Acclaimed horror icon John Carpenter is bringing his style to the zombie shooter genre in John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando. This upcoming co-op shooter allows up to four players to join together, Left 4 Dead-style, and mow through hordes of the undead with guns, grenades, and massive vehicles.
Best known for his decades of iconic movies and scores (Halloween, Christine, and The Thing, to name a few), John Carpenter has contributed a lot to Toxic Commando besides just its name. Beyond the bombastic, action-packed style of Toxic Commando, which harkens back to the days of over-the-top action movies in the 80s and 90s like They Live and Escape from New York, John Carpenter has collaborated with Saber Interactive on the score and story of the game.
Toxic Commando is currently available to demo in the Steam Next Fest, which runs to March 2.
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Toxic Commando gameplay
The core gameplay of Toxic Commando centers around gunning down practically endless waves of zombies alongside a team, which Saber Interactive already perfected with 2019’s World War Z. The methods of killing the zombies – which come in various, mutated forms – ranges from standard firearms and grenades to drones and armored vehicles.
What sets Toxic Commando apart from the standard zombie-wave game is the use of vehicles during missions. Players will have access to a range of cars, trucks, and even ambulances, each of which comes with their own set of perks. Ambulances, for example, allow players to heal on the move, while large armored trucks can more effectively mow down any enemies standing in the way.
A winch, available on some of the vehicles, will allow players to pull other vehicles (which can get stuck in mud or bogged down by hordes) or even pull-down heavy doors to access special areas of the map.
There are four characters (Walter, Cato, Ruby, and Astrid) to choose from, alongside four unique classes. These classes – Strike, Medic, Operator, and Defender – all provide different gameplay perks, like access to drones with Operator or the ability to place walls to fend off hordes with Defender.
Toxic Commando story
To set up why four players are shooting waves after waves of undead creatures, a little bit of plot is necessary. In Toxic Commando, that story comes set in the near future, where an experiment to tap into the Earth’s core and harvest energy has gone array. Instead of clean energy, the experiment unleashed the Sludge God. This monster turns the very earth into scum and humans into zombies (or other mutated creatures). To help the scientists clean up their mess and save the world, a team of four mercenaries (that’s you) have been recruited.
A tie-in comic came out shortly after the game was announced, titled John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando: Rise of the Sludge God. This prequel story was published by Dark Horse Comics, and included three parts covering the events leading up to the beginning of the game, summarized as:
“A normal day for Obsidian CEO Leon Dorsey becomes horrific when his search for clean energy accidentally awakens an ancient, sludgey evil. Humanity’s last hope against a toxic future rests with a private group of commandos”.
Toxic Commando release date and platforms
John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando will release on Thursday, March 12, just ten days after the Steam Next Fest ends. The game will be available on PC through Steam, as well as PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Any players looking to join in on zombie killing mayhem on different consoles will be able to do so, since Toxic Commando will feature full crossplay support.
Toxic Commando demo
A demo of John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is available to try through Steam’s Next Fest, which features a nearly endless list of indie titles for players to sample before fully committing to a purchase. To try the demo, simply head to the game’s Steam page and click download!
From the story to the gameplay trailers, Toxic Commando looks like straightforward, explosive FPS fun. Add in John Carpenter’s score and story, and players can expect a rip-roaring good time with their friends this March.
