously ominous. But The Callisto Protocol, Striking Distance's spiritual Dead Space successor from 2022, deserves another chance. I'm not going to tell you it's one of gaming's great, unappreciated gems. I won't lie that the middle section in particular struggles with repetition and limp scares, and that there are some clumsy combat moments. The Callisto Protocol, however, is much better than its reputation implies, and definitely worth playing now that it's cheaper than ever.

The opening three or four hours of The Callisto Protocol are undoubtedly the strongest. You're ill-equipped, forced to defend yourself with only a length of lead pipe, and without any armor. Mostly, you need to stay out of sight and keep silent. But rather than a run-and-hide horror game in the vein of Amnesia, The Callisto Protocol still forces you into occasional confrontations, the payoff being that they're frantic, intense, and hard-won. There is an immense sense of strain. With the sweat and condensation running down the walls of Black Iron prison, it's like you're being slowly boiled in a giant pressure cooker.

When you get the guns, and the protective suit, and the action expands beyond the walls of Black Iron, yes, The Callisto Protocol comes a little unstuck. But the climactic couple of hours rein it back in, and it's got a very solid final boss fight. Essentially, I get the impression that The Callisto Protocol may be wrongly remembered as a total misfire, when actually - even if they are overshadowed by the bulkier sections of the game - there are some extremely strong moments and ideas in there.

And now the survival game is cheaper than ever. Between Friday June 13 and Thursday June 26, you can get The Callisto Protocol at an all-time low of just $8.99 / £7.49. Again, I'm not saying you should expect the greatest game ever. But if you want a well-constructed, very playable, and occasionally striking and imaginative horror game that won't eat hours of your life, and will sometimes surprise you, Callisto is the right call. You can get it here.

Otherwise, try some of the best single-player games, or maybe the best zombie games on PC.

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