Croteam’s Roman Ribaric has confirmed one thing that will be different about the new Serious Sam game: It will drop the series’ trademark cartoony aesthetic, possibly indicating that the series is getting a serious makeover.
Some things about Croteam’s Serious Sam series are staying the same, but some things are going to be different when Croteam puts out the third game in the franchise. “I believe Serious Sam fans would want to hear the following two things,” the studio’s Roman Ribaric told Eurogamer. “First, Serious Sam 3 will play like the original Serious Sam. And second, we’ll leave the cartoony look behind.”
Serious Sam‘s art style has always suited its decidedly over-the-top tone, but now that the series is ditching the cartoony angle, where else is there to go? Gritty realism? Post-apocalyptic browns and grays? Does saying goodbye to the cartoony aesthetic mean saying hello to a more…serious look?
However it ends up looking, Ribaric thinks it’ll stand up to its peers in the FPS genre. “As for standing up to other games: simply, if it’s good to play, it’s good to play,” Ribaric said. “Serious Sam games belong to their own unique fast-paced FPS genre and should best be compared to previous Serious Sam games.”
Speaking of previous Serious Sam games, Croteam is currently preparing an HD remix of Serious Sam for the PC and XBLA. That might be the last time we ever see Sam as we’ve known him thus far, so be sure to savor the seriousness. I hope Croteam’s got the right angle for this: I don’t want to see Sam turn into a grizzled space marine.
