When The Callisto Protocol was first announced many players saw it as a fresh take of classics like Dead Space. It gave off similar vibes, not to mention was an experience many wanted to see return. Even if the original didn’t find the success Striking Distance Studios had hoped, they ultimately decided to return to the world with Redacted. The unlikely spin-off dropped the survival horror aspects in favor of a more popular topdown roguelike experience. Given how crowded this market is, can Redacted find success, or will it be another forgotten experience left on Callisto?
There really isn’t much of a narrative to Redacted. Players control a guard, who gets assigned a random name each attempt, who has to deal with both human and undead threats. This actually leads to what makes Redacted so interesting.
You Can Kill Your Past Self
At its core, Redacted feels like it’s inspired by Hades. Instead of making a dynamic game with a lot of variables, Redacted tailors each run to selected weapons. From there, players can choose between a wide variety of powers to enhance said build. These include fire, ice, lightning, but also extend to changing how the weapon works, enhancing other abilities, or offering a companion. Clearing a room gives one of a handful of enhancements, essentially mirroring how gods work in Hades.
Exactly Who I’d Expect to Survive this Situation
Where Redacted stands out is its escape system. Instead of asking players to overcome the horrors of Callisto, they need to fight against other humans eyeing the escape pod. The result is a mad dash to the exit, complete with fun, though sometimes frustrating, mechanics.
The way this works is rather simple. After a period of time players can attack a rival. These offer select disadvantages that are performed by entering a specific button sequence (think Helldivers 2). Effective use can slow rivals down, or make it easier to eliminate a target. Occasionally they will attack back with their own attack.
This Isn’t Fun
Most of these are pretty fun. Enemies explode, there is a gun jam one where reload needs to be pushed a number of times; though annoying attacks include things like pop ups can appear around your screen that need to be removed with a specific d-pad combo. The latter suck because it’s significantly harder than a lot of the levels themselves. I’m not losing due to a mistake, there is just too much to keep track of, or it causes players to get careless. I could kind of see it as a blue shell situation if this was a PVP mode, but with AI it feels cheap.
Across various runs players need to access computer terminals to unlock a rival’s full dossier file. Not only does this make them easier to kill, doing so will give part of the keycode needed to access the vault and conclude the adventure.
As for normal combat it’s surprisingly robust. Players are can use a gun, melee, Gravity Restraint Projector (GRP), dash, and kick to deal with hostile threats. All of these can be enhanced with the aforementioned perks that can burn, freeze, stun, explode, and so forth incoming threats.
In addition to this, players can unlock a wide variety of skills to make runs easier. Most of these are mundane like do more damage at full health, though there are some powerful options like an outright revive. With over seven slots there is more than enough to make a unique build without sacrificing staples.
Where Redacted excels is enemy diversity. After a short learning curve there are enemies that cater to different play styles. I don’t just mean melee, or guns, but rather certain weapons are outright better, or worse against a number of foes. It makes each run feel a bit more balanced, even if I think some combos are significantly easier to use than others.
The unlock systems are also centered on diversity. At first runs will be dictated more by which resources mean the most over creating the best build, with players needing to use different weapons to unlock skull tokens. So even if I prefer the assault rifle to grenade launcher, I’ll need to use both to fully unlock everything Redacted has to offer.
All of this comes together in a way that is rather satisfying. I need to plan ahead, consider future threats, and remember how everything is dealt with. There is also enough options where any build can theoretically work, it just comes down to skills, and luck.
Redacted Review Verdict
Redacted: Even if Redacted is a massive departure from what one would expect from something in The Callisto Protocol universe, it's surprisingly fun to play. Runs can be completed in approximately 30 minutes, the core objectives give something for players to work towards long term, and there is a reason to master every weapon. I think there are some balance issues, not to mention some annoying skills, but the core experience itself is so enjoyable I find myself constantly returning for more. – Grant
Editor’s Note: Redacted was reviewed on PlayStation 5, and a copy was provided to us for review purposes.
