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Serious Sam returns in a new installment that, rather than simply copying earlier entries, aims to give the series a completely new identity. Behaviour Interactive has developed Serious Sam: Shatterverse, drawing primarily from The First Encounter and The Second Encounter. The game retains the fast-paced gunplay, massive waves of enemies and spectacular boss fights, but combines them with roguelike mechanics. Players can traverse different versions of reality, use both classic and new weapons, and modify subsequent runs. The developers also want the new installment to be easy to pick up for players who haven't played the series before.
Serious Sam meets roguelike
Behaviour Interactive began work on Shatterverse with the aim of recreating Serious Sam’s distinctive style in Unreal Engine. The developers focused on, among other things, dynamic shooting, retreating from hordes of enemies, and the signature arsenal and foes. Their biggest inspiration were the first two entries in the series, which team members still enjoy firing up. The upcoming 25th anniversary of the franchise was an extra reason to treat the new title as a kind of tribute to the series’ origins. The game therefore preserves fast-paced action, massive enemy groups, and powerful bosses. Each boss fight is meant to be a bigger event and a test of the player’s skill. Simply recreating the classic style wasn’t enough for the team, though, because they wanted to create a game with its own identity. The team asked why players kept returning to the originals and which elements were responsible for their unique atmosphere. One key goal became encouraging repeated runs of the same missions in search of secrets and higher scores. The other was unpredictability in encounters, where designers could deliberately put the player in tough situations. These two elements led the developers to combine Serious Sam with an FPS roguelike formula. In subsequent runs, gameplay can change thanks to modifiers and the upgrades you acquire.
The new installment will also be accessible to new players
The developers realized that combining an FPS with roguelike mechanics might seem demanding to some players. That's why all of Shatterverse's systems were designed to be easy to understand while still allowing players to develop skills across successive runs. The game is intended to be accessible even to players who have never played Serious Sam, an FPS, or a roguelike before. An important element is the multiplayer, which was designed for playing together with friends and family. Behaviour Interactive opted for peer-to-peer multiplayer instead of using dedicated servers. This should give the game a chance to keep working 5, 10, or even 15 years from now, regardless of whether maintaining servers will be financially viable then. The title will also include an offline single-player mode. The developers wanted to avoid a situation where a purchased game becomes unavailable simply because its support was discontinued. Serious Sam: Shatterverse is meant to be a complete, standalone title that doesn't require a live-service model to deliver gameplay. At the same time, it's been prepared with future expansions, DLC, and additional content in mind if players want more.
Serious Sam: Shatterverse combines the series' classic formula with FPS roguelike mechanics and multiplayer gameplay. The game includes both familiar enemies and weapons as well as new elements created specifically for Shatterverse. Players are sent to multiple versions of reality, where they must face Mental's hordes and his powerful lieutenants. Behaviour Interactive plans to support the game with additional content, but the base game was designed as a complete standalone release.
Source: Xbox
