Project Birdseye: Everything We Know

Well, it appears that The Callisto Protocol isn’t quite done with churning out new ways to instill fear into its prisoners. Turns out, both Striking Distance Studios and KRAFTON are gearing up to bring a new chapter to the survival-horror universe, which means there’ll be even more content to follow in the wake of Black Iron Prison’s ill-fortuned downfall.

“In 2023, a small group of us began working on a passion project that was born out of our obsession with easy to pick up and play but fun to master roguelikes,” Striking Distance Studios wrote in a press release. “We love the world we created for The Callisto Protocol and want to keep playing in that sandbox—and Black Iron Prison is the perfect future-punk playground for the team’s vision.”

While details on the upcoming installment are still scarce, the developer has made it clear that the game won’t be a sequel, as such, but rather a separate entity based in the same world of Black Iron prison. Aside from that, here’s everything else that we can currently tell you based on the information that’s been provided to date.

What Is Project Birdseye?

Check out Project Birdseye, an action roguelike we've been cooking up at @sd_studios. What do you think? Let us know using #ProjectBirdseye pic.twitter.com/HBWgov7Axz

— The Callisto Protocol (@CallistoTheGame) March 19, 2024

Project Birdseye is an upcoming roguelike action game set in the same world as The Callisto Protocol; specifically, the Black Iron Prison, a location that served as the focal point for the original game that launched back in 2021. This time around, however, the game won’t focus on one character’s desperate attempts to escape the jail, but rather, a series of characters’ combined efforts to whittle down the creatures that roam the corridors and flee from its harrowing depths.

“As you can tell, this isn’t The Callisto Protocol 2—think of it as a side quest that really resonated with the team—it let us expand the world of The Callisto Protocol and stretch our creative muscles on something a bit different without impacting development on our next AAA game,” the team explained in its press release. “Since so much of The Callisto Protocol‘s post-launch journey was shaped by the community, it made sense to bring everyone in during an early phase of development to see if the concept clicks with you as much as it has with us.”

Story

There isn’t a great deal that we actually know about the storyline here, other than the fact that it’ll be set within the Black Iron Prison, and that it will feature several new protagonists and antagonists. Going by the initial teaser trailer, players will need to saddle up and progress through several layers of the prison whilst simultaneously searching for new ways to upgrade weapons and abilities, and with them, locate an exit point that leads directly to the surface. As it’s a roguelike game, though, this does technically mean that there won’t be any linear progression; players will need to make several dips into the same world in order to flesh out their arsenal and devise new strategies for dealing with the secrets and environmental obstacles of Black Iron Prison.

Gameplay

From the looks of the footage that we’ve caught so far, Project Birdseye will feature a traditional roguelike blueprint that will also happen to sport a comic book-style design. The gameplay elements, whilst still largely under wraps, will accommodate a lot of classic components, including upgradable tools, weapons, and skills — things that you must obtain in order to progress deeper into the prison blocks and locate an exit point. As for how many layers of the prison there will be, however, is still a bit of a mystery.

Development

Striking Distance Studios, the original creator of The Callisto Protocol, first teased the outlines for Project Birdseye back at the beginning of March, at which point the team confirmed that the game was in its early stages of development.

“Since it’s still in development, we’re referring to it internally as Project Birdseye. It’s our take on a fast-action roguelike experience set in Black Iron Prison,” Striking Distance Studios wrote in a press release.

“While most of the team was hard at work creating DLC and patching in community feedback for The Callisto Protocol last year, a small group of us began working on a passion project that was born out of our obsession with easy to pick up and play but really fun to master roguelikes.”

It was also confirmed at the time of its announcement that the studio was working on another project on the side. Unfortunately, though, there isn't much to say about this second project; the developer claims that it will be the next big “triple-A” project in its portfolio. Could this be referring to a sequel to The Callisto Protocol? Who knows.

Trailer

The good news is, that there is, in fact, a trailer of Project Birdseye already knocking about on Striking Distance Studios’ official streaming handle. You can check it out for yourself in the video embedded above.

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

Neither KRAFTON nor Striking Distance Studios have shed light on the release date for Project Birdseye just yet. Having said that, the team has stated that they’re working on Project Birdseye in tandem with “another triple-A game,” which means, technically, we could see either of the two hit consoles and PC at some point in 2025. As it’s still early days, though, we can’t really put all of our eggs into one basket.

Interested in staying up to date with Project Birdseye? If so, then be sure to check in with the team over at Striking Distance Studios for more updates via their official social handle here. If anything does change ahead of its launch, then we’ll be sure to fill you in on all the key details right here on gaming.net.

So, what’s your take? Will you be picking up a copy of Project Birdseye when it arrives on its chosen platforms? Let us know your thoughts over on our socials here.