The most macho meathead in videogames is getting a serious makeover in the Serious Sam Indie Series, a collection of three new games developed by acclaimed indie studios.
I’ve often felt that Serious Sam, as both a character and a franchise, would make a fine candidate for an artistic reinterpretation at the hands of an indie developer. Something set to royalty-free neo-classical music, perhaps, with a time-shifting mechanic that allows Sam to examine his motivations and come to grips with the philosophical disconnect that separates him from his nemesis, Mental. And now my prayers have been answered!
The Serious Sam Indie Series takes the world’s most famous Croatian FPS franchise to completely unexpected places. First on the list is Serious Sam: Double D from Mommy’s Best Games, a frantic, hand-drawn side-scroller for PC and consoles that introduces the exciting new “Gunstacker” technology. Then comes Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack!, an auto-runner for mobiles developed by Be-Rad Entertainment that has players leading a squad of Headless Kamikazes as they try to blow Sam to smithereens. And finally, we have Serious Sam: The Random Encouter, an RPG – that’s right, RPG – from Vlambeer featuring Sam leading an intrepid team across a harsh wasteland, battling hordes and collecting loot.
“I’ve never heard of any of these indie clowns,” said Fork Parker, chief financial officer at Serious Sam 3: BFE publisher Devolver Digital. “Do any of these jokers make hentai games? I’m telling you guys, that weird tentacle stuff is the future of gaming.”
The games will be released over the next few months as a lead-up to Serious Sam 3: BFE, which comes out sometime this summer. If you happen to be stopping by PAX East this weekend you can get an early look at Serious Sam: Double D at the Mental’s Horde Recruitment Center booth.
