Callisto Protocol: Helix Station
Striking Distance Studio
Cast: Gwendoline Christie, Michael Ironside, Sam Littlefield, Kevin Durand
Director(s): Willie Block & Jake Emanuel
Published by Simplecast
On December 2nd, Striking Distance Studios released the highly anticipated Callisto Protocol. Created by the original team that created the critically acclaimed and revered Dead Space, Callisto Protocol was expected to be the spiritual successor that fans were waiting for. However, for many, it fell far short. As a fan who was part of the crowd awaiting Callisto Protocol I was gobbling up any and all information I could about the game and unknowingly stumbled upon one of the best things I’ve heard this year, Callisto Protocol: Helix Station.
No matter how you feel after playing Callisto Protocol the game, Helix Station the “podcast” is a diamond in the rough. The cast is stacked with famous actors like Gwendolyn Christie as Percy, Michael Ironside as Kane, Sam Littlefield as Prendergast, Kevin Durand as Metzger, Leland Orser as Lennox and more. Every single actor is putting in the utmost effort here and I dare say that this “podcast” could have existed as its own serial. As a listener I actually hate to refer to Helix Station as a podcast. It is more on the level of an audio movie and in my opinion would have made an even better narrative base than the game that it precedes.
20 years ago, Skip Tracer Percy was on the hunt for a psychopathic terrorist bent on destroying Helix Station. After cornering her quarry the ship’s reactor was destroyed and many people died. Having escaped with her life Percy is plagued by the memories of those she failed to save. Now she and her partner Kane are being forced to return to the now derelict station to catch an escaped Black Iron Prison inmate. However, Black Iron’s leader Metzger is hiding something about this inmate and the special cargo he stole. Forcing Percy to face a much scarier presence than the station she swore she’d never return to and the ghosts of those she failed to save.
Helix Station is phenomenal in my opinion. The true tragedy is that it isn’t getting the push that it deserves so that people hear it. As a fan of survival horror that was disappointed by the Callisto Protocols gameplay, story and linearity, I truly believe that Helix Station would have been a much more compelling story to play through. Percy has way more personality with just her voice than Jacob Lee (CP’s main character) and everyone involved gave a movie quality performance. As events played out I found myself trying to hear what the characters were hearing and jumping at eerie ambient sounds or the raspy breathing of the characters as they ran or fought to stay alive. It really got my heart racing at times, something I rarely felt while playing the game unfortunately.
If you’re a fan of suspense and survival horror I highly recommend you give this one a listen, with headphones preferably. You won’t be disappointed.
Eric Snell
esnell@comicattack.net
