Last updated on November 24, 2025
Total Reload marks the first major project from the small two-person team at Torshock, and it shows just how far a compact vision can go. Instead of throwing you into a familiar sci-fi setup, the game places you inside the metal frame of an AI unit sent to restore… something. You’re not told much at the start, and that sense of uncertainty becomes part of the journey.
The game doesn’t ease you in with a cinematic intro or a dramatic hook. Instead, it boots up like an operating system glitching back to life, as if an old PC is struggling to reload every process it ever knew. It feels odd at first, but it sets the tone perfectly: a sterile, empty world where you’re the only conscious presence… or almost the only one.
I started on keyboard and mouse out of habit, but the game told me that to use controller for best experience. Fine, I swapped, and yeah, it does feel better. Performance was also pretty much a non-issue for me. It ran smoothly without any of those random stutters you expect early after release.
Hawking and the quiet weight of solitude
It doesn’t take long for Hawking to make contact. You never see him, never touch him, but his voice is your only constant companion. His first messages hint at the bigger picture: the universe is empty. Completely empty. Just you and him. His plan? Restart the universe. Why and how you’ll figure it out is sprinkled through murals and odd symbols on the walls. You “speak” to him by looking at images in a specific order, forming questions he can respond to. The system isn’t perfect — sometimes you trigger lines by accident — but it adds an unusual storytelling flavor that fits the tone.
Puzzles that grow in layers
At its core, Total Reload is a game of puzzles, and it starts simple. Connect a few wires, redirect a bit of power, activate a terminal, move on. But the farther you go, the more tools and mechanics the game introduces. Each room becomes a small machine you must understand piece by piece. The puzzles aren’t brutally difficult, but they make you pause, observe, and think before pushing the next button.
Despite the slow platforms, the puzzles themselves are thoughtfully made. They offer just enough challenge to spark small “oh, I get it now” moments without ever becoming overwhelming. There’s no loot, no flashy achievements, no triumphant sound cues. Solving the puzzle is the reward. And strangely enough, it works.
A quiet, almost meditative experience
Total Reload never tries to stress you out. There’s no timer ticking, no monsters chasing you, nothing like that. It’s just you solving things at your own pace. The sound design is simple — machines humming, boxes clanking, platforms whining along — and after a while it all turns into background noise you barely notice.
I still wish the platforms moved faster — that part gets old pretty quickly. But if you can get past that, the game has a charm of its own. It’s simple, thoughtful, and has this introspective tone that sneaks up on you after a while.
Final Score
— 7.5/10 —
