Post Apocalyptic Mayhem

Post Apocalyptic Mayhem is a PC third-person arcade combat racer from Steel Monkeys and Next Dimension Game Adventures Ltd. It keeps its original name on the current Steam storefront, with no verified rebrand or replacement edition. The core appeal is direct: drive heavily modified wasteland vehicles, collect weapon abilities, destroy rival racers, and score more points through kills than through clean laps.

Combat racing built around attack timing

Post Apocalyptic Mayhem uses an accessible physics-based driving model viewed from a vehicle-focused third-person camera. Cars feel heavy, impacts are deliberately forceful, and jumps create opportunities for both aerial correction and aggressive attacks. This is not a simulation racer. The handling is designed to keep the action readable while collisions, boosts, and weapon pickups constantly disrupt the race.

Every vehicle has a Nitro Boost that provides a short acceleration burst. Nitro drains during use and refills after a delay, while dedicated Nitro Barrels can restore the meter immediately. Saving boost for a jump, escape, or final straight is often more valuable than spending it as soon as the meter is available.

The scoring system pushes players toward confrontation. Completing a lap earns points, but destroying an enemy vehicle is worth substantially more, so the fastest route is not always the most profitable one. A racer who ignores the battle may reach the finish line quickly and still lose to a driver who combines racing lines with well-timed attacks.

Three attack angles, one limited arsenal

Each vehicle carries three special abilities: a front attack, a side attack, and a rear attack. These are not permanent weapons. Players collect color-coded ability barrels placed around the tracks, then decide when to trigger the stored attack.

The directional design gives positioning real importance. A front weapon rewards closing distance, a side weapon is useful when opponents run alongside you, and a rear weapon can punish anyone drafting too closely. Abilities cannot be stockpiled indefinitely, and they are lost when a vehicle is destroyed or reset, so reckless hoarding can waste a strong opportunity.

Destruction is part of the race loop rather than a separate arena activity. Vehicles have visible health, respawn close to where they were destroyed, and briefly return without collision while the respawn effect is active. That keeps a match moving instead of removing a player from the action for a long downtime.

Vehicles and wasteland tracks

The original roster includes six heavily modified vehicles with distinct visual identities and weapon themes. The manual names machines such as Childhood Dreams, Space Cowboy, Skorch, Logger, Meth-Alchemist, and Nitrogenius. They range from an armored school bus and improvised jet-powered car to a bladed logging machine and chemically armed vehicles.

The current Steam listing states that the base game now includes Kitty, Nucloid, and the Veteran, along with Death Area 8, Airplane Cemetery, and Abandoned Sawmill. These additions matter when comparing older descriptions of the game with the present storefront package, because legacy reviews often describe only the original roster and track selection.

Tracks are built around multiple routes, close-quarters funnels, large jumps, and collision-heavy sections. Air control allows small corrections while a vehicle is airborne, but it does not turn jumps into free flight. Reading the landing zone and choosing when to use Nitro are more important than making dramatic mid-air movements.

Single-player structure and multiplayer rules

Single-player offers Arcade and Apocalyptic Challenge. Arcade lets you select a vehicle, track, and difficulty before entering a short battle against five AI opponents. The objective is to maximize the score through laps and kills, with the AI becoming more aggressive at higher difficulty settings.

Apocalyptic Challenge links the available tracks into a consecutive run. The player receives a score after each race and an accumulated result at the end, creating a compact mastery loop rather than a story campaign or progression-heavy career.

Online play supports up to six players in total, meaning the host can battle up to five friends. Ranked and unranked options are documented. Unranked play includes Laps Mayhem, where completed laps determine the winner; Kills Mayhem, where the first player to reach the selected kill target wins; and Total Mayhem, which combines lap and kill scoring within a time limit.

The current store page still advertises multiplayer, but players should distinguish between feature support and the likelihood of finding a populated public matchmaking scene. The game is best approached as a compact solo racer or a private competitive game with friends rather than as a modern live-service racing community.

Base game, free additions, and Chaos Pack

The commercial model is a paid base game with one separately listed expansion. Steam identifies Post Apocalyptic Mayhem: DLC - Chaos Pack as the only downloadable content associated with the game.

The current base listing includes the additional vehicles and tracks noted above. The Chaos Pack adds three more vehicles: The Fuzz, TOW’er, and Ice Scream. Each comes with its own front, side, and rear attacks, including grenade launchers, spike strips, hydraulic crushing equipment, explosive donut bombs, dangerous cotton candy, and frozen projectiles.

That makes the storefront distinction important. Players comparing old catalog descriptions with the current package should not assume that every named vehicle was originally part of the same release configuration, and they should not confuse the included base additions with the separately sold Chaos Pack.

Who should play it

Post Apocalyptic Mayhem suits players who want short arcade races, exaggerated vehicle combat, straightforward controls, and scoring that rewards attacking opponents. It is a good fit for fans of older combat racers who prefer direct action over extensive tuning menus, open-world exploration, or realistic motorsport rules.

Players looking for a broader combat-racing sandbox may prefer open-ended vehicular destruction games such as Carmageddon: Reincarnation, which places more emphasis on freeform arenas and alternative objectives. Post Apocalyptic Mayhem is more structured: the track is fixed, the race remains central, and combat is organized around three directional abilities.

It is a weaker match for anyone expecting a long narrative campaign, deep vehicle customization, local split-screen, or cooperative progression. Its replay value comes from improving scores, learning track layouts, selecting better attack moments, and mastering the differences between race, kill, and total-score rules.

PC controls, platform features, and localization

The PC version supports keyboard controls and gamepads. The documented layout assigns acceleration and steering to keyboard keys, while Nitro, the three weapon directions, handbrake, reset, camera control, and rear view have separate bindings. A controller is the more natural option for analog steering, but the keyboard layout supports the complete driving and combat system.

Steam lists single-player, multiplayer, Steam Achievements, Steam Trading Cards, Steam Leaderboards, and Family Sharing. The current store page lists 51 achievements, while older promotional text references a smaller figure, so the current storefront total is the more useful catalog fact.

Interface localization is listed for English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish from Spain. The storefront does not list full audio localization for these languages, so players should treat the PC edition primarily as an interface-localized racing game rather than a fully dubbed release.

Comparable PC combat racers

Players who want a faster, more futuristic vehicle-combat system can compare it with high-speed weapon racing in GRIP: Combat Racing. GRIP places greater emphasis on wall-riding, ceiling-surfing, vehicle classes, and a broader multiplayer ecosystem, while Post Apocalyptic Mayhem focuses on simpler track layouts and three directional attacks.

Another useful comparison is set-piece-driven arcade combat racing like Split/Second: Velocity. Split/Second turns the environment into a weapon through route-changing destruction, whereas Post Apocalyptic Mayhem keeps the attack system attached to the vehicles themselves. Both reward timing and aggressive racing, but their sources of chaos are different.

Post Apocalyptic Mayhem remains most distinctive when treated as a score-attack combat racer: choose a vehicle, learn the track, collect the right ability, and decide whether the next corner is an opportunity to overtake or to destroy someone.

Post Apocalyptic Mayhem FAQ

Has Post Apocalyptic Mayhem been renamed on PC?

No verified rebrand was found. The current Steam storefront continues to use Post Apocalyptic Mayhem, with no confirmed definitive edition or replacement title.

What is included in the current base game?

The current Steam notice says the base game includes Kitty, Nucloid, and the Veteran, plus the Death Area 8, Airplane Cemetery, and Abandoned Sawmill tracks. The separately listed Chaos Pack adds three additional vehicles.

Is Post Apocalyptic Mayhem multiplayer?

Yes. It supports competitive online multiplayer for up to six players total, with ranked and unranked options. The documented modes include Laps Mayhem, Kills Mayhem, and Total Mayhem.

Does it have local co-op or split-screen?

The verified PC feature listing identifies online multiplayer, not local split-screen or cooperative campaign play. Players should not buy it expecting couch co-op.

How does the single-player mode work?

Single-player consists of Arcade races and the consecutive-track Apocalyptic Challenge. Progression is based on scores, kills, laps, difficulty, and repeated mastery rather than a traditional story campaign.

Does the PC version support controllers?

Yes. The manual documents gamepad controls, and the Steam listing includes the Controller tag. Keyboard controls are also available, including bindings for steering, Nitro, weapons, handbrake, reset, and camera functions.