It’s been a few months since I’ve taken a look at Total Chaos. Developed by Trigger Happy Interactive (Total Overkill) and published by Apogee Entertainment, Total Chaos was a bold reinvention of Sam Prebble’s famous total conversion mod for Doom II, taking the mod’s strengths and amplifying them through a modern engine full of glitz, glamour, and gore. I had a fun time with it, despite some minor gripes here and there.
I never did get around to that Survivalist run that I wanted to do, but now I might have to after I gave its New Game+ mode a shot. That’s right — you can now revisit the shambles of Fort Oasis with a brand-new lens, taking on some familiar challenges with a new-fashioned sense of confidence and cockiness. At least, that’s what you’d think. Believe it or not, Total Chaos‘ New Game+ mode fundamentally shifts the very core of the game, rewarding those who’ve learned its finer details while giving those who just coasted through the ride of a lifetime. And I loved every second of it.
Total Chaos Isn’t the Same Anymore
I won’t lead you on. New Game+ in Total Chaos isn’t exactly what you’d expect. Instead of looping back to your arrival at Fort Oasis with all of your permanent upgrades and a hefty arsenal of blunt instruments and rusty firearms, you’re instead treated to a wholly brand-new scenario. You’re back at square one again, essentially.
But you’re not just redoing the original story either. No, instead you’re given something akin to an expansion pack, or those dedicated map packs you’d find for games throughout the 1990s. New Game+ is a complete overhaul of Total Chaos‘ first seven chapters, along with a brand-new finale to get your fingerless-gloved hands on. Some areas are expanded, some have been cut out, and others are completely brand-new and exclusive to New Game+. If I had to compare it to anything, I’d say it closely resembles a Cliff’s Notes version of the original campaign, with exploration and puzzle solving seeing a marked decrease overall in favor of something more linear. Things do open up a bit more towards the end, sure, but it’s nowhere near as prominent.
New Game+ also introduces a reoccurring element that fundamentally shifts how you’ll approach its challenges, and what you’ll have to do to survive. It’s no surprise if you’ve been paying attention to any of the promotion surrounding New Game+. In fact, you probably already know what’s coming.
Meet the Hunter: Your newest and arguably most dangerous foe. A hulking mass of gnarled flesh, glowing red eyes, and sharp implements, the Hunter is to Total Chaos what Nemesis and Mr. X are to Resident Evil. It’s an unstoppable force that never stops its perpetual chase. Its thudding footsteps shake the entire screen. Its guttural screams and bellowing taunts accompany its sudden arrival. Its wide reach and frantic attack speed all but guarantee a sudden death if you’re caught against a corner. Hell, you can’t even really slow him down. The only way you can get him off your tail is by making enough space between yourself and him to where he’ll disappear. Or you can catch him with a handful of rare, immobilizing bear traps. If you’re really lucky, you can find a pair of glowing statues that can temporarily keep him at bay. But he’ll come back. He’ll always come back.
The Hunter merely existing changes everything about Total Chaos. No longer is your survival restricted by what you can carry around in your pack. Now, each chapter (barring one or two exceptions) kicks off with a terrifying revelation — the Hunter will arrive soon. You’ll have about ten real-life minutes to do as much as you possibly can in order to anticipate the beast’s arrival. Does he care about how many enemies are left alive? No. Does he care about how little resources you have to work with? No. Will he make your current situation all the more difficult once he shows up? Absolutely.
Something that I felt the original campaign had issues with was balancing. If you played carefully enough, at least on the standard difficulty, you could ultimately end up drowning in resources without really having to worry about your survival. Even being overburdened and slowed down was more of an annoyance than something genuinely crippling after a while. But now the Hunter exists. He’s faster than you if you’re not using your dodge. The slower you are, the more time you waste before his arrival. Stockpiling resources isn’t really an option anymore, at least nowhere near as much as it was originally.
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In fact, the difficulty here is significantly higher than it ever was before. It’s telling that New Game+ dumps a double-barreled shotgun and more enemies in a handful of rooms than in the entirety of the original campaign’s first chapter into your lap within the first few minutes. Higher-tier foes are far more common and appear intermingled with crowds of lower-tier mobs. Devious traps, like gun-toting miners tucked behind corners, or high-powered foes hiding behind mobs of weaker cannon fodder, are something you’ll have to contend with more often than not.
Killing anything and everything may have been viable before, but now, efficiency and routing is king. Ammo should only ever be reserved for clearing crowds or particularly dangerous foes. Weaker weapons should be dumped as soon as possible. Can you run past a group of enemies instead of fighting them? You should. Fighting takes time, after all. Odds are you’ll be dying or reloading every other minute just to gain back some precious seconds you wasted.
The remixes of the original chapters were all fairly enjoyable. You’ll spot some familiar locales and set pieces, but they’ll be assembled in such a way where you’re encouraged to trail blaze through them instead of cautiously exploring around. Open areas are largely gone for the most part, sans a few diversions here and there, and you’ll ever really have one or two larger hub areas to navigate around as New Game+ starts winding down. I did get lost once in these, admittedly, but that was my fault for not paying enough attention.
There’s something to be appreciated for just how drastic a change New Game+ is. Call it perfect timing, but I gave the mode a shot after attempting a few New Game+ runs in Silent Hill f, and the difference in my enjoyment between the two was night and day. I enjoyed Silent Hill f well enough, but the fact that you’re just running through what amounts to 90% of the same game again just for some minor story changes really didn’t sit well with me. Maybe the core just wasn’t compelling enough for me. Or maybe I just felt like I was spinning my wheels. Whatever it was, Total Chaos felt genuinely refreshing in that aspect. I really did feel like everything I learned in my original playthrough was put to the test here.
At the same time, I do think New Game+ pushes Total Chaos‘ limits a bit too much. This is mostly because of one specific thing I noticed during my time playing. I mentioned before that running past enemies is a more viable strategy now. But, unlike the Hunter, just about every regular enemy in the game will never give up the chase. They’ll keep on walking after you even if you enter the aforementioned areas the Hunter can’t chase you into, until you either die or reload your most recent save. Granted, there have been some additional AI improvements dropped into the game alongside the update’s official release, so this shouldn’t be as big of an issue.
Story-wise, New Game+ doesn’t toss in too much to shake things up either. There’s no normal and “true” ending this time around, instead opting for a wholly unique single ending that’ll remain the same no matter how you play. I’m not too fussy about this. The same goes for bosses. You get one — and it’s a fairly obvious one — and that’ll be it. There are a few more story details to look forward to, at least, and a few more bells and whistle in terms of presentation. Specifically, you now have some gnarly death animations to accompany your demise that are unique to each enemy, and you can now use the long-awaited “retro mode” if you so desire. It replaces the protagonist’s voice lines with those from the original mod, which is pretty cool.
The weaponless evasion sections from the original campaign make a reappearance here as well, and my opinions on them haven’t really changed. They’re far more limited this time around at least. They only make about two major appearances that are much simpler to navigate than before, with one section towards the end even omitting its sole threat in lieu of just providing a brief puzzle to solve. It was a nice way to relieve some of the persistent tension. The same goes for the now-doubled amount of save slots you have to work with.
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Should You Turn Total Chaos Back On?
I don’t want to be cruel and suggest that New Game+ is what Total Chaos could’ve been from the start. But I’d be lying if I said that it wouldn’t have been a near-perfect game if it was. To me, at least. I think the sudden shift from atmospheric, survival-oriented gameplay into something much more frantic and frenzied might take some adjusting to for some, but for me, it gave me that last little oomph that I really wanted out of a game like this.
I was actively figuring out how to best use my resources in every fight, and whether or not I should even pick a fight to begin with. I was forced to learn the layouts for each chapter while being dragged through them kicking and screaming. I was driven to shave less and less time off the clock to put myself in the best position possible. To think that Total Chaos doesn’t even have a ranking system, but it’s still forcing me into these scenarios, is nothing short of commendable. I’d almost want to compare it to The Evil Within or Silent Hill 3, it’s that good.
Is New Game+ ultimately worth playing? I mean, yes. I may have a few gripes with it, just like I did with the base game, but I’d say that the complete and total shakeup of everything you’ve learned from your first go-around is absolutely worth the effort. Are its narrative contributions all that incredible? I wasn’t personally blown away, but the alternate ending you can unlock does add a bit more to the journey you undergo throughout the original story. Did I have a blast playing through it? I sure did.
Ultimately, I’d love to see more games take this approach when it comes to New Game+ mode. I can’t really sing its praises enough. By all means, if you want more out of Total Chaos, New Game+ will absolutely deliver.
The New Game+ update for Total Chaos officially hit Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox on March 16.
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