What comes to mind when you think of John Carpenter? For some it’s the original 1978 Halloween film, for others (me) they think of The Thing, or maybe you’re a Prince of Darkness fanatic. John Carpenter is a household name in horror, but at any point I’m not sure if these experiences are one I want to interact with via a controller. Enter John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, a brand new IP developed by Saber Interactive, the masterminds behind World War Z and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II. The aforementioned titles are excellent horde shooters, and Toxic Commando aims to earn its spot among them. The question is, will it?

Upon looking at Toxic Commando during its reveal trailer, initially it looked to be the true Left 4 Dead sequel we have all been asking for. Granted, I said the same thing about World War Z’s trailer. However, the thing about Toxic Commando that holds it in high regard is the big name attached to it: John Carpenter. So how did all of this even come to be?

Well according to a blog post created by Brian Crecente contributing via Epic Games, it explains not just how Toxic Commando as a game came about but how it became yet another property to the Carpenter name. The long and short of it being that Saber wanted to make another horde shooter as they’ve simply been killing it lately. The problem then comes to striking a balance between giving people what they expect while also keeping them on their toes with meaningful new mechanics.

People mostly buy zombie games such as Left 4 Dead to mindlessly slaughter hundreds of infected alongside their buddies, that’s the main appeal to most. However, the problem with Left 4 Dead’s level design is they’re too linear. Every campaign more or less consists of countless corridors funneling you from point A to B. Saber’s CEO, Matt Karch, was watching a streamer play Mudrunner, Saber’s off-roading sim, and the idea sparked from there.

Saber would then work to combine the best parts of World War Z and Mudrunner to then make an almost “road trip” esque zombie experience. That doesn’t mean you’ll be driving around an entire countryside, mind you. The idea is to drop players in a wide area complete with multiple objectives to discover and supplies to find. Think of a standard mission deployment in Helldivers 2, if you’re familiar. Players can then find and use vehicles to drive around the wide area, all of which will spawn randomly with different attributes. Players can then also stop and scrounge for supplies such as gas or to see whatever they come by.

So… where does John Carpenter come into the mix?

Well that’s the thing (no pun intended), John was brought onto the project very late. The reason for his involvement in the first place is because Toxic Commando wanted to lean very heavily into the 80s and 90s influence of action films complete with a rambunctious tone. Once the team at Saber had the elevator pitch ready for him, John liked what he saw. So much so he gave ideas for the narrative as well as taking on the task of composing music for the game.

John basically came in and set the tone of the entire game, which is why his name is attached to its title. It’s as campy as you can expect with 4 playable mercenaries portrayed by real actors (my favorite being Cato played by Omari Hardwick), none of which are particularly likeable but that’s the idea. The entire game is over the top and never at any point really does it take itself seriously tone-wise. This leads to exaggerated blood splatters, ludicrous amounts of infected, constant bickering amongst the characters, and synth tones ready to enforce killing.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando released a demo on Steam, though it’s only the tutorial as well as the game’s first full level. Now the biggest question remains, was any of this worth it?

Toxic Commando is a gratifying shooter with punchy gunplay, enthralling gore, and such a fun tone to jive with. The moment to moment exploration of the larger play fields feels very fulfilling, and Saber’s signature horde combat still feels riveting with a fresh first person perspective.

Now with this only being a demo, there sadly isn’t much content here to cover however it’s enough to present the foundation for what you’ll be doing throughout the rest of the game. The demo has a tutorial level to slowly introduce the game’s mechanics such as how vehicles function as well as what it’s like to fight a giant horde.

It’s as straightforward as tutorials go, but it did highlight a couple of pointers for me and they rang in my head throughout my entire play session. For starters, a lot of these gun models are pulled straight out of WWZ. Not a bad thing mind you, as now the game is in first person and has very nicely made reload animations for high quality weapons. At the same time, it made me sad that there isn’t a wacky 90s-esque weapon selection. Plus, for a game heavily inspired by early action films, not even having a Beretta 92FS as a pistol option is downright criminal.

Performance wise, I was certainly shocked. With my i7-12700K and a 3070 TI, I was able to maintain well over 100 FPS at all times. Given the game’s overall very high graphical fidelity, this was such a surprise to see a modern title running this well. While yes I am using DLSS, it doesn’t have that “soft” look to it that a lot of other modern titles suffer from, the color palette combined with the highly details and buttery smooth frames make for a pleasing visual experience.

However my biggest critique, just in terms of basic control, is that there is not a single FOV slider present anywhere. This is a PC exclusive demo for a brand new first person shooter in 2026, and there is no way to change your field of view in game. This is simply unacceptable, the hordes and weapons all feel innately claustrophobic because everything is just simply too damn close.

There is a way you can manually change it yourself, but honestly it’s more trouble than it may be worth. It requires you having to sift through the game files and using something like WinRAR or 7ZIP to basically pry a file open and change the FOV count manually. Which, by default, is at 59. It’s an egregiously low number, and with such a low FOV it genuinely gave me a headache during extended sessions.

Here’s the problem though, nine players out of ten are not going to want to mess around with their files just for a comfortable gaming experience. This is unnecessary, and hopefully by the game’s actual release date this is something that gets implemented immediately.

To be fair, it was mentioned via Focus Entertainment’s Steam Demo FAQ that an FOV slider would not be present at launch, rather it will be added as part of a post launch update. After having played the game myself, this was the biggest gripe I had above all else. I would strongly encourage this to be a priority, because people have quit and refunded games for less.

That doesn’t mean that Toxic Commando feels bad to play by any means. I think Saber has nailed the level design here by uncovering these landmarks bit by bit while having constant fodder to blast away. Having vehicles to travel around in is actually quite nice, as vehicles spawn at random when the level loads and different vehicles have different attributes.

One car may be armored and have a machine gun on it or could be a beefed up F-150 with a winch to pull down gates or open sealed off cars. Either way, it sure beats walking everywhere which admittedly can also be an option if you don’t feel like driving. But I would imagine on higher difficulties you’d want a vehicle rather than not.

The demo also grants you access to a bit of the progression system, and this is what will make or break longevity for players. As much as I adored Space Marine II’s combat, replaying the same operations over and over again for the same miniscule amount of XP when the missions on average take 25 minutes just becomes so exhausting so quickly. Especially when the upgrades feel arbitrary and not exactly useful such as “10% more headshot damage”. Toxic Commando aims to mitigate the issue.

As you complete tasks in the level, kill fodder enemies or specials, everything you do will earn you XP for your respective gun and class. You don’t earn any of these points until the level is finished, which isn’t new. However, in both WWZ and Space Marine II missions have a dedicated amount of XP you earn for completing the level based around the difficulty it was completed. The XP you earn in Toxic Commando is tied to how much you decided to get done during your mission. You can hard charge the main objective if you want, but that’s not what the game encourages.

My first time through the game’s main level, Church of the Damned, I went straight for it. That’s when I realized I had no spare tools to open up any weapon boxes or to fix any of the artillery laying about. Mind you I was able to make it through thanks to sheer determination and wit (spamming mouse one with a Taiga-12), but it wasn’t until I did it again and actually took my time uncovering all the parts of the map. That’s when I was finally able to get into a flowstate with the gameplay loop, and what’s here is gratifying from the main hordes of main objectives to the serene exploration.

You complete objectives, finish the mission, bank all the XP and the materials you found with the most plentiful one being Sludgite. Sludgite can be used to buy weapon attachments for guns among other things but the prices of everything is rather high. That’s when it becomes almost mandatory to pick these colorful rocks off of sludgy trees while you’re out and about.

While the attachments are pricey, the guns don’t take an astronomically long time to level up. So while you’re out and you find a weapon you really like, you can stick with it and constantly level it up similar to WWZ. The more you level up a weapon the more attachments you can put on it, and certain level thresholds will buff the weapon.

You may slowly see how all these systems interweave into one another and where the loop of diving back in for more action and XP can become addicting. Unfortunately not so much in the demo as you only get two locations to explore, well one and the tutorial, but you can still get a taste for the game's various weapons as well as the classes.

Admittedly I haven’t messed around with all four of the classes on offer but they at least serve their respective roles. Plus, you can play as any of the 4 characters with any class. Even so, the demo only allows you to go up to level 5 with each class and none of this progress will carry over to the full game. So you won’t be seeing any sort of crazy build crafting, at least not yet.

I came away from John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando demo with a slight headache but a gnawing hunger for more. I want to see where else we can fight zombies and what other kinds of crazy setpieces are in store from the minds of everyone that was involved here, especially Mr. Carpenter himself of course.

This was a game I’ve had my eye on ever since it was announced back at Summer Games Fest 2023. Finally getting a taste of it and feeling that rush of having hundreds of zombies run at you waiting to die never gets old, and all I want now is simply more. See you on March 12 when it’s time to Go Commando.