Released in 2018, Total Chaos is regarded as one of the best Doom mods ever made—a total conversion that transforms id Software's demon-blasting FPS into a grungy, low-fi horror adventure. Last year, creator Sam Prebble revealed Total Chaos is being remade into a full game, debuting its first trailer on The PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted. Now, Prebble has revealed that a demo for the remake is imminent, letting players get their grubby hands on the game for themselves.
Speaking to RPS, Prebble stated that a demo for Total Chaos will be available "very shortly". He doesn't specify precisely when, but explains the demo is partly in lieu of embarking upon an early access development, as he did with his previous game Turbo Overkill. Prebble further says this is because he doesn't want to be overly influenced by player feedback. "I don't want to try and go too far in one direction and change what people loved about the mod."
Alongside the demo, Prebble reveals several other details about Total Chaos, most notably that it isn't a shot-for-shot remake of the mod. Although it takes place in the same location—an offshore mining colony inspired by Japan's Hashima Island—it'll elaborate upon the spaces players have already explored. "You'll enter a level—if you played the mod before—and be like: 'Okay, I remember this space.' But the more you play through the level, the more you start to realize: 'Okay, this is different.' And then eventually you're just thrown into this completely new area that you don't know."
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Indeed, Prebble originally planned for Total Chaos' island to be intricately connected, adding "I wanted the whole thing to be seamless." In the end though, he realised there wasn't much point. "In the mod, you never went back to areas you previously discovered. I felt tying the whole thing together would feel slow—you'd basically feel like you're not making much progress."
One of the more surprising revelations in the interview is that, despite creating one of the most acclaimed horror mods around, Prebble has never played some of horror gaming's most recognisable touchstones. "I've never actually played Silent Hill. At the time of developing the mod, I never played Resident Evil either."
You can read the full interview here. Regardless of Prebble's familiarity with gaming's horror canon, I am incredibly excited for Total Chaos. Turbo Overkill is my favourite retro shooter to emerge from the genre's revival, an astonishingly ambitious FPS that starts with you blasting goons in a cyberpunk city and ends with you dashing along the backs of starships in space. Prebble built the game almost entirely by himself, and has a knack for punching well above his weight. When the demo finally lands, I'll be first on the boat to its foggy island mine.
