Callisto Protocol Dev Reveals Top-Down Spin-Off Project Birdseye | Push Square
21.03.2024 - 00:29
/ pushsquare.com
/ Glen Schofield
Striking Distance Studios, the developer behind 2022's The Callisto Protocol, has revealed what is internally called Project Birdeye, a top-down spin-off set in the same universe. A small team will continue to develop the fast-paced roguelike while the rest of the studio works on another full-scale game, and we got a brief trailer showing off some stylised action.
Alongside the trailer, Striking Distance explains how the project came to be: «Last year, a small group of us began working on a passion project that was born out of our obsession with easy-to-pick up and play but fun to-master roguelikes. We love the world we created for The Callisto Protocol and want to keep playing in that sandbox – and Black Iron Prison is the perfect future-punk playground for the team's vision.»
It looks pretty cool, actually, and it's refreshing to see a studio essentially pitch a game like this to its audience and solicit feedback, as it seems no one wants a repeat of what happened last time around. Billed as an «AAAA» game, The Callisto Protocol reportedly failed to meet sales expectations, resulting in layoffs at Striking Distance. Founder Glen Schofield left the studio in 2023 to «pursue new opportunities.»
Founder and CEO will «pursue new opportunities»
Dare to dream
What do you think of Project Birdseye? Would you like to see a further exploration of The Callisto Protocol universe? Let us know in the comments section below.
Khayl is Push Square's Australian correspondent, a reporter who regularly catches the competition napping. With five years of experience as a freelance journalist and mercenary wordsmith, RPGs are his first great love, but strategy and tactics games are a close second, genres in which he is only too happy to specialize.
I haven't played The Callisto Protocol yet — I plan on it when I decide to clear my backlog. This doesn't look half bad, though. I'm a big fan of top down games, particularly shooters. This has a similar graphic style as Hi-Fi Rush which I like a lot. I'll probably check it out at some point — it seems like a perfect fit for my Portal.
@Kraven i played through it when they added it to plus, it was ok, not as good as dead space.
Am I the only one that thought the Callisto Protocol Studio closed down after the game flopped? Well I'm glad they are still around at least.
Well hopefully it isn’t as gory and actually gets released here in Japan this time. The Callisto Protocol didn’t
Probably should have done this as their first game, not spent a 100 million plus of investor money on developing the flop the Callisto Protocol. Does anyone actually wants a sequel to that game?
Anyway this look like their last throw of the dice to keep the studio alive. Hope it goes well for them and