Traditionally, survival horror games are set on Earth (see progenitor Alone In The Dark, and cultural touchstones Silent Hill and Resident Evil) but in 2008 Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey decided to buck that trend. Dead Space, set on derelict spacecraft USG Ishimura, was a hugely polished sci-fi horror heavily influenced by those formative titles, as well as Doom 3 and Paul WS Anderson’s 1997 ‘hell on a spaceship’ film, Event Horizon.

After spawning a number of lesser sequels, Dead Space was abandoned, much like the Ishimura. Perhaps inspired by Resident Evil’s dramatic return to form (and the recent announcement of three or four new Silent Hills: it’s complicated), Schofield has returned to the fold with The Callisto Protocol, a spiritual sequel to his original series.

Set aboard a space prison, players must take control of an inmate called Jacob Lee as he brandishes an unwieldy arsenal in an attempt to make it out alive while battling vastly overpowered mutant zombies. For fans of Dead Space, The Callisto Protocol has been a very long time coming, while hot on its heels in late January is a remake of the original Dead Space.

Released on PC, PS4/5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, The Callisto Protocol is out now.