Serious Sam 4

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As usual for a Serious Sam game, many new things were tried by the studio: small but very important changes to core design, big changes which might disappear in the next game like so many others, and everything between. The designers must know by now that no matter what they do, people will like a few things and dislike others or want to change them entirely. A quick look through the Workshop finds mods that remove the new changes, mods that bring back the old weapons, and even mods that remake whole levels from earlier games. What people want is nostalgia, an experience just like they remember, yet this studio loves to experiment. I support them in that! Looking in detail at their changes, my feeling is a lot of good decisions were made. The military high tech weapons of SS3 are back, with a few interesting updates. For example, the iconic minigun now sadly loses a lot of the accuracy it had in earlier games, though that helps other weapons remain viable. There's an auto-shotgun like in SS2, the laser gun now heats up to do more damage over time, and they've introduced a broken secret weapon that combines heat-seeking missiles with chainsaws. Certain weapons can now get upgrades for alternate fire options: the small shotgun adds a small but powerful grenade launcher, the big grenade launcher becomes able to detonate grenades, the rocket launcher can shoot multiple seeking rockets at once, and the laser weapon gains a super death ray which eats ammo faster. These upgrades are like adding new weapons with half the fuss. Also back from SS2 are vehicles, though they're a bit hit and miss. Rather than attacking with the vehicles (with one large exception) you instead shoot one of your own weapons while riding them. They're faster than walking and thus nice to have on the giant maps, but they feel like a gimmick and aren't as fun to pilot. I always climbed off them to fight when possible. This game makes it easier than ever to try my favorite style of a Serious Sam campaign, infinite ammo and enemies multiplied by 11. I also didn't feel like I needed to do so on the easiest difficulty for once. If you like wading through true hordes and your computer can handle it, I recommend this. But then we get to the controversial new things, gadgets and skills. Gadgets are one-use tools ranging from speed boosts (Why did they give it the ugly dim blue tint over everything?) and healing (so nice being able to heal when you want) to super-weapons like miniature black holes and nukes. They tend to be rewards for side-quests during missions, which are now signposted by literal floating signposts. If gadgets could be removed from custom games the same way you can remove healing or armor, I'd like them even more. They mess up an infinite ammo custom game because the gadgets are infinite just like your ammo, which means you can heal between every battle or just clear every fight with a tactical black hole. You don't have to use them, but doing so further decreases any challenge. Skills are a new thing based on finding mystical orbs. By crushing and inhaling one, Sam can learn how to do things like: take healing and armor from enemies, grapple kill larger enemies or even ride them, duel-wield larger weapons, or silly things like throwing signs like spears and dealing more damage at lower health. The skill tree is simple and elegant, and there's an interesting story aspect in how the alien purple smoke might be making Sam stupider with each one he inhales. Overall, it's a mixed bag of new additions that I mostly liked but definitely won't appeal to everyone. There's also the campaign story, in which Sam leads a squad of likable weirdos for an organization seeking alien artifacts. The story was my least favorite part because all they do is kill off members of the squad for occasional drama, get revenge by killing another of Mental's big henchmen (in a solid miniboss fight) then have an epic finale which you have to see to believe. This game suggests Sam fights alone in SS3 because he can't prevent friends from dying. The storytelling is showing progress as Sam becomes more of a human, but they fall into a lot of trope pitfalls common to writers realizing they need to explain the wacky world which they always just played in. Last but certainly not least, the Workshop mod campaigns are where I spent most of my time. Maps created by fans can be simple or stylish, plain or amazing, but they all feel different. Because not all of their combat is well-designed like the main campaign, I stick to Normal difficulty with infinite ammo. However, there's one flaw with the Workshop; even if you turn off Cloud Saves and even if you download a campaign to your PC, you can't play Workshop mods if you're offline. Why? Who knows. It sucks to be without internet for some reason and be unable to play what should be an offline game. Some of my favorite single maps were all about mood. Howling Mountain will take you hiking up a truly large mountain, Eanya Tonic has a co-op ready ATV race across a high mountain ridge that ends in a challenging fight, then Evacuation will take you down a truly large mountain. The Shrine is a sun-drenched island paradise, Outerlands presents a lovely fairy-light forest, Bunker is just a great mood walking a dark road, or Assault on the Fortress has a big yellow desert to traverse. There's also Mental's City if you like shiny cityscapes, Blackwater City for a dark sci-fi look, the Shattered Isles for snowy landscapes, or Middle Ages for lake-filled farmlands and castles. Death From Cringe remakes a campaign level with super weapons and a fun machete, or A Seriously Stupid Planet Badass Remaster remakes two campaign levels with additional points of interest on the big maps and interesting secrets including a really cool time travel one. Mental's Factory is solidly fun with giant battles and classic secrets, Pyramid of Prophecy has some very classic-feeling scenery beautifully rendered in the modern engine, Castle in the Snow has enemy numbers so large you're supposed to only play co-op, and Adepti's Abode is a pretty map full of game puzzles and treasure. Next up were the campaigns, starting with Egypt Adventures for a quick two-map story campaign, Final Solstice with a tragically abandoned campaign through big forests and tree cities, Operation TimeBreak and Ancient Era which have some interesting uses of teleportation across two maps, and A Mountain Trip which provides a solid bike trip campaign full of pitstops. Of special note are Dead Eddy's Squad, the Universe That Never Existed, and Dark Side of Persian Mechanism. These three campaigns were tough and stylish, with the first providing a dark story where everyone dies, the second showing some of the best alien landscapes and dreamlike scenery, and the third feeling like one of Beard Sam's epic-level struggles. Just be ready for a challenge, wear headphones for all the voice lines and beware the seizure strobe lights. The Quick Encounter is a series of six seriously solid and consistently tough maps - sadly the third prevents progress if you use unlimited ammo. Mystical Place starts easy but ends with tough bosses in dark foggy landscapes, then Alternate Way had me constantly using a bunch of my infinite gadgets just to survive the rough battles. Reborn is a total conversion campaign where the weapons feel very different, running is replaced by a short but useful dash, the new enemies make for some tough levels, and there's an interesting system where finding all the secrets in a level gives you a gadget, plus I liked the final boss fight. Frost Coast is a quick but tough “DLC” to Reborn.