When Behaviour Interactive learned that Devolver Digital was seeking a developer for a new Serious Sam game, the studio jumped at the opportunity. Many team members had fond memories of Serious Sam: The First Encounter from the early 2000s and the franchise's signature wacky fun—a relic from an era when games prioritized gameplay and pushing technological limits. As fans of Croteam's work, they couldn't pass it up.

The studio wanted to build on Serious Sam‘s legacy while creating something distinct: a game longtime fans would immediately recognize, yet accessible to younger players unfamiliar with the franchise.

Recreating and Modernizing the Formula

Behaviour's first task was recreating Serious Sam‘s feel—the backpedaling, gunplay, and classic enemies—in Unreal Engine, then modernizing those elements. The First Encounter and The Second Encounter served as primary inspirations. With the franchise's 25th anniversary approaching, the team wanted the new game to celebrate the series' origins: high-octane action, massive enemy waves, and memorable bosses designed as major set pieces.

Yet the game still lacked identity. After examining what players missed about the originals, Behaviour identified two core design goals: the urge to replay missions hunting for secrets and higher scores, and the feeling that “anything could happen” with encounter design sometimes stacking the deck against players. These goals naturally pointed toward the FPS roguelike genre.

Balancing Accessibility and Depth

Roguelike FPS games can feel niche and impenetrable, so Behaviour prioritized accessibility. Every system needed to be easy to grasp while offering depth for mastery, enabling players unfamiliar with Serious Sam, FPS games, or roguelikes to jump in easily.

This philosophy extended to multiplayer. Rather than relying on dedicated servers, Behaviour chose peer-to-peer multiplayer and included an offline solo mode, ensuring Shatterverse could be played years from now without server shutdowns. The team also wanted the game to launch as a complete, standalone experience at an appropriate price—not dependent on live-service content to be fun. Still, they built it to support expansions and DLC that could expand the base experience without cannibalizing what players had already purchased.

Community-Driven Development

Beta playtests generated enthusiastic responses, and community feedback shaped ongoing refinements. The dedicated Serious Sam community's support helped improve the game through multiple testing rounds. The team's proudest moment came when their core audience immediately grasped their vision: creating a Serious Sam game easy to share and introduce to new players, potentially inspiring them to explore earlier entries.

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Serious Sam: Shatterverse launches from Devolver Digital. The game is available through Xbox Play Anywhere.