I really liked the Callisto Protocol. I liked Jacob as the protagonist, I liked Dani, I liked the space prison past, I liked the setting and the role it played.
I also enjoyed playing it. Its commitment to sturdiness, weight, and movement that’s as sensitive as it is persuasive was something I enjoyed at all times, as was the mix of tight ammo, solid improvements throughout the game, and its GRP mechanics were elements I really appreciated.
Since not everyone felt the same as me, I replayed it in a new updated game after the update was released. This only confirmed what I already knew and reinforced my praise.
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I’ll start by telling this because Final Transmission has the same mechanics and structure. So if you didn’t enjoy the main game, I can’t convince you that it’s anything else: it is what it is. Hey yeah it’s nice to use the new kinetic hammer instead of the stun baton. He can pack bigger punches and works really well against the new Biobots, a great addition to a fairly diverse arsenal of enemies.
Biobots and other types of mutants are interspersed in Final Transmission, making for a slightly different pace of play. Add to that a series of hallucinatory sequences and the expansion manages to address concerns some players had after completing the campaign last December.
They continue to put themselves in the shoes of Jacob, who continues to try to escape from the Dark Iron prison. It’s full of bloodthirsty mutants and about to explode. dr Caitlyn Mahler offers Jacob the route to escape and that’s all I want to reveal.
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With everything and with it…
I will say one thing. I need to dig a little deeper into the ending of the expansion as it also serves as a sort of ending for the Callisto protocol set. And I have to dig deeper because I felt angry, offended, disappointed, and a thousand other ways (negative of course) after seeing the end credits on my screen.
I’m giving you an opportunity here to stop reading and be the one playing Final Transmission. Or you can do something else that would be missing.
are you still reading me Well get re ady, here it comes: although Final Transmission takes place after the end of the main game, it’s not an “expansion” of the title as such, as everything, everything is part of one big and long dream.
Jacob was blown to pieces in the tower at the end of the main part, where he sacrificed himself for Dani. His mutilated body serves as a last resort for Mahler to retrieve the data from Callisto so the warden or some other authority can find out what happened so the same thing happens elsewhere. Jason remains hanging, half dead. The final scene ends with the remains of the Dark Iron prison collapsing around a contented Mahler and a semi-amputee Jacob. It’s so terrible it’s almost ridiculous. The hours you just spent and all the marketing behind the expansion (where Jacob lives and you have a chance to save him) is a big lie. It’s not even about risky narrative, it’s about belittling the player’s entire adventure. There’s a reason why the “come on, if it was all just a dream” isn’t usually done, and that’s because the player, or failing that, the viewer, ends up feeling their involvement growing Unfavorable endings, which undoubtedly happens in this expansion that lasts at least 4 or 5 hours.
Final Transmission gives me more hours of a title I loved, but the way Schofield and co. decided to take down Jacob and end the story is depressing to say the least. And when I get cynical, I even find it embarrassing. I’m giving it a 5 because it’s still more content that I ended up enjoying, but beyond that it’s really not worth it.
