Igor Aleksandrowicz has fully released their retro-inspired FPS, Calcium Contract, on Steam. It will run you $15.99.
I first tried out Calcium Contract back in July and came away impressed by its unique and unusual take on the subgenre. Back then, I said, “It feels like if Duke Nukem 3D was designed by a studio localized within McDonaldsland.” I kind of stand by that. It’s a bizarre and colorful experience about a Grim Reaper who has to bring down a chicken serpent that simply refuses to die.
Unlike most other games in the genre, Calcium Contract isn’t about big guns and bigger explosions. Its arsenal consists of a number of strange contraptions that shoot things like musical golden bones. Likewise, the enemies are a vast mixture of chickens, cats, and lizards. Aleksandrowicz says their focus was on “game feel” and that really shows. There are lots of small touches that are used to heighten your connection with the world, and cleverly removing wall-humping secrets means that the pacing is never bogged down.
If anything, Calcium Contract’s biggest issue is that it doesn’t have a lot of the biggest selling points that people look for with these sorts of games (i.e. big guns and bigger explosions). That’s too bad since it’s every bit as intense as one with more conventional munitions. My hope is that it will still develop a large following in spite of this.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll have time to do a formal review of this one. However, my preview earlier in the year covered a pretty sizeable chunk of the game (more than what was included in the demo), so the preview I did will still hold true today.
Calcium Contract is available right now for PC.
