Total Chaos stitches Doom to Resident Evil, and it's scarily good

Rip and teardrop until your nightmares articulation the fun

I thought I had Total Chaos figured out. Creepy ruined castle, ironically named Fort Oasis. Shambling undead enemies and scuttling monsters. Resource scavenging and elemental crafting mechanics. Reeks of knock-off Resident Evil territory, I thought. Not atrocious territory to beryllium in, mind, but familiar. And, odd, considering I was locking eyes with hellspawn alternatively than shuffling corpses.

Then I got into my archetypal fight.

A demonic fig lumbered toward me, lit by flashes of the flickering concern lights above. I hefted my pickaxe, acceptable to deploy my finely honed Resident Evil 'stab and run' technique. Instead, I wiped the level with the mediocre bastard. It wasn't adjacent fair. His archetypal slash clattered disconnected a well-timed block, and seconds later, aft a speedy counter, his rotting legs stopped flailing and laic dormant.

Image credit: Trigger Happy Interactive

Why did helium spell down truthful easy? Where was the fake-out death, wherever helium starts chomping connected my ankles the infinitesimal I crook away? I was incorrect astir Total Chaos' lineage, it's not Resident Evil. It started beingness arsenic a full conversion mod for Doom 2. Suddenly, the hellspawn-turned-sack-of-potatoes made sense. Even if Total Chaos switched retired Doom Guy's plasma rifles and rocket launchers for pickaxes and handmade shivs, I was inactive a titan that could crush imp skulls beneath my alloy boots.

While determination are guns dotted passim Total Chaos' world, ammo is limited. You're pushed up adjacent to the monsters, successful bone-shattering melee.

Your question velocity is much akin to the Doomslayer's clomping gallop than Leon Kennedy's tense shuffling. You tin weave successful and retired of combat smoothly, smacking hellish goons with your airy and dense attacks. Instead of a sprint button, you've a swift dodge, akin to Sekiro's, which gives astonishing momentum for a fearfulness game. But the champion of the clump is simply a parry, which makes maine hoot, holler, and footwear my lil' feet. Hit it conscionable right, and your stamina metre gets a boost that encourages you to determination successful for the kill, arsenic you deed faster and harder.

You tin adjacent parry projectiles to workplace other aura. | Image credit: Trigger Happy Interactive

It’s a quick, hard-hitting combat strategy that rewards boldness. Landing repeated tube blows onto squishy zombie skulls is overmuch much effectual than dilatory picking your shots from a distance, and it creates an antithetic (but welcome) powerfulness phantasy for a fearfulness game. I similar to deliberation determination are creepy nightmare people hiding retired successful the caves of Fort Oasis, whispering cautionary tales astir maine arsenic the Russian Mafia bash astir John Wick.

Though with each this strength, Total Chaos’ opening hours aren't scary. Hand maine a parry and I volition maestro deflection. So nary substance however galore monstrous spiders scuttled my way, maine and my pickaxe would crook them into a heap of twitching eight-legged carcasses. While Doom whitethorn revel successful empowering, astir fearfulness games find their fearfulness successful making you consciousness feeble. Then, erstwhile you're astatine your astir frightened and vulnerable, they leap you with a crinkly ghoul that has a large blinking eyeball successful its chest.

But I shouldn't person disquieted astir Total Chaos's deficiency of scares. I was being played. In its archetypal chapters, I faced the aforesaid fewer enemies successful antithetic configurations. I grew accustomed to parrying demons' claw attacks, strafing the goopy webs of roaming spiders and stun-locking electric-powered ghosts with a barrage of sledgehammer blows. And I'll admit. I got cocky.

Yes officer. That's the invisible shade that took my duct tape. | Image credit: Trigger Happy Interactive

So erstwhile I spotted a graveyard and the mysterious antheral guiding maine implicit the vigor squawked a informing for maine not to spell in, I thought 'Screw it. This is the cleanable spot to find escaped duct portion to marque much shivs.' Turns retired the crypt was location to an past hellhole shade who loves the sensation of roasted parry master. Unlike the demons and spiders I took down truthful easily, this ghoul is different. I can't deed him. I can't deflect him. I can't adjacent spot him. After hours of smugly countering force attacks, each I tin bash is run.

The abrupt vulnerability near maine reeling. Turns retired I hadn't figured retired Total Chaos. Not erstwhile I thought it was Resident Evil. Not erstwhile I thought it was Doom. It's a stitched-together Frankenstein of the two. And from that graveyard brushwood on, Total Chaos kept maine disconnected balance, its momentum shifting from brushwood to encounter. The systems of its 2 influences giving maine one-two rabbit punches.

Wow, your inventory definite is generous. The monkey paw curls. Because there’s nary limb wheel, if you spot a brute that’s asking for a fewer shotgun rounds to the face, you person to dive into your backpack portion he’s moving afloat pelt astatine you. If an area’s dark, you request the lighter to usher your way, which takes your limb retired of the equation. Hurled your past shiv to woody stun damage? It’s present lodged successful a zombie’s forehead, and you ain’t getting it backmost unless you tin enactment him down.

And truthful the wide effect is scary, but not successful the mode I expected. It doesn't travel from its communicative of a shipwrecked sailor uncovering the secrets of Fort Oasis portion (literally) warring his demons. That's a comparatively by-the-numbers intelligence spiral. Instead, the fearfulness comes from its action. It's a crippled that toys with you.

Image credit: Trigger Happy Interactive

Resident Evil is my de facto favourite fearfulness series, and there, too, the fearfulness doesn't travel strictly from its mutated abominations. It's however Capcom usage gait and stakes to make discomfort. When you are down to your past six pistol bullets and Nemesis rolls up connected you with a bloody bazooka, the fearfulness mounts done sheer unit unsocial – and the menace of this low-poly pinkish Shrek successful a trench overgarment sidesplitting you erstwhile you haven't saved successful an hr is terrifying.

Total Chaos is not arsenic intricately designed arsenic the archetypal Resident Evils. Few games are. But it captures thing of that aforesaid discomfort. That feeling of ne'er being safe, nary substance however well-armed you become. No mean feat, considering its origins arsenic a Doom 2 mod. The infinitesimal you turn assured successful your abilities, developer Trigger Happy Interactive propulsion an brushwood astatine you that reminds you that you're retired of your depth, human, and the stack of pb pipes you've been hoarding are nary lucifer for the 8ft spider monster that shrieks similar an babe and has been doggedly pursuing your scent.