About
Total Chaos is a standalone survival horror game built on the GZDoom engine that ships entirely with its own assets — no copy of Doom or any other commercial game is required. Set on a remote, fog-drenched island (Fort Oasis), it features full 3D models, a physical inventory system, melee and ranged combat, and atmospheric sound design that push GZDoom far beyond its Doom-engine origins. Originally released as a Doom II total-conversion mod, a polished standalone version (now the Director's Cut) was packaged and published on Flathub, making it one of the most accessible GZDoom titles on the Steam Deck.
Identity
Launch
- Binary
- flatpak
- Options
- run com.moddb.TotalChaos
- Needs files
- none beyond the binary
Runtime
- Runs as
- Native Linux
- Proton
- not needed
⚙ Setup notes
Standalone: Survival horror game built on GZDoom — ships its own assets, no Doom WAD required. The standalone release bundles its own copy of GZDoom plus Freedoom, so you do not install or point at a separate GZDoom.
Install (easiest): Available on Flathub as a self-contained Flatpak under the app ID com.moddb.TotalChaos. Open Discover in Desktop Mode and search 'Total Chaos', or install from a terminal with flatpak install flathub com.moddb.TotalChaos. The current Flathub build is the Director's Cut (1.40) and is ~1 GB.
Launch: Run the Flatpak directly — flatpak run com.moddb.TotalChaos. It starts its own bundled GZDoom; there is no separate -iwad argument to set.
Install (ModDB alternative): The standalone (and PK3-only) releases are also on ModDB. The PK3-only build requires your own DOOM2.WAD + a GZDoom install; the standalone build bundles GZDoom and Freedoom so no commercial WAD is needed. Prefer the Flathub package on Steam Deck for the simplest setup.
Shortcut: Set as a non-Steam shortcut after installing from Discover. If launching the Flatpak via Steam fails to stay running, it may need the org.freedesktop.Flatpak permission granted (e.g. via Flatseal) or a flatpak-spawn wrapper.
Note: Widely considered one of the finest technical showcases of the GZDoom engine.
The one thing to know
Standalone: Completely standalone — no Doom II or other commercial game needed. The Flathub build bundles its own GZDoom + Freedoom.
Install (easiest): Install directly from Flathub via Discover in Desktop Mode (search 'Total Chaos', app ID com.moddb.TotalChaos), then add the Flatpak as a non-Steam shortcut with launch options run com.moddb.TotalChaos. No file management required.
Launch: The Flatpak runs its own bundled GZDoom — launch it directly (flatpak run com.moddb.TotalChaos). Do not pass -iwad/a separate pk3; that only applies to the PK3-only ModDB build paired with your own GZDoom.
Steam shortcut quirk: Launching a Flatpak from Steam can flicker and exit; if so, grant org.freedesktop.Flatpak permission (Flatseal) or wrap with flatpak-spawn.
Note: deckport links nothing; it is native (no Proton).
Community guides
Write-ups and threads from people who got this (or a similar) game running. deckport links to them — it doesn't reproduce them.
Get the artwork
deckport never hosts game images. Open this game on SteamGridDB, pick
the cover / hero / logo / icon you like, and drop them into the
game folder under .deckport-art/ before you push it to the
Deck. The importer files them under the right names automatically.
Run it on your Deck
Two files: the one-time importer (deckport.py) in your
Deck's home folder, and this game's install helper. Copy the game
into ~/Games and run the helper with Steam closed — it
writes the recipe (binary, launch options)
and registers the shortcut with artwork.