Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter recasts the arcade shooter’s time-travel premise with high-definition visuals. Players control Sam “Serious” Stone in ancient Egypt, fighting the forces of Notorious Mental and the Sirian army. Its redesigned environments give this return to a familiar conflict a distinct visual identity, while the structure remains centered on fast, relentless combat rather than quiet exploration.
That pace is built around confronting waves of recognizable enemies, from charging Sirian Werebulls to screaming Headless Kamikazes and the towering Ugh-Zan. Sam’s arsenal ranges from revolvers and miniguns to cannons, emphasizing direct firepower against the advancing threat. The game describes its Egyptian setting as fifteen levels of bedlam, pairing the enemy rush with expansive, reworked surroundings.
The campaign can also be played cooperatively, including online co-op, with support for up to sixteen players in campaign mode. Alongside co-op, the listed modes include single-player and PvP, offering different ways to approach a shooter whose defining design is sustained combat against Mental’s forces.
