Serious Sam (game series)

The games of the series have been developed by Croteam since 2001 ; later, other companies also worked on parts of the game. The popularity of the series brought a proprietary gameplay, which is a return to the classic formula of first-person shooter. Players have to deal with a huge number of opponents on the screen in open spaces, having at their disposal a large arsenal of weapons. The total number of enemies for the entire game sometimes reaches several thousand. Battles are interspersed with moving forward and exploring levels for keys, as well as solving simple puzzles or overcoming obstacles (for example, jumping on platforms or avoiding sharp spikes).

The games of the series are distinguished by absurd humor and style of narration. So, for example, one of the enemies - Headless Kamikaze - is contrary to the fact that he does not have a head, shouts loudly, running against a player; periodically, Sam makes fun of the characters of other computer games, or finds a film set where an episode of one of the previous parts of the game is shot.

Being originally developed for a personal computer, the games of the series quickly gained popularity among the players: amateur additions are being developed, special versions for game consoles are being created, new sequels, reissues, etc. are being released. The series includes five main games, 5 reissues, 12 spin-offs and several ports. The games of the series have repeatedly received many positive reviews from critics and players.

The first game was developed since 1996 using the Serious Engine authors' own engine . Fame for the game came in 2000 after the release of a test version called Serious Sam Public Test. At the hitherto unknown developers and their game drew the attention of the gaming press, which had to return to the basics of first-person shooter in the style of Doom . Released in March 2001, Serious Sam: The First Encounter has earned rave reviews from critics and players and earned the title of "Game of the Year." Almost immediately, the developers announced the continuation of the first part - Serious Sam: The Second Encounter , which was released in February 2002 . The continuation was also well received by critics. Due to the success of the game, the Serious Engine was licensed by several third-party companies.

In 2002, Serious Sam: Xbox was released - a ported version of First and Second Encounter for the Xbox with a number of changes. Over the next two years, The First Encounter port for Palm OS was released , as well as two spin-off games - Serious Sam Advance ( Game Boy Advance ) and Next Encounter ( GameCube , PlayStation 2 ).

In 2005, the sequel was released - Serious Sam II on the Serious Engine 2 engine . The game totaled more than thirty levels, a large number of new opponents, weapons, vehicles, etc. Support for effects such as Bloom , HDR , pixel shaders and rag physics has been added to the improved engine. Despite the relative success of the game, it was rated well below its predecessors. After the release of the game, Croteam broke the contract with the publisher of 2K Games and began developing the Serious Engine 3 engine and searching for new partners and investors. After unsuccessful attempts to create a military shooter, Croteam decided to return to Serious Sam, saying in 2010 that the third part of the series would get rid of the frivolous style of Serious Sam II.

In 2009 and 2010, Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter and Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter were released, respectively - remakes of the classic “Advent” on the Serious Engine 3 engine, with updated graphics and new network modes. After the release of these reissues, the new publisher Serious Sam Devolver Digital bought the rights to release the original first and second parts of the game on Steam .

In 2011, Serious Sam 3: BFE was released , a prequel to the original The First Encounter on the Serious Engine 3.5 engine. Her release was followed by the release of three small games from independent developers in the Serious Sam Indie series - Serious Sam Double D, Random Encounter and Kamikaze Attack .

In June 2013, the developers announced the work on the fourth game of the series - Serious Sam 4 . Part of the development money was generated by the sale of previous games in the series via Humble Weekly Sale ^{[1] [2]} . In 2015, it was reported about the beginning of work on the plot, in the creation of which the scriptwriter of the philosophical puzzle The Talos Principle ^[3] participates.

In July 2015, there was information about the development of a new indie game in a series called Serious Sam's Bogus Detour from the Swedish studio Crackshell ^[4] . The game was released on June 20, 2017.

At E3 2016, Croteam and Devolver Digital announced the game for Serious Sam VR VR: The Last Hope . The release of the project took place in October of the same year in early access to Steam ^{[5] [6]} . November 22, 2016 it became known about the development of the Croatian studio Brinx Interactive a new spin-off in the universe of a series called Serious Sam: I Hate Running Backwards . The game is being developed for mobile platforms ^[7] . On December 18 of that year, it became known that Croteam will release a version of Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter for virtual reality on the new version of its proprietary engine Serious Engine 2017 ^[8] . Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter appeared in “early access” on Steam on December 21, 2016 and was released in full release on March 30, 2017. April 4, 2017 was the release of Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter in the "early access" ^[9] .

February 7, 2017 in the update on the official website of the company Croteam revealed its plans for the near future. The developers said that they are working hard on the development of Serious Sam 4 and at the same time are carrying out plans to release the rest of the games in the series, including Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter and Serious Sam 3: BFE , for virtual reality devices. On March 20, 2017, the company released a free update game called Serious Sam Fusion 2017 . This update is intended to combine the latest games of the series under one common application on the modern Serious Engine 2017 engine and make many changes to the technical component (so, instead of API DirectX 9, all games will support open Vulkan for graphics output), many other changes will be made bug fixes and improvements ^[10] . In addition, through Fusion 2017 will be released versions of Serious Sam HD for Linux. Currently, campaigns from Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter , The Second Encounter and Serious Sam 3: BFE ^[11] are available in Serious Sam Fusion 2017 .

Some games were also released in collections .

Basic Games

Serious Sam: The First Encounter

Main article: Serious Sam: The First Encounter

The first game of the series. After the release of the HD re-releases of the games, the original versions were released on Steam with the prefix “Classic” in the title (for example, Serious Sam Classic: The First Encounter). The plot tells the story of a certain discovery given to humanity in the form of an artifact of a powerful civilization from the planet Sirius, laid in the land of Egypt . With its help, people advanced in science, but stumbled upon a merciless army of aliens led by their leader Mental, destroying everything in its path. Scientists decide to use the ancient artifact found under excavations in Egypt called the "Key to Eternity", which can move one person to the distant past to fight the invaders. This man is Sam Stone.

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter

Main article: Serious Sam: The Second Encounter

Continued Serious Sam: The First Encounter. This episode begins where the first part ended. The flying saucer , on which Sam flew away in the finale of the previous game, is hit by the developers of the game, who crash into it on a flying locomotive . Sam crashes in the jungles of Central America . Now Sam will have to travel through time, visit the Mayan city of Teotihuacan , ancient Babylon and medieval Europe , in the end to get the Holy Grail , which will help him in the difficult struggle with the forces of evil.

Serious Sam 2

Main article: Serious Sam 2

Full continuation of the original episodes. Cool Sam goes to Sirius to defeat the Mental once and for all. On the way there, the Council of the Wise Sirius is contacted with Sam and tells that in order for the Mental to become vulnerable, you need to collect a Medallion, consisting of five parts. The first part is located in the Simb (from the planet M'Digbo), the second is from the Zixie tribe (from the planet Magnor), the third is from the Chi-Ch population from the planet Chi Fang, the fourth is from the clears on the planet Clear, and the fifth is from the race of elfs from the planet Elener. All five parts are gone: the first was dragged off by the huge monkey Kwongo, the second was stolen by the sinister Zoom-Zum, the third was swallowed by Prince Chan, the fourth magician Klirovsky uses in his rituals, and the fifth is guarded by the dragon Mental. After Sam collects all five parts, he will go to Kronor, the satellite of Sirius, and save the warriors of the Alliance. In the end, Sam, having gone through many adventures, will reach the fortress of Mental, where he will reveal to him another “secret”.

Serious Sam 3: BFE

Main article: Serious Sam 3: BFE

The fourth main part; the plot is a prequel to the very first game. It has several small additions and a storyline Jewel of the Nile. The game tells about the early years of the war with the Mental in the distant future. In this part, Sam travels through Egypt (fighting with enemies) and makes his way to Deir al-Bahri, to the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, where he kills Ugh-Zana IV. In the final video, Sam calls Mental, but his daughter Judy answers and says that his father will soon “zashunit” the Earth. Indeed, the moon falls on Earth. However, Sam manages to use the "Key to Eternity" and go into the past in order to save humanity.

Serious Sam 4: Planet Badass

Main article: Serious Sam 4: Planet Badass

The fifth major part of the series under development. In October 2015, screenwriter Jonas Kiratzes announced that the events of Serious Sam 4 will take place on Earth. After some time, developers on their Facebook page confirmed that Serious Sam 4 will be a plot prequel to Serious Sam 3. ^[12]

Spin Offs

Serious Sam: Palm

An exclusive version of the game for pocket personal computers running on the Palm OS system.

Serious Sam: Xbox

An exclusive version of the game for the Xbox console, which includes the levels of the first two episodes and a number of changes: Sam’s new look (similar to Serious Sam II), the system of “lives” and combo points, saving by checkpoints and auto-targeting.

Serious Sam: Next Encounter

Main article: Serious Sam: Next Encounter

Game for GameCube and PlayStation 2 consoles with a new storyline. There are vehicles, new locations; weapons similar to previous games. The plot of the game begins with Sam’s journey in a time machine , which returns him to Rome, where he happens to fight with new hordes of monsters, as well as with Mini-Sam, an evil creature created by the Mental. The plot guides Sam through three different areas of ancient Earth: Ancient Rome, Feudal China and Atlantis, where Sam destroys an army of hybrids to prevent a temporary paradox. On his way through Rome and China, Sam defeats two Guardians of Mental Time: the giant beast Diablotaurus and the monstrous Underground Empress Hydra. The game finale takes place on a Syrian spaceship, where Sam fights with the Dark Sirian Lord, the soul of the great Sirian warrior, infused into a giant robot.

Serious Sam Advance

Exclusive game for the Game Boy Advance console. Made in three-dimensional graphics with pseudo -three- dimensional models and objects of the environment. The game interface is similar to Serious Sam II. The story revolves around Sam, once again returning in time after a group of scientists discovered the new forces of Mental. First Steep Sam arrives in Egypt , then goes to Rome , battling hordes of enemies. The bosses of the game (one for both regions) are similar to werewolf commanders: the Syrian Sphinx (Egypt) and Wulf (Rome). Having fought with them, Sam finds a way to return in due time.

Serious Sam Classics: Revolution

The game, originally started as an amateur modification , but then received support from Croteam. The first two episodes were combined into one game, some new weapons and achievements were added. In addition, due to the fact that the GameSpy service, which operated a multiplayer game over the Internet in the original games, ceased to exist, the multiplayer in Revolution was "rehabilitated" using the Steamworks platform. Located in the early access service Steam since 2014.

Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope

Main article: Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope

Exclusive game for virtual reality glasses.

Indie Series

Serious Sam Double D (XXL)

Main article: Serious Sam Double D (XXL)

Side-scrolling shooter. First Serious Sam indie game from independent developers released with Croteam support. In the future, Croteam released a few more projects of individual studios. The plot tells the players about how Sam, on the orders of his command, again went back in time in order to destroy several armed Mental units, which settled in several time periods of our planet, and again save humanity. The game is made in two - dimensional hand - drawn graphics, in the genre of side-scrolling shooter. New adventures of Sam are held in three time episodes: Ancient Egypt , medieval Pompeii and the prehistoric park of the Jurassic Period . A distinctive feature of the game is the Gunstaker device, which allows you to select and simultaneously fire several types of weapons.

Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack!

Arcade game for mobile platforms. In it, the player plays for the Headless Kamikaze, trying to catch up with Sam, at the same time fighting off his projectiles.

Serious Sam: The Random Encounter

Main article: Serious Sam: The Random Encounter

RPG game .

Serious Sam: The Greek Encounter

Indie game.

Serious Sam's Bogus Detour

Indie game, top-down shooter.

I Hate Running Backwards

Indie game, top-down shooter with procedural level generation.

Serious Sam: Tormental

Indie game, top-down shooter.

Serious Sam: Gold Edition

"Golden" edition of the first two episodes with a number of improvements. Also includes the amateur addition Dark Island and other small add-ons (maps) selected by the developers.

Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter

Reissue of Serious Sam: The First Encounter with improved graphics.

Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter

Reissue of Serious Sam: The Second Encounter with improved graphics. The HD version of The Second Encounter also received the plot addition Legend of the Beast.

Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter

Serious Sam HD version : The First Encounter specifically for virtual reality helmets on the Serious Engine 2017 engine.

Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter

Serious Sam HD version : The Second Encounter specifically for virtual reality helmets on the Serious Engine 2017 engine.

Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE

Version Serious Sam 3: BFE specifically for virtual reality helmets .

Serious Sam Fusion

Reissue of Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter , HD: The Second Encounter , Serious Sam 3: BFE , as well as their VR versions in a single collection. Available for free to any owner of any of the games listed.

• Croteam (eng.) . - the official website of the company. The appeal date is April 4, 2011. Archived March 19, 2012.
• Serious Sam series (eng.) . MobyGames The appeal date is April 4, 2011. Archived April 3, 2012.
• Seriously! (eng.) . - unofficial site about a series of games. The appeal date is April 4, 2011. Archived April 3, 2012.
• Serious Site (rus.) . - The largest Russian fan site about a series of games. The appeal date is April 4, 2011. Archived April 3, 2012.