Serious Sam: Shatterverse brings together 25 years of Sam in an absurd bloodsoaked roguelite

I've got a big soft spot for Serious Sam. Back in the day, a young Josh really marvelled at that one bit—you know the one—where what-felt-like-a-million Beheaded Kamikazes pour over the sand dunes and begin charging directly at your position. It was probably the first game I played that made fun of games, that mucked about with familiar tropes to create something that felt like a long piece of affectionate mockery.

All this to say I am glad Sam is still here and still Serious, and we just got a glimpse of his latest adventure—Serious Sam: Shatterverse—at the PC Gaming Show. This is Behaviour Digital's co-op roguelite take on the Sam Saga. Samga. Anyway, the point is you'll be charging into runs over and over, creating different builds through modifiers, and generally dying a fair bit until you crack 'em. You know, a roguelite.

Details

From the PCGS trailer, Shatterverse is an appropriately blood-speckled affair filled with myriad recognisable enemies from Sam's many other games. Gnaars? Check. Kamikazes? Check. Did I see a Walker in there? Entirely possible! It was hard to see through the sheets of gore.

Shatterverse also looks like, uh, a 'verse. That is to say, it's bringing together all manner of Sams and art styles to render you and your pals' playable characters. There's polygonal Sam, lizard Sam, portly dad Sam. A lot of Sams, in essence. I rather like it. This is a series that's now been going for (I'm sorry) a quarter of a century. It's fun to mix and mash its legacy like this.

We didn't get a full release date at PCGS, save a wink that the game is due out this year, but there is a Steam playtest upcoming in the relatively near future. If you're interested in shattering Sam's 'verse, you can sign up to check it out over on Steam.