Years ago, at a Summer Game Fest, Focus Entertainment announced that the iconic John Carpenter was collaborating with the company on a game. I grew up watching movies like Halloween, Big Trouble in Little China, and The Fog, so the announcement left me very excited.
Two years later, during Gamescom 2025, I had my first contact with John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, a game by Saber Interactive that featured John’s collaboration in the story and in producing the game’s theme music. I played for about 90 minutes with three Germans who, well, mostly communicated in German, and surprisingly, I had a lot of fun despite the language barrier. Now, a little less than a year later, I was able to dive into the final version to determine whether the full experience has enough quality to stand out in the genre.
An Almost Impossible Mission
The premise of John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is straightforward. A scientist named Leon Dorsey thought he had found a way to obtain infinite clean energy. He was using a gigantic drill to pierce the Earth’s core, and the worst happened—they released the Sludge God, a being that is terraforming the planet and capable of generating creatures resembling zombies. Leon then implemented a solution: hire a team of mercenaries to address the problem. Things go wrong at first, and the mercenaries gain special abilities, balancing the scales and becoming the Toxic Commandos.
The story is divided into three acts with a total of nine missions. Unfortunately, the narrative exists only as a small excuse for the relentless action. There’s a cutscene of about 2 minutes before each mission, serving as a briefing, and another cutscene of 2–3 minutes after completing the mission’s final objective. With John Carpenter’s involvement, I expected the narrative to have a stronger focus, but that’s definitely not the case here. The game wants you to constantly shoot zombies and not “waste” any time with other stuff.
The Commandos are a positive highlight. The voices match each character’s personality well, and their interactions are hilarious—though very rare. Overall, the core of the game is completing missions to progress classes and weapons, but it lacks substantial content and can quickly become repetitive—even when played with friends.
The Duty of a Commando
Following the standard of games like this, Toxic Commando features four distinct classes based on familiar archetypes. The Striker deals damage, the Medic obviously heals, the Operator provides support, and the Defender deploys barriers to hold back zombie hordes. Each class has its own skill tree that can be upgraded with points earned by leveling up, up to level 40.
Another main pillar of progression lies in the weapons. They have proficiency levels, and the game allows you to prestige each primary and secondary weapon, similar to Call of Duty. Beyond base levels, weapons can have their rarity upgraded, boosting attributes, and you can buy and equip attachments like scopes, muzzles, magazines, and more. Surprisingly, Toxic Commando also includes a camouflage system similar to Call of Duty, designed to encourage replayability.
Replayability is key here. The game loop consists of completing missions at different difficulty levels, up to the fourth—Very Hard. The higher the difficulty, the greater the rewards, such as XP and Sludgite, a resource used to upgrade weapons and buy attachments. Saber Interactive is no stranger to player retention, and these systems make that clear. The studio previously developed World War Z and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. Their expertise in co-op sessions is evident here.
Speaking of co-op, as of writing, the game requires a constant internet connection, even when playing solo with bots. And while it can be played with bots, it is very boring to play alone. There’s no doubt that Toxic Commando was made to be played with friends. The experience is completely different while playing with other people.
A Playground Full of Dangers
The missions in Toxic Commando have a more open design, resembling an open world but in a compact size. This works well thanks to the vehicles. Besides serving as transportation, vehicles are highly useful in combat and exploration.
Take the Maverick, for instance: it comes equipped with a grappling hook that tears down barriers and an EMP pulse that wipes out nearby enemies. The Banshee, on the other hand, offers infinite ammo reserves for both primary and secondary weapons. Each vehicle brings its own unique strengths to the battlefield, though all demand careful fuel management. What really impressed me was the vehicle physics—muddy slopes can bog cars down to a crawl, making the grappling hook a vital tool for maintaining momentum and conquering treacherous terrain.
The game map is full of points of interest where you can obtain Special Weapons, Spare Parts for rebuilding traps and turrets, or seeds that grant extra XP upon mission completion. The maps are visually appealing, and thanks to Saber’s Swarm Engine, there are sections where hundreds of zombies appear on screen. The PS5 Pro handles this well, and I didn’t notice any major FPS drops in performance mode.
Curiously, despite being a newer release, John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando looks visually inferior to Space Marine 2 in some aspects. While textures, terrain, and zombie models are impressive, the explosion and burn effects feel underwhelming for a 2026 title from a prominent studio with extensive experience in horde games.
John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando Review Verdict
Despite offering a good dose of fun when played with friends, Toxic Commando does little to push the subgenre forward. With games like Space Marine 2 and World War Z already on the market and still receiving content, there’s little incentive to take on the role of a Commando and stop the Sludge God.
John Carpenter's Toxic Commando
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