Serious Sam has never been a franchise that needed much of an excuse to throw Sam Stone into another alien invasion, but Serious Sam: Shatterverse at least finds a reasonably entertaining one for its latest spin-off. Uber Mental has fractured the barriers between dimensions and hunted down alternate versions of Sam across the multiverse, leaving the surviving Sams to form a last line of resistance. It is a premise that embraces the series’ long-standing absurdity rather than trying to turn it into something more serious, and the different versions of Sam give Behaviour Interactive plenty of opportunities for visual gags, one-liners and callbacks to the franchise’s past. The narrative itself remains relatively light, however, with the multiverse primarily functioning as a framework for repeated roguelite runs rather than a replacement for the more traditional campaigns the series is known for. The character banter helps give the experience some personality, and the conversations between the various Sams don’t seem to repeat too aggressively, even if not every joke lands equally well.
The bigger change is, of course, the roguelite structure. Instead of progressing through a linear campaign, Shatterverse sends players through runs made up of shuffled hand-crafted environments, with bosses waiting at regular intervals and increasingly difficult acts unlocking as progress is made. Death sends you back to the hub, but resources, weapon unlocks, trinkets and other permanent upgrades gradually expand the options available for future attempts. On paper, it is a sensible way to adapt Serious Sam’s arena-based combat to a repeatable structure, and the game does eventually become more interesting as additional weapons, characters and modifiers are unlocked. The problem is that its strongest ideas are initially hidden behind progression that can feel too slow, particularly when playing alone. Early runs can be surprisingly underwhelming, with a limited arsenal and relatively tame upgrades making the familiar cycle of running backwards and shooting hordes feel like a diluted version of what Serious Sam normally does best.
Fortunately, there is more depth to the system once Shatterverse starts opening up. Five different Sams provide their own Ultimate abilities, ranging from Retro Sam’s clones to more outlandish attacks such as Orphan Sam’s spinning blade portals, while weapons can come with different statistics and traits. Temporary level-up bonuses allow runs to develop in different directions, and permanent trinkets and armory upgrades provide another layer of progression between attempts. There are also anomalies and optional challenges that can alter the rules of a run in more dramatic ways, creating risk-versus-reward decisions that suit the roguelite format well. Some modifiers are genuinely entertaining and help bring back the weirdness that the series is known for, but the broader build system often feels more conservative than it should. Too many upgrades are simply percentage increases to damage, health or cooldowns, and the special abilities themselves do not always evolve in sufficiently dramatic ways to keep repeated runs feeling fresh.
When the upgrades start stacking and the enemy count rises, however, Shatterverse finally begins to resemble the Serious Sam experience we were hoping for. The shooting itself retains the direct, uncomplicated feel of the series, with a large arsenal that encourages players to keep firing rather than worrying about scarce ammunition. Returning enemies mix with new threats, and the familiar priority management of Serious Sam’s combat remains intact: constantly move, identify the most dangerous target and eliminate it before another part of the arena becomes a problem. Health recovery through melee executions also encourages players to take risks rather than permanently circling the edges of an arena. Double jumps, dashes and occasional grappling sections give the movement some additional flexibility, although the controls and level design do not always feel as sharp as the shooting. The arenas can also become frustratingly familiar after enough runs, and enemy AI is not consistently intelligent enough to make the repetition more interesting.
Co-op is where the game most convincingly comes together. Supporting up to five players simultaneously, Shatterverse can turn its arenas into the kind of completely unreadable explosion-filled spectacle that Serious Sam has always been capable of producing. Keeping teammates alive, reviving them and coordinating attacks against larger enemies adds considerably more energy to the formula, while the shared chaos makes some of the game’s more repetitive encounters easier to overlook. It is also simply more forgiving than playing alone, which is important because solo balance can feel erratic. One run may appear manageable while another can collapse quickly due to an unfortunate combination of enemy variants, modifiers or rewards. Some of that unpredictability is inherent to the genre, but the permanent progression does not always feel impactful enough to compensate for bad luck, making solo play more of a grind than it needs to be.
The roguelite format also struggles to deliver the long-term variety its structure promises. Shuffled environments do mean that runs are not completely identical, and the game features recognisable Serious Sam-style locations ranging from ancient ruins and deserts to snow-covered areas, forests and more fantastical settings. There are secrets to discover, challenge rooms to clear and optional anomalies to investigate, but the available pool of environments and encounter types starts showing its limitations sooner than expected. Randomisation cannot completely disguise the fact that the same arena pieces, props and combat situations return repeatedly, and some of the optional challenges themselves lack sufficient variation. The result is a game that can produce excellent individual runs when the right upgrades and modifiers align, but does not always have enough content to make repeated attempts consistently exciting.
On PlayStation 5, the audiovisual presentation is solid rather than spectacular. Shatterverse’s colorful environments, enemy designs and exaggerated weapons fit the series well, and the move to Unreal Engine gives the game a reasonably modern-looking presentation without chasing cutting-edge visual fidelity. The PS5 version generally runs well, with detailed textures and convincing effects during combat, although there is also a degree of asset recycling and the environments can feel visually flat when examined outside the chaos of battle. The soundtrack does a good job of supporting the action, blending energetic music with the series’ familiar sense of exaggerated spectacle, while returning enemy sounds and Sam’s occasional comments provide the necessary dose of nostalgia.
Serious Sam: Shatterverse is ultimately more enjoyable than its hesitant opening suggests, but it asks players to be patient before showing its best side. The roguelite progression gradually unlocks enough weapons, characters and modifiers to make the combat considerably more satisfying, and once a five-player group is filling the screen with rockets, bullets and exploding aliens, the spirit of Serious Sam is unmistakably present. At the same time, the game never entirely escapes the feeling that its new structure is fighting against the franchise’s strengths. Progression can be slow and shallow, solo play can be punishing and repetitive, and the limited variety of arenas and encounters weakens its long-term appeal. For us, Shatterverse works best as a multiplayer-focused spin-off that occasionally captures the glorious chaos of its predecessors rather than a replacement for the traditional Serious Sam campaign. It can absolutely be a lot of fun when everything clicks, but Behaviour Interactive’s multiversal experiment takes too long to reach that point and doesn’t always provide enough reasons to keep returning once the novelty has worn off.
Score: 6.8/10