Serious Sam 4 sends one man and a squad of misfit commandos up against an invasion that has already won. Croteam’s prequel to Serious Sam 3: BFE launched in September 2020 for Microsoft Windows and Google Stadia, then reached PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in December 2021. The pitch has not changed since the series began: an unstoppable arsenal, an unimaginable number of enemies, and a player who solves both problems by backpedaling while firing.
Trailer, via IGN.
Tunguska Opens the Door
The plot sets its stakes early. A portal opens in Tunguska, Russia, and Mental’s forces pour through it. Earth’s last resistance is the Earth Defense Force, led by Sam “Serious” Stone. General Brand sends Sam’s unit to Rome to find Father Mikhail, a priest who believes the Holy Grail is a powerful alien artefact hidden inside the Ark of the Covenant.
That plan collapses fast. Lord Achriman, one of Mental’s generals, overruns the city. Sam’s team retreats to Pompeii and uses the HAARP complex to trigger an eruption on Mount Vesuvius, disrupting Achriman’s air forces. Jones, one of Sam’s companions, dies during the mission. The campaign keeps moving — Rome, the Vatican, a church in Carcassonne, France — and keeps killing Sam’s friends to give the shooting a reason.
A Skill Tree You Cannot Finish
The shooting is the point, and Serious Sam 4 scales it up. Enemies attack at close range and from a distance, in hordes, across large areas. There is no weapon limit. Sam carries shotguns, a minigun, a grenade launcher and a sniper, an infinite amount of them. Reloading returns from Serious Sam 3: BFE, but Croteam adjusted the weapons so it matters less. The knife from the Encounters is back, replacing the sledgehammer.
New systems sit on top of that. A skill tree progresses through Sirian Artefacts of Might, or S.A.Ms, and can unlock dual wielding any weapon, riding enemies, or using signs as weapons. Only 10 S.A.Ms exist in the game, so no single playthrough fills the tree. Players can unlearn a skill to get the point back and lose its benefits. Side quests are optional objectives that pay out items and weapons. Gadgets range from temporary buffs to offensive items like crystallised black holes that suck up nearby enemies. Weapon mods unlock alternate fire modes.
| System | How it works | Cost to the player |
|---|---|---|
| Skill tree | Progressed by finding S.A.Ms | Only 10 exist, so the tree cannot be filled in one run |
| Side quests | Optional objectives | Reward items and weapons |
| Gadgets | Support buffs or offensive items | Crystallised black holes pull in nearby enemies |
| Weapon mods | Alternate fire modes | Unlocked for certain weapons |
Vehicles take a larger role than in earlier entries. Several levels have Sam drive through environments. Mechs appear throughout the game, armed with machine guns and rocket launchers. Mechs cannot be exited once entered, which turns each one into a commitment rather than a tool.
Rome, Pompeii, and a Dead Friend
Serious Sam 4 has a story, and it is mostly a delivery mechanism for the next arena. That is not a flaw in itself. The series has always treated plot as scaffolding. What matters is whether the scaffolding holds weight, and here it mostly does. Father Mikhail’s search for the Grail gives the campaign a spine. Achriman gives it a face. Kenny’s death at Achriman’s hands in Carcassonne gives Sam a personal kill to make, and he makes it.
The old woman with the gun is the best thing in the script. Nonna appears in Rome and points Sam toward the Vatican, and she is the one character who seems to be enjoying herself. The rest of the squad exists to die or to hand out objectives.
The Grail Is Not What Mikhail Thought
The ending is the part worth arguing about. Outside the church in Carcassonne, Father Mikhail starts to doubt that the Grail is what the Ark of the Covenant holds. When he opens the Ark, he finds a golden sceptre with the figure of a snake. That is where the game leaves it. No explanation, no payoff, no answer about what the sceptre does or why it matters against Mental.
Croteam clearly wants a sequel hook. It plays more like a shrug. A campaign built on the promise of a weapon that can turn the invasion ends by revealing that the weapon was never there, and the player gets no new tool for the trouble. The fight against Achriman is the real climax. The Ark is an afterthought dressed as a revelation.
A Prequel That Knows Its Job
Serious Sam 4 does what a prequel should. It shows the invasion at its worst, before Serious Sam 3: BFE, and it explains why the Earth Defense Force is down to one loud man and whoever is still standing next to him. The Tunguska portal, the Vesuvius eruption, the retreat from Rome — these are the beats that matter, and they land.
The new systems are less convincing. The skill tree is the clearest example. Capping S.A.Ms at 10 makes every choice a permanent trade, which sounds like depth until you realize it mostly means most players will never see most of the tree. Unlearning a skill softens that, but it also admits the design does not quite work. The gadgets and mods are better: small, useful, and easy to ignore if you would rather just shoot.
The mechs are the best addition. A machine gun and rocket launcher platform that you cannot leave is a smart constraint. It forces the player to think about where to get in, because the answer to when to get out does not exist.
Serious Sam 4 is not a reinvention. It is a bigger, louder version of a formula Croteam has been running since the series began, with a few new toys and a story that mostly stays out of the way. The hordes are the hordes. The arsenal is the arsenal. The campaign moves, the jokes land often enough, and the ending whiffs. A standalone expansion, Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem, followed in January 2022, which suggests Croteam knew there was more ground to cover.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
