Although we’ve already seen quite a bit of The Callisto Protocol, Striking Distance Studio’s new upcoming sci-fi horror game, we haven’t seen much of the game’s cast. So far, actor Josh Duhamel – who has already made a videogame appearance in Call of Duty WWII – has been prominently featured as the game’s protagonist, Jacob Lee, and The Boys’ Karen Fukuhara has been featured in one lonely promotional shot. However, that’s about to change.
While discussing both Duhamel’s and Fukuhara’s involvement in the game at Gamescom, technical producer Mark Taylor reveals the pair are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the game’s casting choices.
“We definitely wanted A-list talent,” he tells The Loadout. “We wanted something different from, say, Isaac in Dead Space and his faceless suit. We wanted to have someone you’d instantly recognise, so we spent a lot of time representing Josh and Karen in-game so that they were instantly recognisable.
“But listen, there’s plenty of other people we’ve not announced yet – there are some very recognisable stars here. We want this to be as accessible as possible and we think that if you recognise the actor, that brings a level of accessibility as well – it humanises it.”
While fans have been waiting for a full reveal of The Callisto Protocol cast for a while now, confirmation that there’ll be more than just two A-listers involved shows how big this project really is. Plus, the fact that the game features full motion capture means the cast is more than just visually recognisable.
“We want this [recognition] even in the way that Josh behaves in the game,” Taylor continues. “He’s an everyman, he’s not a soldier. The way he brandishes weapons, like he’s not trained in this – he’s making terrible shot choices. We wanted him not to feel indestructible. The best survival games make you feel that fear of death, so we wanted an everyman feel [for his] character, rather than Isaac in Dead Space who was more like a tank.
“We want you to feel vulnerable all the time – like the Resident Evil series – where you’re just one bullet away from death.”
And by making their stars “do some very strange things” in the motion capture studio, The Callisto Protocol is hoping to become the scariest game yet. Maybe some of those unannounced A-listers will be playing the big baddies? Hopefully we won’t have to wait until The Callisto Protocol release date to find out.