Total Chaos (Switch 2) Review
Summary: A sloppy port sullies what is otherwise a solid survival horror experience.
3
Any (other) port in a storm
Total Chaos makes its way to Switch 2 with a dim, functional port that drains all the tension from this otherwise suspenseful survival horror.
Initially hitting the Series X/S, PS5, and PC back in November, Total Chaos is the kind of scrappy, grungy horror title that fosters a love/hate relationship with anyone who plays it. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s not meant to be.
Originally devised as a total conversion mod for Doom 2, Total Chaos sees players step into the sodden shoes of a shipwrecked coastguard, washed up on the misty shores of Fort Oasis. A once bustling mining community that has since fallen into ruin.
Thus, it’s up to players to scour the environment for supplies and clues, while they attempt to unravel the island’s twisted past, stave off the horrors that lurk in its dingy corners, and ultimately escape.
Leaning heavily on the survival part of survival horror, players need to make sure they are healthy, fed, and not bleeding to death. This mostly revolves around swiping everything that isn’t nailed down and then finding a crafting bench and hammering it into something more useful.
Thankfully, there is plenty of junk to be found, regular crafting stations, and plenty of save points, so you’ll rarely find yourself out of weapons and healing items or pushed back too far when a group of enemies traps you in a corner and merrily kicks you to death.
Your weapons break as well, usually at the worst possible time, and do deteriorate regardless of whether you swing them at a skull or a storage crate.
That being said, combat is quite satisfying, especially when you manage to stun a critter with a thrown bottle and then follow it up with a crack to the side of their head with a pickaxe.
If the survival side of things is wearing a bit thin, there is a “Tourist Mode” that disables weapon degradation, bleeding, and hunger. This does make Total Chaos a little more manageable, especially if you’re more interested in seeing the story through to its conclusion (good or bad).
After spending a few hours with the Xbox version (it’s available on Game Pass at the moment), Total Chaos is certainly not without its charms, and at its core, there’s a fairly solid and unnerving experience to be had exploring the grim, twisting corridors of Fort Oasis.
However, this is not the case on Switch 2. In short, it’s a really bad port. The compromises are so stark compared to its current-gen brothers that it feels like they were targeting the original Switch rather than its successor: the textures are muddy and low-grade, the lighting effects have been stripped to the bone, and it’s so dark half the time you can’t see where you are going at all and you end up fumbling around like a drunk looking for a light switch. The only solution is to crank the brightness all the way up, which washes everything out, makes the textures look even worse, and destroys any semblance of atmosphere.
The performance is also spotty at best, with the targeted frame rate fluctuating regardless of whether you have it in quality or performance mode.
On the plus side, there are mouse and motion controls, which I always appreciate.
Final Thoughts
Maybe with some more work and a few post-launch patches, Total Chaos might be worth a punt on Switch 2. At its core, there’s an intriguing and unnerving survival horror title. However, at present, it’s buried under so many technical issues and cutbacks that I can’t recommend it.
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