One of the most ambitious DOOM II mods ever created just became playable on consoles. Total Chaos, Sam Prebble’s survival horror total conversion that transforms id Software’s 1994 shooter into an unrecognizable first-person horror experience, shadow-dropped during the Xbox Partner Preview on November 20, 2025. Published by Apogee Entertainment in partnership with Atari’s Infogrames label, this standalone console port brings the celebrated GZDoom mod to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC with day one Xbox Game Pass availability and Xbox Play Anywhere support. The console release features completely rebuilt visuals, updated mechanics for modern platforms, and an original track called Catharsis composed by Silent Hill’s legendary Akira Yamaoka, elevating this fan project that spent over a decade in development into a commercial product that honors its modding roots while delivering professional polish.
From DOOM II Mod to Standalone Game
Total Chaos began life in 2008 when New Zealand creator Sam Prebble, known online as Wadaholic, conceptualized transforming DOOM II into survival horror. Active development started in 2012, with the first demo releasing November 8, 2016. The complete six-level mod finally launched October 30, 2018, distributed free through ModDB and requiring GZDoom source port to run.
Calling it simply a mod undersells the achievement. Total Chaos represents a total conversion that replaces virtually every DOOM II asset with custom content. Original textures, models, sounds, music, enemy designs, weapons, level geometry, lighting systems, and gameplay mechanics create an experience sharing no resemblance to the base game beyond running on the same underlying engine technology.
The transformation impressed gaming press upon release. PC Gamer called it a remarkable survival horror that takes time to build tension before action starts, praising how it uses DOOM’s foundations to do things the game was never meant to. Rock Paper Shotgun described it as a real testament to what’s capable with the modern GZDoom engine. Giant Bomb deemed it ambitious and impressive, recognizing the audacity of attempting legitimate horror within a framework designed for fast-paced demon slaughter.
What began as a fan responding to someone claiming DOOM mods couldn’t be scary evolved into one of the modding community’s most celebrated achievements. Prebble worked on Total Chaos for over a decade, refining systems, creating atmospheric environments, and proving that with enough dedication, limitations become creative opportunities rather than insurmountable barriers.
The Fort Oasis Setting
Total Chaos takes place on a remote island called Fort Oasis, once home to a thriving coal mining community that mysteriously vanished without explanation. The abandoned concrete jungle now decays in isolation, with only grotesque creatures and disturbing secrets remaining to greet anyone foolish enough to investigate.
Players explore the mining facility’s ruins, discovering environmental storytelling through scattered notes, audio logs, and brief shadowy glimpses of miners going about their business moments before catastrophe struck. These BioShock-inspired vignettes piece together what happened to the colony while building dread through implication rather than explicit exposition.
The atmosphere emphasizes slow-building tension over constant jumpscares. Flickering lights cast dancing shadows across dilapidated hallways. Ambient soundscapes blend industrial noise with unnatural groans and whispers that might be wind or might be something else. Objects clatter to floors as you round blind corners, making every step forward feel like tempting fate. The game understands horror requires quieter moments that let tension breathe before escalating into violence.
An eerie voice over radio provides your only contact throughout the journey, directing where to go while promising answers that may or may not come. The mysterious narrator adds uncertainty about whether you’re being helped or manipulated toward some terrible purpose.
Survival Horror Mechanics
Total Chaos abandons DOOM’s aggressive run-and-gun gameplay for methodical survival horror that emphasizes resource scarcity, deliberate combat, and psychological pressure. You fight grotesque creatures using limited resources, crafting makeshift weapons from scavenged materials rather than wielding overpowered arsenal drops.
Combat focuses on melee weapons and crafted tools since ammunition is scarce and precious. Encounters require careful positioning, timing strikes between enemy attacks, and knowing when fighting wastes resources better preserved for inevitable conflicts ahead. This measured approach contradicts DOOM’s power fantasy, replacing it with vulnerability where every confrontation threatens death.
Sanity mechanics track your mental deterioration as exposure to Fort Oasis’s horrors gradually unravels your mind. The lower your sanity drops, the more reality distorts through visual hallucinations, audio manipulation, and environmental changes that make navigation increasingly difficult. Managing sanity becomes as important as managing health, creating dual pressure systems that compound stress.
Exploration rewards thorough investigation with crafting materials, story fragments, and environmental shortcuts. The six levels are substantial compared to typical DOOM maps, offering interconnected spaces that encourage backtracking as new tools unlock previously inaccessible areas.
Akira Yamaoka’s Contribution
The console release features Catharsis, an original track composed by Akira Yamaoka specifically for Total Chaos. Yamaoka’s legendary work on Silent Hill established his reputation creating atmospheric horror soundscapes that blur music and sound design into seamless dread. His industrial ambient compositions defined that franchise’s identity as much as Pyramid Head or fog-shrouded streets.
Having Yamaoka contribute to an indie DOOM mod-turned-commercial game represents remarkable validation for Prebble’s work. Major composers typically don’t attach their names to fan projects or small indie releases unless they genuinely respect what developers achieved. Yamaoka’s involvement signals Total Chaos transcends its humble modding origins into something worthy of professional collaboration.
The track plays during key moments, enhancing emotional impact through Yamaoka’s signature style blending melancholic melodies with industrial noise. His contribution elevates Total Chaos’s production values, providing the audio polish that legitimizes it as a commercial product rather than simply a free mod ported to consoles.
The GZDoom Foundation
Total Chaos runs on GZDoom, a modern source port that adds contemporary features to the DOOM engine including hardware acceleration, dynamic lighting, colored lighting, sloped floors and ceilings, Quake 2-style skyboxes, high-resolution texture support, advanced scripting through ZScript, and numerous other enhancements impossible in vanilla DOOM.
These engine capabilities allowed Prebble to create visuals and atmospheric effects that make Total Chaos look nothing like a 1994 shooter. Dynamic lighting casts realistic shadows and creates mood impossible with DOOM’s original sector-based lighting. High-resolution textures and detailed models replace pixelated sprites. Advanced audio systems enable 3D positional sound and ambient layers that shift based on location and context.
The GZDoom community has produced remarkable projects over decades, but Total Chaos stands among the most ambitious total conversions demonstrating how far the engine can be pushed beyond its original design. It proved that with sufficient dedication and technical skill, DOOM’s foundation supports experiences completely divorced from the id Software formula.
Console Port Changes
The console version isn’t simply the PC mod dumped onto new platforms. Apogee Entertainment and Prebble rebuilt Total Chaos as a standalone title optimized for modern hardware. This included redesigning UI for controller input, adjusting combat mechanics for gamepad controls, implementing console-specific features like achievement systems, and ensuring stable performance on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series hardware.
The six-level structure remains intact, though potentially with visual and mechanical refinements based on years of player feedback since the 2018 mod release. Expect improved enemy AI, refined difficulty balancing, clearer objective communication, and quality of life improvements addressing common criticisms from the original version.
Whether the console port includes additional content beyond the six original levels or simply represents a polished version of existing material wasn’t detailed in announcements. Given the shadow-drop nature and Game Pass day one availability, this likely remains the core experience with enhanced presentation rather than a massively expanded director’s cut.
Platform Availability and Pricing
Total Chaos is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. Day one Xbox Game Pass availability for console, PC, and cloud gaming means millions of subscribers can play immediately without purchase. Xbox Play Anywhere support ensures buying digitally on Xbox console or Windows PC grants access on both platforms.
No pricing was announced for standalone purchases outside Game Pass. The original mod released free, but commercial console releases require development costs, publisher agreements, licensing fees, and platform fees that justify charging money. Expect budget pricing around ten to twenty dollars given the indie scope and mod heritage, though exact pricing varies by region and platform.
The shadow-drop strategy creates immediate availability without prolonged marketing campaigns or hype cycles. Players can download and experience Total Chaos tonight rather than wishlisting for future release, capitalizing on Xbox Partner Preview attention while momentum exists.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Total Chaos available now?
Yes, Total Chaos shadow-dropped on November 20, 2025, and is available immediately on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Xbox Game Pass and standalone purchase.
What is Total Chaos?
Total Chaos is a survival horror game that began as a celebrated DOOM II total conversion mod created by Sam Prebble over ten years, now rebuilt as a standalone commercial title for modern platforms.
Is Total Chaos on Xbox Game Pass?
Yes, Total Chaos is available day one on Xbox Game Pass for console, PC, and cloud gaming with Xbox Play Anywhere support.
Who composed music for Total Chaos?
Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka created an original track called Catharsis specifically for the Total Chaos console release.
Do I need DOOM II to play Total Chaos?
No, the console version is a standalone game that doesn’t require owning DOOM II or any other software. The PC mod version required GZDoom and DOOM II, but the commercial release is self-contained.
How long is Total Chaos?
Total Chaos features six substantial levels designed for slow-paced exploration and survival horror gameplay rather than speed-running, likely totaling several hours for a complete playthrough.
Is Total Chaos scary?
Yes, Total Chaos was specifically designed to prove DOOM mods could deliver legitimate horror through atmosphere, tension-building, resource scarcity, and psychological pressure rather than action-focused gameplay.
Conclusion
Total Chaos represents one of modding’s greatest success stories, transforming from a decade-long passion project into a commercial product worthy of console release and collaboration with legendary composers. Sam Prebble’s dedication proving DOOM could support legitimate survival horror resulted in something genuinely remarkable that stands alongside professionally developed indie horror games. The shadow-drop during Xbox Partner Preview ensures maximum visibility while Game Pass availability removes financial barriers for curious players. Whether you’re a DOOM modding historian, survival horror enthusiast, or simply someone who appreciates ambitious fan projects achieving commercial validation, Total Chaos deserves attention. Fort Oasis awaits, and its secrets won’t stay buried forever.