John Carpenter's Toxic Commando Is The Left 4 Dead Fix I Needed - Gamescom 2025

If you haven't yet, follow us on X (Twitter), Mastodon, or Bluesky to know when we post new articles, and join our Reddit or Subscribe to us on YouTube to check out our content and interact with our awesome community. Thank you for supporting us!

I have been on the lookout for some new co-op games to play, but I don’t want just any old co-op game. I miss the good ol’ days of Left 4 Dead, where three others and I would roam through maps killing hordes of zombies. However, I love some of the more modern mechanics and progression systems, like more open maps, unique objectives, and being able to get new loot and customize my weapons to fine-tune my playstyle. While there have been some other titles that have come close, like Back 4 Blood, none scratched that itch for me. However, when I played John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, it all clicked. This is the game I have been waiting for.

In my session, I played with three others, all of us taking up different classes. We went through the semi-large map to complete our mission, demolishing the tons of zombies around us. Our main mission was to destroy these two locations, then head to a church to make our last stand.

When I say that Toxic Commando scratches that Left 4 Dead itch, I mean it wholeheartedly. There can be hundreds of zombies on the screen coming at us, and it was awesome. There were so many times my team and I had to communicate and take down all the enemies around us. There was even one point where it reminded me of World War Z, watching hundreds of zombies climbing over each other to get up above a wall. It was also constant shooting groups of 50-100 zombies, with some little downtime here and there to replenish ammo and get new weapons to help us survive. 

As I mentioned, the game has a class system, which gives you a specific ability to help keep the team going. I was playing as the Medic, so my ability allowed me to create temporary health for all of those around me. The coordination to keep us healed and rain down firepower was intense, and we all had to play our roles to survive. It really felt necessary to be working together. I could see one person going off and taking it slow, maybe being able to make it far, but there will definitely be many more moments that need others' help. That final Church scene is a big one. We had to defend multiple points against hundreds and hundreds of zombies coming at us. There’s no way I’d be able to do it alone.

Another aspect that really gave me those Left 4 Dead vibes has to be the special enemies. While we have the normal zombies, we also have special enemies that are harder to defeat. The ones that brought me back were the two enemies that could either grab or drag me around, incapacitating me until my teammates killed them. There are also these tentacles that can pop up and attack, which we also had to navigate around, and it added a nice extra challenge.

I also love the open nature of missions in Toxic Commando. While we do have a set goal, the map is large enough to house some side activities with more gear to find, currency to pick up, and revival seeds to use just in case. With the map being more spread out, we will be able to use an assortment of vehicles to navigate quickly. I knew this would be an option from the trailers, but there were a few aspects that still surprised me.

There are some normal cars we can drive, and we can shoot zombies from the windows, but we also have military cars with turrets attached that we can shoot from. I was manning the turret as we were driving, and I had way too much fun. Zombies are also able to climb on cars we drive, so we will have to shoot them off as soon as possible to stop them from damaging the car. We can repair the damage manually, but it will add up if you leave it alone. Still, this kept us all focused even as we drove through zombies, and again, it’s just fantastic.

Some of the areas of the map are also only accessible if you have the right gear. Some need a winch from your car to pull down barriers, while others may require more powerful, explosive weapons to take them down. It’s a small part, but can make exploration and going off the beaten path feel rewarding. And really, anything that extends the mission time and gets me to kill more zombies is always appreciated.

We can also find stray scraps and gears to unlock more powerful weapons to use in our mission. It’s small as well, but it gave me a new goal to prepare for the upcoming holdout at the church. Though admittedly, I was planted on turrets and plowing through scores of zombies most of the time.

At launch, there will be eight missions to play through, so if they all have different maps( there should be a decent amount of variety. I don’t know much about replayability when it comes to missions, but I am sure grinding for more currency to upgrade your skills and mod out your weapons will be a core focus. I wasn’t able to play around with this part of the game yet, but I am curious how in-depth it goes.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando gives me that same feeling Left 4 Dead does, and I couldn’t be happier. I went in on the oblivious side on purpose, but I came out extremely excited and optimistic for the release. It’s tough to say if this will be decent to play on the Steam Deck, but I can confidently say that Saber Interactive knows exactly what they are doing, and it’s incredible. This is so far my most-anticipated game for 2026, and it will be hard to top it.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando can be wishlisted ahead of its release next year.

If you enjoyed this article, check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety of game reviews and news that will help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got you covered!