Total Chaos

Atmospheric Terror. 

First conceptualised by Sam Prebble in 2008 as a Doom II total conversion mod, Total Chaos, developed by Trigger Happy Interactive, the studio behind 2023’s Turbo Overkill, has been rebuilt as its own full release. Generic naming conventions aside, Total Chaos is a rather thrilling, sometimes frustrating, survival horror FPS that excels in much of what it attempts to do, with some high highs, but also suffers from some unfortunate lows.

Fans of the more old-school era of game design will certainly enjoy what Trigger Happy Interactive has done here. While Total Chaos breaks free of just being a Doom II mod, there is some connective tissue to its past. There is a pulled-back, almost fish-eyed perspective that feels like the shooters of yesteryear. While this setting can be tuned to be less intrusive, you still feel the old-school feel to how the game handles. 

Total Chaos has a mixture of melee and gunplay, albeit the latter being remarkably scarce, bullets feeling like ancient currency. However, what can truly immerse you into its experience is a stunning musical score by the likes of Silent Hill’s Akira Yamaoka and several more artists, arranging a score that genuinely fits the tone and aesthetics of the ruined island, fraught with monsters and creatures alike.

Atmosphere is where Total Chaos truly excels. From the environment to its music to the sound design, there is a remarkable amount of well-thought-out design here that truly immerses you into its dark and twisted world. While its story is delivered via a mysterious voice on the radio, snippets of documents you'll find here and there, I never felt as if I was as invested in its narrative as I was bashing skulls and trouncing five-foot tall spiders, or creatures who have disgusting trap jaw like head, snapping at you, despite the barrage of hits it takes to put down.

From long-abandoned prisons, coast-side passageways, spider-infested caverns, to hallways filled with walls of frantically shaking skinless, alive bodies, each of the game's nine chapters always brings something new to experience. Its gameplay doesn't always feel as unique, becoming somewhat stale after a few hours, but the environments you explore are wonderfully designed and keep you engaged.

You play as a coast guardsman who answers a distress call and attempts a rescue. However, the seas rock your boat with intense waves, the windows shatter around you, and all light fades from view. You then wake up on an island that houses a facility called Fort Oasis. Total Chaos is about reaching this fort and discovering the mystery behind it all.

There is a lot of history within this fort, such as the remnants of an old town, an underground prison, an abandoned mine, and the ruins of something old and much darker than the pitch black areas you'll explore. You'll encounter monstrous spiders, spirits, intimidating and lethal monsters, and the need to watch your health and hunger meters, as well as the need to bandage up any bloody wounds. You are alone on this island; no one is coming to save you.

Aside from the horrors around you, Total Chaos has a pretty robust item and crafting system. You'll find various materials around you, as well as blueprints to put them to good use. You'll fashion shivs, hammers, pickaxes, and more as you'll use those and various pipes and wrenches around you to deal your melee damage. You'll eventually find guns, but ammo is very scarce. You'll have healing items, food, and bandages to find or craft. Some items, such as syringes, for example, heal you, but their crude use in the moment will cause you to bleed, requiring the need for a bandage. The same happens with rotten food, as while it may do in a pinch to solve your hunger, it may take its own bite out of your health. The crafting is also reliant on blueprints that you’ll find, so make sure to explore.

One aspect of its melee that really interested me is that this is the closest we've had to a melee-based horror game to a game I loved some years ago: Condemned: Criminal Origins. While it certainly differs in some crucial ways, the ability to wind up and crack something on the dome has that same feel and crunch to it, or even throwing your equipped weapon at them is damn fun. Sure, the combat lacks further depth, but it is still a riot nonetheless. My only criticism here is that most enemies are pathetically dumb and just swarm you, making encounters feel extremely formulaic and down to just bottlenecking the masses.

While much of what Total Chaos does in its encounters works, there was one single encounter that almost made me stop my playthrough and move on. It's somewhere in either chapter three or four where you have to keep moving a series of three fuses to get access to a weapons locker to get something powerful enough to continue. Now, this whole ordeal is a bit overdone, but you also need to navigate around a monster that almost always seems to find you and kill you instantly. This encounter was the opposite of fun and felt far longer than it should have been, especially as you are moving the fuses four or five times. As I checked out numerous user reviews, many talk about this part of the same souring their experience as well.

I do like that enemies can often be sparse enough for the environment and aesthetic to really create a sense of tension and atmosphere. It prevents Total Chaos from just being a pure action game. Sound design also goes a long way, and it works wonders to make each aspect of its design really work here. Everything from the environment to its foes, to even the haunting whispers in one particular encounter, to the music that trails off from the record players you use to save. 

Total Chaos has a very muted, almost Gears of War palette to it, and it serves it well. There are certainly some muddy textures and some cut corners, but visually, there is a lot here that works to create the type of experience that allows its horror to flourish. Underground areas have the perfect mix of solid lighting to color used in ways to really convey the idea that you are in a whole new area. I also appreciate the environmental directions with signage and directions on the wall for important locations, especially as the game doesn't really keep track of your objectives.

Total Chaos is a very inconsistent experience that I like far more than I don't, one encounter aside. The atmosphere is incredibly well done with some interesting enemy designs and a fairly engaging combat system that reminded me of Condemned: Criminal Origins. With a robust crafting system and rewards for exploration, there was always a reason for discovering secrets and going off the beaten path. While some may be put off by its weak AI and method of storytelling, Total Chaos is certainly worth a look, given its inclusion in Xbox Game Pass.

Developer - Trigger Happy Interactive. Publisher - Apogee Entertainment. Released - November 20th, 2025. Available On - Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Windows. Rated - (M) Alcohol Reference, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language. Platform Reviewed - Xbox Series X. Review Access - A review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.