While the trailer doesn’t reveal any new details about the game, we do get a look at how the Nintendo Switch 2 version will look and perform, since all of the gameplay footage was captured from the console. Frame rates seem quite smooth throughout the trailer, especially in more intense segments, and the textures don’t seem to have taken too big of a hit in quality when compared to the PC and console versions.

Total Chaos was originally released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S back in November 2025. Celebrating its launch, the horror shooter got a trailer giving us a look at its gameplay.

The title has been developed by Sam Pebble, who is known for the first-person shooter Turbo Overkill. Its story revolves around the mysteries behind Fort Oasis, which now lies deserted, decayed, and quite dark. The player ends up wrecked on the adjoining shore thanks to a violent storm, and in their attempts to survive, they will have to venture deep into Fort Oasis to find shelter. However, exploring the fort starts getting quite strange, with the whole island seemingly being quite twisted.

While there is plenty of horror to be found in Total Chaos thanks to its thick atmosphere, trailers for the game have also done a good job in showcasing how surreal things can get, ranging from the twisting hallways of Fort Oasis to the strange designs of the monsters you will have to fight.

Much like Turbo Overkill, Total Chaos provides its fair share of action. Accompanying the shooter gameplay, however, are survival horror aspects, including the need to scavenge for scraps so that you can create your own makeshift, improvised weapons to defend yourself.

Total Chaos was originally conceived as a total conversion mod for the classic shooter Doom 2. While critically-acclaimed, Sam Pebble eventually decided to turn it into a full-fledged game for PC and consoles. Among its key features are its use of the environment to tell its story, an in-depth crafting system, and an emphasis on resource management thanks to limited inventory space, which, when paired with the nightmarish design of the enemies, creates incredible tension.

In our review of Total Chaos, we gave it a score of 7 out of 10 thanks to its great level design and audio, interesting story, and fun combat. However, we found the inventory system to be unintuitive, and made a note of the lack of DualSense features in the PS5 version.

Pebble’s last game, Turbo Overkill, was released back in 2023 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. In contrast to Total Chaos, Turbo Overkill is an over-the-top shooter where players take on the role of the half-metal, half-human Johnny Turbo, who is tasked with cleaning up the streets of Paradise with his chainsaw leg and more than 15 weapons in his arsenal.

So it’s all the more impressive that the video game industry, be it triple-A developers, independent studios (even with the backing of major publishers) and smaller creators, can craft such a wide range of terrifying games, year in and year out. While that also means a heaping helping of shovelware – awful releases that wouldn’t even muster a simple yawn – a select few rise above the rabble to dominate.

Here are our nominees for the best horror game of 2025, starting with…

Routine

Between development troubles and even stopping development, only to restart in 2020, it’s almost impressive that Lunar Software’s first game was released at all, much less received such positive praise. Nevertheless, it’s pretty much what we expected – a slow, methodical trip down the retro futuristic rabbit hole in a station filled with killer robots. Even if the story doesn’t quite stick the landing, being immersed in this surreal world and awkwardly feeling your way through is more than worth the price of admission.

Tormented Souls 2

Old-school survival horror with its save rooms, fixed camera angles, and tank controls – you really couldn’t ask more from Dual Effect, especially after the surprising success of Tormented Souls. However, the sequel actually improves a lot, from more intricate puzzles and exploration to far better lighting that adds the oh-so creepy mood. Caroline Walker may never really catch a break, but her escapades make for some tense gameplay, if nothing else.

The Midnight Walk

If there’s one medium that’s adept at portraying adorably terrifying creatures, it’s claymation, and MoonHood uses it to full effect here. There’s an almost Tim Burton-like vibe to this tale of The Burnt One struggling to protect Potboy, who houses an alluring flame, from the various horrors of this mysterious world. The Midnight Walk straddles a fine line between beauty and terror while remaining engaging throughout.

Silent Hill f

Of course, it’s not just about balancing beauty and terror – sometimes, you can find each in the other, as Konami’s latest mainline Silent Hill showcases. Venturing outside the US for the first time, taking place in the fictitious Ebisugaoka in the 1960s, it’s a rural horror unlike anything the franchise has seen thus far. Deeply disturbing and unrelenting with its gore, yet never descending into senseless brutality, it’s a psychological trip that’s worth taking.

Total Chaos

A Doom 2 total conversion turned full-fledged horror by Sam Prebble of Turbo Overkill fame, this essentially captures all the reality-bending horror the former strived for. Between fighting grotesque horrors across Fort Oasis and trying to discover the truth of yourself, you’re crafting rudimentary weapons to fight back – all the while diving even deeper into this surprisingly meaty nightmare.

Hell is Us

While much of the emphasis remained on dungeon diving and getting by without any hand holding, Remi’s journey through the war-torn remains of Hadea isn’t without some disturbing sights. War crimes abound, but even discovering mountains of corpses and gruesome murders all in the name of ancient practices, which all connect back to the country’s bloody history, can get heavy. You won’t have to worry about jump scares or such, but it’s a stressful experience throughout.

Little Nightmares 3

It’s a shame that Supermassive didn’t innovate much on the gameplay because, in terms of the atmosphere and aesthetic, the spiral of Low and Alone through Nowhere is delightfully dreadful. Witness the Carnevale, with its sentient puppets that won’t stop attacking until you crush their heads. Flee the Supervisor, whose smile is almost as frightening as her Candy Factory. The frights may not be as out-and-out, but the sights remain as disturbing as ever.

Sleep Awake

Imagine if sleep were the enemy – the domain of an entity known as The Hush, who spirits away those that can’t resist nap time. Now imagine being one of the last few people on Earth trying to maintain their sanity. It’s an unconventional premise, sure, and Blumhouse Games further reinforces the surreality by mixing full-motion video with some gameplay sequences. Despite the iffy stealth sections and walking sim-like nature, its narrative stands strong.

Dying Light: The Beast

What’s there to be afraid of when my boy Kyle Crane, making his return after years in exile, can now rip apart zombies with his bare hands? As it turns out, when the sun goes down, everything. Volatiles are more ruthless, intelligent and brutal than ever, and we couldn’t be happier. It’s finally an achievement to survive the nighttime, which now looks properly foreboding and oppressive (the makeup of Castor Woods helps as well).

Cronos: The New Dawn

If Bloober Team was under immense pressure to deliver with Silent Hill 2 remake, then you have to wonder how much higher expectations were afterwards. Lo and behold, Cronos is another compelling survival horror – different, sure, especially with its post-apocalyptic body horror, sci-fi leanings, and unique premise, but still unrelentingly, stressfully frightening.

And the winner of the Best Horror Game of 2025 goes to…

Silent Hill f

Much like when Bloober Team was announced to remake Silent Hill 2, many were skeptical that NeoBards Entertainment could deliver a new mainline Silent Hill. Going back to the past is one thing, but forging a new experience forward, especially for a studio known for flops like RE:Verse and Resident Evil: Resistance? It seemed like Konami had lost its mind.

But it also announced that Higurashi no Naku Koro ni writer Ryukishi07 was penning the narrative while the brilliant kera handled the characters and creatures. Slowly and surely, despite skepticism surrounding its combat, Silent Hill f morphed into a compelling product. None of this could prepare anyone, even fans of the series, for what they would expect when stepping into the shoes of Shimizu Hinako. Heck, even Konatsu Kato, her Japanese voice actor, continues to be traumatized in her playthrough (to the entertainment of thousands, of course).

Suffice it to say, this is a masterclass in terror and pacing with grotesquely beautiful creatures that you couldn’t tear your eyes from. It offers a strong narrative with even stronger characterization (and a surprising number of layers thanks to its multiple endings). Did we mention the fantastic sound design and soundtrack? And as noted before, everything that you see, regardless of how brutal and cruel it can be, serves a purpose. It’s not unlike the symbolism seen in the series’s best games – just tackling new and undeniably uncomfortable themes.

I could go on, but the result is a powerful horror experience that makes you almost forget about the above-average combat. As a result, Silent Hill f is our pick for the top horror game of 2025. Walk in with as few spoilers as possible – you won’t regret it (maybe).

Flashes of a past life often blip into existence, a grim reminder of events that you must uncover to learn more about what happened to Fort Oasis’s residents, and why they’re all out to bring a grisly end to your tale. But it’s in how the developer has cleverly woven a sense of anticipation into the experience that doesn’t fully go away that Total Chaos truly shines and lets you ignore a few of its flaws along the way.

"The visuals do a serviceable job of conveying desolation and entropy in Fort Oasis’s many levels."

But they’re there, and deserve a bit of discussion. While they are not game-breaking, they do prove to be an annoyance thanks to their effect on moment-to-moment gameplay. The inventory management system, for starters, feels like it wasn’t really made for a controller.

I found myself often turning tail in the middle of a fight to find a safe spot to heal, not because of animations but because getting to the correct items in my bag was going to take a while. It’s especially annoying when you consider how easily you can access your bag with the tap of a button. Why not make the effort to make navigating between its contents seamless along the way?

The visuals do a serviceable job of conveying desolation and entropy in Fort Oasis’s many levels. while the lighting does a great job of creating dark corners for enemies to lurk in. The level design deserves a lot of praise thanks to how labyrinthine each location feels, the lack of a map forcing you to learn the lay of the land, and that knowledge sometimes being the difference between life and death.

But I couldn’t help but feel that the game could use a bit more polish, although I must say that the gameplay more than makes up for any shortcomings. The lack of any bugs and performance that did have its drops, but remained largely stable on the base PS5, does count towards making this one feel as immersive as it can be.

"The lighting does a great job of creating dark corners for enemies to lurk in"

With all of the above complaints, you might be wondering what it is about Total Chaos that had me throwing myself at its enemies for hours. The simple answer is that its gameplay loop is addictive, and rarely lets up on the tension you feel as you walk along cramped hallways, weapons at the ready as you look for the danger you know is lying in wait for you.

The visuals, level design, and excellent audio design work together to create an environment that’s immediately claustrophobic and a home to threats that lurk in the shadows, waiting to come at you from an angle you don’t expect. They hunt you in packs, trying to overwhelm you with superior numbers. Their strikes and slashes can leave you bleeding out, desperately scrambling along a level to find bandages to staunch the bleeding, or at the very least, a few rags to make some for yourself. Fort Oasis is quite stingy with its supplies, though, releasing them to you in small doses along with crafting materials, recipes, and consumables.

There are several weapons for you to find as well, giving you some options to fight back when you’re under attack. Their limited durability means you can’t have any favorites, but the combat system is quite nimble, allowing you to nip in and out of range for a few strikes and wait the subsequent recovery window for your stamina in relative safety.

But things aren’t as easy as they sound. You’re going to want to get used to the game’s rhythm quite quickly, learning to evade and shove an enemy to keep it off balance while you parry another attack to gain a sizable buff to your own attacks. Combat quickly becomes an engaging loop of attacking and retreating, a struggle to retain the upper hand in a battlefield where you’re every bit as vulnerable as your foes.

" Things could go terribly wrong if you don’t commit to a careful, calculated approach"

When taken in along with some very effective pacing in the game’s story and progression systems, Total Chaos’s beauty begins to shine through. You feel exactly how oppressive its environments can be, the desolate building you explore in the first chapter being a great example.

There are moments where the utter silence of an empty, dark hallway contrasts so well with the waves crashing on the cliffs outside. It’s a truly solid horror experience that lets you feel like the silence manages to be louder. You never know what’s lying in wait for you as you make your way to your next objective, guided along by the voice on your radio.

That voice formed a very intriguing part of the game’s narrative, a presence that was guiding us along without intruding on the solitude that works so well to build tension in Total Chaos. Just like the game’s enemies, you never know when he pops up to life on the radio, his melancholy recollections often made us wonder about his motivations as we kept going along the path he set for us.

The voice is joined by journals and other discoverable elements that paint a picture of Fort Oasis, and the murky past that has led to its ruin. This style of storytelling always works well, and it’s especially delicious in this one as you’re going to be trying to piece together a tale from tiny snippets of information, all while keeping a very sharp eye out for dangers that could stop you from finding out more.

"You’re going to want your wits about you, as this is a game that doesn’t really hold your hand"

It’s a pity, then, that an adventure this immersive didn’t pull out all the stops to make it a complete one. On the base PS5, my DualSense sat dormant in my hand, its haptics and triggers left unused in a game where they could have been a very useful part of giving players the chills. It’s such a noticeable omission, as is the lack of performance options that might have allowed for a better framerate in places where the game struggles to keep up.

Although all of its flaws are minor, they could add up for you if those are things that matter to you when you’re thinking about trying this game. But if they don’t, or if you can ignore a significant bunch of them, Total Chaos is a good horror experience in which things could go terribly wrong if you don’t commit to a careful, calculated approach, made worth it by a story and levels that made the explorer in me jump for joy. Just remember that you’re going to want your wits about you, as this is a game that doesn’t really hold your hand, instead trusting your diligence and rewarding it accordingly.

Total Chaos is a solid survival horror title that’s easy to recommend, although its issues do hold it back from being among this year’s greatest ones in the genre. It’s a great game for a weekend, and might even have enough for you to try a survivalist run the second time around.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Total Chaos is a survival horror title developed by Sam Prebble, the developer behind the insane first-person shooter Turbo Overkill from a couple of years ago. It revolves around the player waking up on an island that serves as a home to a deserted, decayed and “too dark for comfort” fort named Fort Oasis. The player must venture inwards to escape from an oncoming storm, after which things start to get out of hand.

There is quite a bit of surreal horror at play in Total Chaos, with players having to deal with the twisting hallways of Fort Oasis while at the same time also scavenging for materials to craft makeshift weapons to fight off the horrifying denizens of the island.

For more details, check out our thoughts on why Total Chaos might be a sleeper horror hit of the year.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers

In this age of $70 and $80 titles, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers from Leenzee offers a substantial action RPG experience for just $50. As Wuchang, you’ll venture through the remains of Shu in the late Ming Dynasty, desperately searching for a cure to the Feathering disease, players will battle humans and monstrous foes with 25 unique weapons and 40 spells. With a playtime of 40 to 60 hours, multiple endings, and the freedom to challenge bosses in any order, it could be the next breakout Souls-like when it launches on July 24th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

EA Sports College Football 26

The College Football franchise had its long-awaited resurgence last year, and despite some nitpicks, it was pretty good. Launching on July 10th for Xbox Series X/S and PS5, College Football 26 addresses those issues, upping the authenticity with light shows, drone shows, and more mascots while expanding on plays and formations, adding player Archetypes, and incorporating new mechanics like Block Steering.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4

Just when it seemed impossible, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 is finally happening, providing a remake compilation of the third and fourth games in the series with gorgeous new visuals and features. Granted, it doesn’t carry over everything – Pro Skater 4’s Career Mode isn’t open-ended, instead comprising two-minute runs. However, you can increase the timer and even engage in unique objectives via Pro Goals. Even with these caveats, it should be another blast from the past when it launches on July 11th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.

Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream

One of the more impressive-looking titles emerging from the Summer of Gaming, River End Games’ Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream combines a 1900s Nordic-style city with an engrossing narrative and stealth mechanics involving multiple playable characters. Despite the small size of its team, the sheer attention to detail in the world and cutscenes is something to behold. Here’s hoping it delivers some substantial gameplay as well when it launches on July 15th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

Mecha BREAK

With its progression issues mostly sorted and new maps and Strikers on the way, Mecha BREAK could be the de facto competitive mecha shooter when it launches on July 1st for Xbox Series X/S and PC. Between the unique abilities of each Striker, the stunning aesthetics, and the range of modes – from 5v5 objective-based play to the extraction shooter chaos of MashMak – there’s something for almost every mecha fan.

Donkey Kong Bananza

Donkey Kong and a younger Pauline team up on an epic new adventure that involves extensive environmental destruction, banana collecting, and thwarting the evil Void Company. Bananza’s platforming seemingly channels Bowser’s Fury with its mix of platforming and exploration, but Donkey Kong carves out his own niche – quite literally since he can wreck just about everything. Those chunks can then function as weapons, traversal tools, and much more. With optional challenge ruins, a variety of abilities and outfits, and Bananza Powers for even more mayhem, Donkey Kong Bananza should be everything we need in a Nintendo platformer when it launches on July 17th for the Switch 2.

Shadow Labyrinth

If you thought Bomberman as a gritty post-apocalyptic action title was concerning, say hello to Pac-Man, the all-powerful devouring entity in Bandai Namco’s Shadow Labyrinth. You primarily control Swordsman No. 8, venturing through an unknown planet’s mazes aided by Puck. Defeating threats allows for the latter to devour them, and you can even fuse for traversing obstacles or even transforming into a powerful mech for more damage. As unorthodox as it seems, Shadow Labyrinth may have some meat to its gameplay when it launches on July 18th for Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2.

Killing Floor 3

After a sudden delay, Tripwire’s Killing Floor 3 is now launching July 24th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. The futuristic setting and premise, where players control the rebel group Nightfall, battling the Zeds manufactured by the megacorp, Horizine, with extensive amounts of gore, is still present. However, it enhanced the overall look and feel of its maps, making them grittier and darker in the process while improving the HUD, enemy Zed AI and performance. So far, so good, and if it delivers on its predecessor’s high-octane action, it may be another incredible time.

Super Mario Party Jamboree: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV

Nintendo’s latest “Hear me out” proposition for the Switch 2 is an enhanced version of the Switch 1’s Super Mario Party Jamboree. It’s out on July 24th for $79.99 and offers improved visuals and performance, new mini-games, Frenzy Rules for faster games and support for the Joy-Con 2’s mouse controls. There’s also Jamboree TV, which requires the Switch 2’s camera, as a new means to experience the game. Whether it’s worth the full price is subjective but if you own the current game and don’t mind spending $20 for the Upgrade Pack, it may be worth checking out.

Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game

With so many titles in The Lord of the Rings series involving war scenarios and brutal combat, it’s nice to play a life sim that embraces the simpler things. Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of The Rings Game purports to fulfil that fantasy, as you control a Hobbit in the Shire, mingling with others, tending to your garden, cooking meals and hosting parties. It’s available on July 29th for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound

A throwback to the classic Ninja Gaiden side-scrollers, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound proved incredibly impressive in its recent demo. Alternating between Kenji Mozu and the Black Spider Clan’s Kumori, players engage in a punishing action platforming adventure, continuously chaining powerful strikes to take out enemies. Swift, savage and sleek, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound launches on July 31st for Xbox One, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

RoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business

If Teyon’s base game resonated with you in an old-school first-person shooter sense, then good news as Unfinished Business offers more of the same. As a standalone expansion, it features new abilities and weapons alongside a new range of mercenary enemies and challenges as Murphy ascends the OmniTower. Even more notable are the flashbacks to his pre-RoboCop life, which brings some very human vulnerabilities to the mix. RoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business launches on July 17th for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Ready or Not

With the SWAT franchise well and truly buried, Ready or Not could serve as a worthy substitute for those who want methodical, tactical shooting. Between managing the status of your units to enforcing real-world tactics, it promises realistic combat scenarios where planning and execution are paramount. Of course, you can also engage in five-player co-op and watch the chaos unfold. Ready or Not is already available on PC and will be launching on July 15th for Xbox Series X/S and PS5.

Total Chaos

A new psychological horror title with an excessively dark color palette wouldn’t ordinarily attract much attention, but Total Chaos is from the creator of the stellar Turbo Overkill. Venturing through an unforgiving world, scavenging materials to make weapons, and battling monstrosities looks intriguing – like a first-person version of Darkwood. PC players can experience it on July 24th, but there’s a free demo available to try now.

Ratatan

If the arrival of Patapon 1 + 2 Replay wasn’t enough, rhythm game fans can look forward to its spiritual successor on July 24th for PC via Steam Early Access. The recent free demo certainly showcased room for improvement, but the appeal of rogue-like rhythm combat with co-op support and more than 100 characters, combined with the stellar soundtrack and gorgeous visuals, looks too good to resist.

The future is bustling with so many great horror games, some of which are faithful tributes to the glorious past while others are more innovative affairs. The game that we will be talking about today falls somewhere in the middle of the two extremes, but it is one that more fans should start looking out for because it might just turn out to be one of the biggest surprise hits of this year.

We are, of course, talking about Total Chaos – the upcoming title from Trigger Happy Interactive and Apogee Entertainment. Trigger Happy Interactive is the studio that brought us Turbo Overkill, which stands tall as one of the best though underrated games of the last couple of years. With its horror nature, Total Chaos is out of the developer’s comfort zone, but it’s an interesting game and one that deserves to be looked at in depth.

Let’s start off with the story. Set against the backdrop of a mysterious Fort Oasis, Total Chaos starts off with the protagonist receiving a strange radio transmission that beckons him to this abandoned place in the middle of nowhere. Things start to take a turn for the worse once the protagonist actually reaches there, as strange creatures and unsettling landscapes begin to come into view. The narrative revolves around the protagonist uncovering the many mysteries that lie within its dated walls.

While the story isn’t something that we haven’t seen before, it makes for an interesting horror prospect. From what we know, the story does seem a little personal for the protagonist and there’s a high likelihood that the voices are somehow related to him or his past. Of course, these are tropes that we have seen used in horror stories before – but that familiarity isn’t necessarily bad as it can make for a more heartful narrative than just the typical affair of the protagonist evolving from a survivor to a warrior while defeating the big baddie.

Having a more personal narrative makes a lot of sense in the case of Total Chaos, especially given its first-person perspective. Since the player is fully immersed in the character’s experience, the developers can effectively channel horror through the protagonist and directly onto the player, resulting in some truly memorable jump scares. While Trigger Happy isn’t typically known for creating narrative-heavy games, we are hoping that they can pull it off this time.

Coming over to the gameplay, Total Chaos’ gameplay is yet again a mix of something new and familiar. The moment-to-moment gameplay revolves around exploring these dilapidated ruins of the island, finding your path forward, and solving puzzles to open up doors or contraptions. It’s played from a first-person perspective, so Resident Evil 7 and 8 would make for a good point of comparison in that sense.

Environmental storytelling is also one of the most important pillars of any great horror game. Titles like Resident Evil 7 and 8 use this design technique to great effect, crafting a convincing and immersive horror landscape without relying solely on dialogue or cutscenes. Environmental details like bloodstained walls, flickering lights, broken-down doors, and eerie notes left behind by past inhabitants all contribute to a deeper narrative. Even the placement of set props contributes to the scene, allowing players to piece together the story organically as they explore. This method of storytelling not only enriches the world but also builds tension and atmosphere in a way that feels natural and unsettling. It adds depth and character to the game, making the environment feel lived in.

Total Chaos also claims to rely heavily on environmental storytelling to create a rich, immersive atmosphere and from what we’ve seen so far, those claims seem quite convincing. The game does a great job of establishing the ancient aesthetic of Fort Oasis. Right from vines crawling up crumbling walls to rows of forgotten graves scattered across grass fields, there’s a very evident element of decay and abandonment in its environments. Ancient bunkers, rusted machinery, and derelict structures also hint at a long and troubled history. These visual cues not only build a compelling setting but also invite players to piece together the story through exploration and observation, adding depth to the horror experience.

Of course, visuals also contribute to environmental storytelling as much as the set props and Trigger Happy has yet again brought its A game to the field in this regard. It’s not the most technically advanced game on the market, but it pays a lot of attention to art direction and color palette to create a convincing landscape all around. Just look at how blades of grass sway to the tune of winds, and how giant trees arch to the top in daunting jungles. Generous use of thick volumetric fog blocks visibility, adding an element of surprise to the gameplay proceedings. It’s consistently scary in terms of atmosphere, but there are pockets of serenity throughout which makes the visual presentation pretty great. You can also notice how the colour palette is entirely dominated by dark shades, which give it a chilling vibe that’s quite fitting for a game of this ilk.

Coming over to the combat, Total Chaos does a great job of simulating a sense of desperation. As can be seen from the trailer itself, much of the combat entails finding makeshift weapons and flailing them in a last-ditch attempt to make short work of your enemies. While it’s still rooted in the survival genre, Total Chaos is a lot more fast-paced than its contemporaries. It might seem odd at first, but there’s a reason why that is the case. You see, Total Chaos is actually a full-fledged remake of a popular DOOM 2 mod and the fast-paced gameplay loop is a byproduct of that factor.

Total Chaos also showcases a great sense of progression when it comes to gameplay. Early sections of the game seem to involve purely using makeshift weapons and throwables to get rid of the enemy’s presence. As you progress through the game, you get access to better weapons such as a double-barrel shotgun which can make short work of those enemies in just a couple of hits.

But nothing can be taken for granted in a survival horror game like Total Chaos, and having access to such weapons is just as important as having resources like ammunition which is obviously quite scarce. As such, exploration becomes an important aspect of the experience, and utilizing the correct resources at the correct time becomes a skill that players need to master to overcome the toughest challenges of the game.

When it comes to the enemy design, Total Chaos does not fall short of the mark. Enemies look pretty scary with their towering presence and erratic movements, and the fact that they come in a group makes them all the more daunting. There are obviously bigger enemies too, and they have weird outgrowing flesh and tentacles that make them look like something straight out of a nightmare.

You see, Total Chaos doesn’t really do anything that’s quite out of the box, but that is what precisely makes it so notable. It seems to be sticking close to the horror rulebook right from the narrative structure to the gameplay loop, but the quality of each of those elements seems really commendable. It’s evident that Trigger Happy has poured its heart and soul into each of these aspects, and if it is able to take those elements and create something that works – it might just have a big hit on its hands.

As for the release, Total Chaos is currently scheduled to release on July 24 later this year and that might just work in the game’s favour. The month of July is not bustling with any major horror releases, as such, Total Chaos gets the opportunity to shine a bit longer in the spotlight and in turn gain visibility from a much larger audience.

All in all, Total Chaos has a lot going for it. Its familiar narrative framework and gameplay elements are quite palatable for most horror fans, and the favorable release window nets it more visibility than it would in case of a Holiday release. All that remains is for Trigger Happy to deliver upon its promises, and that would just make Total Chaos one of the biggest games of this year.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.