One of the many things that make The Callisto Protocolmy most anticipated game of 2022is its focus on melee combat. “We’re definitely leaning into the survival side of things,” said Design Director Ben Walker in a recentinterview with Game Informer. “Almost half of our combat is melee. You have to be smart about how you use your bullets.”
Glenn Schofield is the CEO of Striking Distance Studios, which is making The Callisto Protocol. Schofield is one of the co-creators of Dead Space, so Walker’s quote should not come as much of a surprise. In Dead Space the way you kill Necromorphs is not through gunfire, but with actual fire and dismembering power tools. Looking back at historical and iconic horror films, John Carpenter’s The Thing comes to mind. Bullets do not kill them, they only cause them to bleed and move onto another host. Fire brings out a flight response and death.
In Dead Space, the Plasma Saw makes for easy dismemberment of Necromorphs, and provides great protection against their counters. You can also use nail guns to pin Necromorphs to the wall. Trying to just use melee attacks is just not as impactful as one would hope, and being forced to use them creates a more ‘up close and personal’ experience.
Horror games with a melee-focus not only offer more ways to kill an enemy, but add to the level of discomfort and fear within the game itself. Take the Silent Hill series for example: there are 83 melee weapons available to players from aluminum baseball bats to a fire sword.
While the game’s locations and areas are pure nightmare fuel, having melee options gives them a sense of realism, as you’re improvising with everyday regular items that you find in the streets - a lead pipe by some roadworks, a kitchen knife in a diner. You’re using whatever you possibly can to survive and those weapons amplify the sense of desperation. The steel pipe is a great weapon to use in the game because not only can you use it to bash the skulls and bones of enemies, it can be used to smash other objects as well. The weapons of Silent Hill are both practical tools and makeshift weapons.
When we look towards the future of melee-based combat in horror games, developers should remember one thing: the more realistic the better. Now, that doesn’t mean adding a weapon-breaking system like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but instead allowing players to use pipes, swords, axes, even a screwdriver makes the combat feel more realistic as well as certain scenarios. If you find yourself in an enemy’s grasp, there is no better use for a screwdriver in that moment other than jamming it into their face.
Providing various types of escape scenarios with smaller weapons makes the combat in games more robust and forces people to say “Screw it” to fear and just lunge right into battle. As technology advances years down the line, don’t be surprised to play a game where literally almost everything can be a weapon. Imagine being in a room and you only have an axe and would like a bat to carry around as well. The problem is the room you’re in does not have one in it but it has a large sweet-looking wooden table: just swing the axe, break off an individual leg, and use it as a bat/pike!
More opportunities to kill and dismember means many more ways to survive and play. Bringing out the resourcefulness in people is what horror games should be all about. Put away the handguns and the bullets, pick up a mace or fire poker, and get swinging.
