This Heretic-inspired old-school FPS is 75% off on Steam for a limited time
Calcium Contract bleeds old-school. It's a charming retro FPS that is heavily inspired by the likes of Heretic and Hexen but with a weird soul all of its own.
You play as a skeletal henchman for the Calcium order. The shadowy group has maintained the balance of life and death for millennia, but a strange chicken-headed serpent has defied its fate and managed to take out other Order agents successfully.
The order has contracted you to end the serpent and restore balance. What follows is a strange and delightful romp through surreal environments where you take on an eclectic group of enemies ranging from gun-totting cats to rampaging chickens.
The levels are bite-sized, long enough to encourage some exploration but short enough to not get tiresome. Your aresenal is limited to only five weapons and grenades, but all of them are well-animated and feel unique.
You start every level with a Scythe, your melee weapon that can be charged for a powerful swipe. A pitchfork that fills in the pistol slot and its bullets can be ricocheted off walls. Then there is a machine gun replacement that fires musical bones.
The enemy roster and weapons lead to dynamic combat encounters that are fun to engage with but never overstay their welcome. The solo dev, Igor Aleksandrowicz, has also paid attention to the pain points that most people have with old-school shooters.
For starters, the secrets do not need you to wall hump or carefully spot misaligned textures. Instead, you will occasionally come across creatures hauling treasure chests that you can hunt down for rewards. If you die during a level, you have access to a rewind feature that can put you back a few seconds before you died or at an earlier point in the level.
The levels vary in size and scope but are bite-sized and designed to play through in one sitting. After you beat the campaign, you can try out a rogue-like mode called Eternal Harvest, complete with procedurally generated levels and leaderboards.
You can pick up Calcium Contract for 75% off until February 10.
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