TheRetroArcade
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Posts: 2,005
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
Trigger Happy Interactive's remake is a fun upgrade for fans of the original mod, but it doesn't quite live up to the standards of the survival horror greats.
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Weird Weekend is our regular Saturday column where we celebrate PC gaming oddities: peculiar games, strange bits of trivia, forgotten history. Pop back every weekend to find out what Jeremy, Josh and Rick have become obsessed with this time, whether it's the canon height of Thief's Garrett or that time someone in the Vatican pirated Football Manager.
I first became aware of the work of Sam Prebble through Turbo Overkill. Or at least, I thought I did. A largely solo project by Prebble developed under the studio name Trigger Happy Interactive, Turbo Overkill blew me away with its wildly ambitious levels. Taking you from the bowels of its cyberpunk city up into the thick of an interplanetary war, it hardly ever stops throwing creative weapons, abilities, and ideas at you. You even had a retractable chainsaw installed in your leg.
Turbo Overkill was my favourite FPS of 2023 and possibly the best retro shooter I've ever played, certainly contending with the likes of Dusk and Prodeus for the title. Then, with the shock of a repressed memory slamming into my frontal lobe, it occurred to me that this isn't the first time Prebble has done the seemingly impossible.
Prior to making my favourite boomer shooter, the New Zealand-based designer was the architect of Total Chaos. Developed over the best part of a decade, this total conversion mod for Doom 2 did truly unspeakable things with id Software's primordial 3D tech. A grungy survival horror built using GZDoom and, presumably, a Faustian pact, Total Chaos featured proper 3D models, multilayered melee combat, and complex inventory management atop the Doom sourceport.
Prebble has a knack for punching far above his weight, so I was already primed to devour whatever he produced next. This turned out to be a full remake of Total Chaos, turning the mod into a premium FPS that launched on Steam in November. It reconstructs Prebble's mod in Unreal Engine 5, expanding the nightmare with several additional chapters.
Often, the results are as impressive as Prebble's work on Turbo. Total Chaos is almost suffocatingly atmospheric and, in parts, genuinely frightening. But unlike Prebble's shooter, the spectre of the past looms large over Total Chaos in a way ...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
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Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
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Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
Weird Weekend is our regular Saturday column where we celebrate PC gaming oddities: peculiar games, strange bits of trivia, forgotten history. Pop back every weekend to find out what Jeremy, Josh and Rick have become obsessed with this time, whether it's the canon height of Thief's Garrett or that time someone in the Vatican pirated Football Manager.
I first became aware of the work of Sam Prebble through Turbo Overkill. Or at least, I thought I did. A largely solo project by Prebble developed under the studio name Trigger Happy Interactive, Turbo Overkill blew me away with its wildly ambitious levels. Taking you from the bowels of its cyberpunk city up into the thick of an interplanetary war, it hardly ever stops throwing creative weapons, abilities, and ideas at you. You even had a retractable chainsaw installed in your leg.
Turbo Overkill was my favourite FPS of 2023 and possibly the best retro shooter I've ever played, certainly contending with the likes of Dusk and Prodeus for the title. Then, with the shock of a repressed memory slamming into my frontal lobe, it occurred to me that this isn't the first time Prebble has done the seemingly impossible.
Prior to making my favourite boomer shooter, the New Zealand-based designer was the architect of Total Chaos. Developed over the best part of a decade, this total conversion mod for Doom 2 did truly unspeakable things with id Software's primordial 3D tech. A grungy survival horror built using GZDoom and, presumably, a Faustian pact, Total Chaos featured proper 3D models, multilayered melee combat, and complex inventory management atop the Doom sourceport.
Prebble has a knack for punching far above his weight, so I was already primed to devour whatever he produced next. This turned out to be a full remake of Total Chaos, turning the mod into a premium FPS that launched on Steam in November. It reconstructs Prebble's mod in Unreal Engine 5, expanding the nightmare with several additional chapters.
Often, the results are as impressive as Prebble's work on Turbo. Total Chaos is almost suffocatingly atmospheric and, in parts, genuinely frightening. But unlike Prebble's shooter, the spectre of the past looms large over Total Chaos in a way ...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?