Like any roguelike worth its salt nowadays, [REDACTED] perfumes its grind-heavy and repetitive experience with perpetual upgrades and unlocks meant to keep it addictive and rewarding. [REDACTED] may not have as much in the way of character dialogue, narrative storytelling, or rich lore to dive into as Hades does (an unreasonably tall order Supergiant spoils players with), but it remains energetic and there are always resources to put toward strengthening players’ poor Black Iron Prison guards.
[REDACTED] is also arguably more immediately challenging than Hades, and the enormous bosses awaiting players at the end of each biome make it plain how difficult every run will be until they are able to buy new weapons, gear, player buffs, and rival debuffs. Indeed, a winning strategy necessitates careful yet in-the-moment planning in terms of how far rivals have surpassed the player and what sabotage they should hit them with when given an opportunity. In order to ensure that future runs go as smoothly as possible, it cannot be overstated how important contraband and electronics are in [REDACTED].
[REDACTED] Interview: The Callisto Protocol Goes Punk Rock Roguelike
The Best War Games chats with Striking Distance CEO Steve Papoutsis and creative director Ben Walker to discuss [REDACTED]'s unique roguelike gameplay.
[REDACTED]’s Contraband Contributes to Crucial Passive Skills
The Crisis Management Terminal accepts contraband and offers passive perks at excessively costly rates. Indeed, players will need to amass a large amount of contraband if they hope to earn some of [REDACTED]’s paramount buffs, such as additional Last Caresses—revives, essentially in the same shade as Hades’ Death Defiances.
But even more common skill selections such as equippable maximum health, The Callisto Protocol’s GRP, and dash-slide movement speed increases cannot go overlooked, leaving subsequent skill pages locked until other key resources, like samples, are obtained anyway. That’s when contraband becomes a fickle and complicated resource, though, because certain skills require certain amounts and it is much easier to wholly deplete the currency in one sitting than it is to accumulate contraband by choosing its respective rooms mid-run.
At least early on in [REDACTED], it makes sense to go through several runs knowingly avoiding ephemeral gravity, biotech, physical, or elemental rooms if players can hoard resources instead because doing so will ensure success as a long-term goal. [REDACTED] is designed around countless playthroughs and running each attempt with specific resources in mind can help soften those blows with each subsequent unlock or upgrade.
[REDACTED]’s Electronics Contribute to Intermittent Pick-Me-Ups and Indispensable Rival Attacks
The Terminal Power Supply and Environmental Control Station accept electronics, which are spent toward unlock stations (such as fabricators or first aid stations accessible between biomes) in the former and different rival “attack methods” (such as being able to attack, slow, stop, or render [REDACTED]’s rivals vulnerable) in the latter. Interestingly, the Environmental Control Station screen only displays four sabotages at a time, but when they’re all unlocked the screen refreshes and displays more potent versions of the previous ones.
Players may not ever input more than one or two different sabotage combinations in any given run if they’ve found circumstantially optimal ones, and yet it’s undeniably worthwhile to purchase them all because players will be treated to enhanced versions of them and can then damage or thwart their rivals more efficiently.
It’s highly likely that players will end up having to tackle all three rivals before they’re able to flee in the escape pod, and rivals are just as likely to reach the escape pod first, initiating a timer for when they’ll escape if players can’t get to them first. Everything hinges on how and when players choose to sabotage rivals in [REDACTED], and therefore the electronics resource couldn’t be more crucial to a run’s success.
![[REDACTED] Tag Page Cover Art](https://static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/mixcollage-08-feb-2025-10-12-am-2950.jpg?q=49&fit=contain&w=300&dpr=2)
[REDACTED]
- Released
- October 31, 2024
- ESRB
- Teen // Blood, Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Striking Distance Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Krafton
- Number of Players
- 1
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Verified
- PC Release Date
- October 31, 2024
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- October 31, 2024
- PS5 Release Date
- October 28, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
- Genre(s)
- Roguelike, Dungeon Crawler, Action, Shooter
