[gemeaux333]

Is Serious Sam 4 meant to be a soft reboot (ref: the final level) ?

[Fantinaikos]

In the new plot which, luckily, de-canonize Serious Sam II from the official timeline (SS4 > minor chapters in between > SS3:BFE > SS:TFE > SS:TSE > SS:5? unless they don't do it as another prequel/midquel chapter) only things that seems to contradict a little the first chapters are the Graal, become a stick in SS4 when in SS:TSE both Classic and HD was in it's most know form of a calice, and possibly those time trips that future Sam use to help his past self to change something that must have gone wrong, it's pretty clear we'll see how he managed to get the technology (that could be simply the same kind of timewarp device always present since the beginning of the saga) right in the next chapter.

[Sanek]

I opened this thread by accident, thinking it's a Pajama Sam thread.

[gemeaux333]

I rather think its SS3:BFE > SS:TFE > SS:TSE > SS4 and SS4 is in the past like in terminator movies...

[Šneček]

I first met Serious Sam a few years ago in a TV series about computer games, which at the time was a review of Serious Sam 3 BFE. At the time, I was looking for some let's play on YouTube for this game, but I probably didn't get too excited about it - it seemed like a real madness to me (in fact, it still seems so to me), so I didn't even think to try it. After a few years, the time came when I probably didn't know what to play, so I decided to download the first part of TFE (the reason was also that I like kind of games that contain secret levels in addition to normal levels). After a few levels, I became bored with the constant monotony of the whole game, I always came to some "arena", where hordes of enemies began to appear and when I managed to eliminate them all, I could continue on my way, so I deleted it from the computer. When the next few years passed, I wanted to give her a second chance, but it turned out the same way only with the difference that I got to about halfway through the game. Then came the year 2020, when I started thinking again that I could try it by the third, but I was still waiting with it and it paid off, because TFE finally appeared for free on GOG. So last year I managed to finish the game for the first time until the very end (because of the last boss I had to watch a youtube gameplay, because when the boss lacked only half the health, all weapons ceased to be effective - only then did I understand that my task is not to destroy him immediately but to continue on the way to the temple and kill him afterwards - it took me about 3 days before I figured it out). I also managed to find both entrances to the secret levels, which increased my interest in the series. I finished the second part of this series yesterday and I am planning the Serious Sam 3 for next year, because the last level of the second part did not go without frustration over the number of my deaths and this year I want to have peace of mind from this series :-)

[Ninety-Six]

The man's 20th was just a couple of days ago.

Happy belated birthday to this franchise.

[MusicallyInspired]

Serious Sam 2 apparently just got an update allowing dual-wielding, monster multipliers, "vital bugfixes", and a bunch of cutting-room-floor DM maps.

https://store.steamp...843659824215488

[NightFright]

The Croteam guys are crazy. SS2 is maybe the most controversial title in the entire series due to its different style. They haven't given up on it after all these years, which reveals how much they care.

Btw, is SS2 still a standalone title or have they managed to integrate it into that Serious Sam Fusion launcher?

[Ninety-Six]

That headline could not be more accurate. Damn.

And yet I'd be more surprised if it was any developer but Croteam. They're the only ones crazy enough to pull stuff like this.


Not a complaint, of course. I wonder how that multiplier system works...?

[Ninety-Six]

I don't have much hope in doing this but I'll shoot my shot anyway.

I'm trying to track down a map or mapset for TFE that I tried and failed to get to work c. 2008-ish. It was one of my first forays into modding period, not just for Sam, which is probably why I struggled to get it to work.

What I can remember of it from the description was that it was a prequel set in Sam's present/Earth's future (this was long before SS3 was a thing). I can hazily recall a screenshot of a futuristic city that sorta resembled Siriusopolis from SS2 (maybe it even was, and was just used as the cover image). Of course we are talking about a nearly 20-year old memory here, so it could easily have been corrupted in all that time and there was no screenshot at all. Likewise it may have even been for TSE and I couldn't get it to work because of that.

Details are just hazy in general and I'm not expecting such a vague description to yield much results, but I've got nothing to lose by asking if by some miracle anyone here might know what I'm referring to. This spectre has lingered over me for nearly 20 years and my curiosity about it has never died. And given that it was something I found so interesting I tried to learn how to run custom content for the first time in any game ever, I guess it's weirdly earned a special place in my history. I just want to see what this thing actually was like.

[Player Lin]

Sadly, back when I still in active in Serious Sam community(mostly in the Seriously! site's forum), I only cared SS2 more than TFE and TSE so I never played any user maps for them...can't help.

NightFright, on 23 March 2021 - 01:33 PM, said:

The Croteam guys are crazy. SS2 is maybe the most controversial title in the entire series due to its different style. They haven't given up on it after all these years, which reveals how much they care.

Btw, is SS2 still a standalone title or have they managed to integrate it into that Serious Sam Fusion launcher?

I know it's so late to reply but no, SS2 is still a standalone title, even now. (SS Fusion does not contains SS2)

I'm not sure if their "plan" about make SS2 as non-canon still valid now(maybe still, as SS Fusion doesn't have SS2) but they updated the game again recently since the 20th Anniversary update last month. I think 3 times now, was 2.090 -> 2.100 -> 2.100(second update) -> 2.159(current)...and still standalone now.

[Ninety-Six]

Okay I just found this article and: https://leveluptalk....es-rumors-fans/

...I have questions. And concerns.


First of all, I ask this genuinely and not out of alarmism: Is this article AI-generated? I freely admit I struggle to tell the difference between real and AI fakes, but there are numerous things that are setting off my radar. The article contradicts itself at several points, although I'll admit not majorly. Several phrases are repeated in an unnatural way but given the state of games journalism it could just be a bad writer.

Then there's the image. I have no idea what is going on with the image. That looks like nothing in the entire Serious Sam series that I've ever seen. And I've seen some obscure corners of this franchise, albeit I've not seen every corner. But even then, what the hell is happening with that gun? And what is that plasma...sword?...tank...? sash????



And if this article is AI-generated, how much of it can even be trusted? Has anyone else heard of the Serious Engine being dropped? Like I know SS4 was poorly optimized (let alone by Croteam's usually insanely high standards for the engine where you could run even SS3 on a potato), but I really hope that's not their basis for just abandoning it altogether and switching to UE5 (because even with optimized game code that engine isn't going to be anywhere near as workable for lesser hardware specs).

Plus, concerns about performance and accessibility aside, I just don't want to see one of the very few surviving game engine lineages die off and have its associated games be absorbed into the formless all-consuming mass that is UE5 and Unity's hold on the market.

[Lunick]

The whole site is AI, you can tell from the images they use alone

[Ninety-Six]

Lunick, on 22 November 2025 - 06:05 AM, said:

The whole site is AI, you can tell from the images they use alone

Then my question still stands. How much of the article based on fact? Does anyone know anything about any of the things it talked about?

[Ninety-Six]

I managed to confirm that the Serious Engine is dead.

Well that ruined my day...

[Ninety-Six]

Long ago in a distant thread, I made this post:

Ninety-Six, on 01 December 2022 - 12:32 PM, said:

Serious Sam (TSE): My hatred for this one doesn't burn anywhere close to as bright as the others, but nevertheless I still dread the level in all replays: Valley Of the Jaguar. It's not because of the fights (those are actually fairly well-constructed), it's not some of the level gimmicks, no I dislike this one for a very simple reason: Sam is not a very fast character. His running speed isn't an issue in fights where it's perfectly balanced against his enemies, but getting from Point A to Point B in a level can be a time-consuming slog of absolutely nothing happening, and nowhere is that better exemplified than the titular Valley of the Jaguar. You have to go all over the valley and it takes centuries to cross that gargantuan space.

When it comes to levels I like the least in Serious Sam, I would like to retract this statement.

I have a new level I don't like and I hate it much more than VotJ. When I wrote this it had been some time since I last played SS1, and having gone through it again recently...


Courtyards of Gilgamesh. A level with a nearly start-to-finish chain of dick moves. Kleers hiding out of sight behind corners so you always get blindsided, Reptiloids on far away perches that are almost always hidden behind trees so you can never see where they're attacking you from, the awful, awful leap of faith section where you are attacked from behind a wall of fog and under constant fire so you can't even retaliate (paired with an awful secret health that will just bounce off the platform 90% of the time), and even afterwards enemies spawn silently in areas that you SAW were completely clear beforehand. My favorite is the dick bomber behind a podium that you can't see, and he shouldn't be able to see you but don't worry he's still able to perfectly lob bombs over the podium to nail you.

Truthfully the entire Babylon chapter shares a lot of these issues (notably the snipers hidden by trees crap), which is a shame since it's my favorite chapter aesthetically. But Courtyards by far has it the worst. It's such a miserable experience that I can't even really enjoy the few times it remembers it's Serious Sam and not actually a creation of modern Doomworld design.


It's also a showcase of why I generally don't care for TSE's more gimmicky level design over TFE's straight-and-true horde shooting. If most of the gimmicks were actually fun it'd be a different story. Instead most of them are just painful to actually play.

[Ninety-Six]

Forgot to mention. Courtyards also features a Kleer on Hard and above that will knock you into a moving instant death wall, that you have no time to react to even if you know it's there, and just for the added cherry on top there's an autosave right as the Kleer jumps you so you can relive your completely cheap-ass fucking death again and again.