Total Chaos PC Review | GameWatcher

Formidable conversion mods became standalone releases aren’t unusual. It’s unattainable to completely perceive gaming’s advanced historical past with out figuring out in regards to the origins of Counter-Strike or DOTA 2, for instance. Now, it’s Whole Chaos’ flip. Constructed on prime of the FPS traditional DOOM II initially, it’s making a return as a separate, Unity-powered recreation.

After spending a couple of minutes with the unique mod or Whole Chaos’ shiny remake (which has simply been shadow-dropped), it wouldn’t be bizarre to level out solo developer Sam Prebble (Turbo Overkill) has been influenced by the Resident Evil and Silent Hill collection. Funnily sufficient, he hadn’t performed any of them when he was engaged on the mod, but these unmistakable historic ‘retro survival horror’ vibes are there, making Fort Oasis oppressive in acquainted methods earlier than it transforms right into a extra distinctive setting.

The Silent Hill connections are taken a step additional this time round with the legendary composer Akira Yamaoka including a brand new haunting musical theme on prime of the nice unique rating by Whole Chaos mod composers Jason Dagenet and William Braddell, and Apogee’s music group: Chipper Hammond, Tim Stoney, and Mathieu Hallouin. Sure, that is no small undertaking regardless of Set off Comfortable Interactive’s one-man improvement effort.

The story has seen little to no adjustments: Within the means of attempting to reply a misery name, the protagonist is shipwrecked off the coast of a mysterious island known as Fort Oasis. It as soon as was a thriving hub, but it surely (unsurprisingly) has a darkish previous, and one thing has simply gone mistaken terribly mistaken. Whole Chaos doesn’t take too lengthy to get issues going (and by that I imply throwing all types of horrors on the participant), however its reasonably simple horror vibes shortly take a extra psychological flip… and that’s as a lot as I can say.

The aforementioned classical survival horror influences prolong past the artwork course and the way in which by which its (separated) ranges are structured. Rudimentary (and ultimately awkward) stock administration is on the heart of the sunshine crafting and survival methods, and weapons, melee or ranged, are reasonably scarce. They’re tried-and-tested design beats to create rigidity that matches the hopeless atmosphere, and it really works, however the shock (for newcomers) must be that Whole Chaos retains quite a lot of what made the unique DOOM video games particular.

Although he’s meant to be a daily Joe, the protagonist is nearly as quick because the Doomguy and even has entry to a beneficiant sprint transfer to evade enemies. Stamina regeneration can also be on the plentiful facet, so while you don’t have entry to weapons or are simply attempting to save lots of treasured sources, legging it’s surprisingly efficient… so long as the loopier degree layouts don’t play methods on you. Whereas the typical survival horror recreation has heavy and infrequently cumbersome motion in place so as to add to the sensation of helplessness, Whole Chaos – even in its remake type – totally embraces a brisker pacing in its moment-to-moment gameplay that impacts your entire journey and nullifies the boredom related to backtracking.

Equally, Whole Chaos additionally makes the restricted weapons the participant has entry to really feel sturdy as a substitute of scrappy… although they’re very a lot scrappy. Even a pickaxe vulnerable to breaking could be a formidable weapon while you grasp parrying and holding the assault button simply sufficient to ship a sluggish however sturdy blow to the monstrosities that lurk within the shadows. After all, the shotgun is a spotlight, because it’d have been a crushing disappointment to see a online game that started as a DOOM II mod fumble that particular kind of weapon, however impaling enemies with harpoons and blowing them up with TLOU-like nail bombs are pleasant methods to push again in opposition to the relentless horrors too. The crafting system is conventional, and also you’ll be doing quite a lot of it as you enterprise into darker areas full of unusual foes.

On a fundamental degree, Whole Chaos immediately clicks collectively, and the additional polish that comes with the engine refresh is noticeable, however what in regards to the extra distinctive methods that give it precise depth? Nicely, all of them work and by no means get in the way in which of the exploring, puzzle-solving, and punchy motion, which is greater than I can say about many fashionable survival horror video games. Having to maintain observe of starvation and insanity ranges hyperlinks Whole Chaos to much less apparent family just like the STALKER and Amnesia collection, however Prebble neatly retains the sport by itself separate observe.

Whereas starvation is there to make gamers not wander round aimlessly for too lengthy and interact with the degrees with out merely making a beeline for the principle targets, the insanity system can considerably alter the exploration and development by way of the later, extra advanced ranges. I’m not into the thought of spoiling what meaning in a evaluation that ought to promote you on taking part in a largely implausible recreation, so belief me on this one. It’s the uncommon form of horror title that’s deceitfully easy and is aware of the way to deploy twists each time you start to determine the way it performs and behaves.

Many of the recreation’s bolder swings occur on that entrance, and the revisited areas are what make it a definite iteration of a recreation that’s been upgraded with quite a lot of respect for the acclaimed DOOM II modification. Although the reminiscences of my time with the unique Whole Chaos are blurry and distant, I can inform this remake may be very conservative, and meaning veterans could be anticipating greater a shake-up. Regardless of loving my time with it, missed alternatives to correctly reimagine the fabric abound. I’d be mendacity if I mentioned I don’t wish to immediately replay your entire factor although, particularly now that I can blast by way of its trickier puzzles (there’s no escaping them).

Quite a bit might be written in regards to the stellar presentation, which was purposefully saved the correct quantity of eye-catching after Prebble switched from UE5 to Unity. It evokes the unique modification’s visuals and ups the constancy, but it surely’s not overly advanced or as shiny as fashionable refreshes which take issues too far, destroying the unique creative imaginative and prescient within the course of. For the reason that solo dev remained in control of the entire thing, all of it feels cohesive and enough; that is one entrance the place I respect leaning in direction of what already labored completely. A unfavorable is the surprising lack, at the very least proper now, of correct graphical choices on PC past decision, AA options, texture high quality, and lite post-processing results, which makes the scaling throughout totally different builds poor. On the time of writing, Steam Deck barely stays inside the 25-30 FPS space, so don’t immediately leap on this one if you happen to’re maining Valve’s transportable machine.

As we close to the tip of 2025, many could be considering the yr’s greatest video games are behind us, however Whole Chaos (and a number of other different indie surprises which have launched this month) is an efficient reminder we shouldn’t begin closing our lists solely as a result of the upcoming occasions everybody might be tuning into have. Regardless that I personally may’ve gone for a extra refreshing reimagining, that is little doubt a brand new cult traditional I actually hope horror followers will respect.

Whole Chaos is out there now for $24.99 on PC (Steam), Xbox Sequence X/S, and PS5. It’s additionally obtainable day one on Recreation Go for consoles, PC, and cloud.