Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

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Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
General information
Location	Pompeii, Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, Italy
Date	May 21, 2112
Objective	Main Place 2 beacons to activate the HAARP. Head to Jones's location and check on his status. Defeat the Khnum. Optional Find the missing key to access the locked storage room. Follow the suspicious trail of blood. Recover the alien artifact for Professor Kiesel's research.
Game information
Par time	50 minutes
Secrets	9
Previous level	Death from Below
Next level	Gates of Hell

 

"Go to Pompeii and blow up Vesuvius. Just a regular day in the life of Sam Stone."

―NETRICSA mission quote

"Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" is the third level of Serious Sam 4.

Plot

Hellfire extracts the Triple-A team and Father Mikhail out of Rome and takes them to an Earth Defense Force base located somewhere in the countryside. Once back on base, the Triple-A team meet up with General Brand, Quinn and professor Gottlieb Kiesel. Sam and his team have to come up with a strategy to ground the Octanian Raider fleet that is wrecking havoc in Rome and hindering the EDF's efforts to find the Holy Grail.

Carter, one of the team members and a paranoid conspiracy theorist, proposes that the EDF use the HAARP, a seismic weapon fired from a satellite, to ground Lord Achriman's air forces and allow them easier access into Rome. Quinn informs Brand that the satellite's targeting system is offline, so Sam and the team will need to place 8 beacons to manually activate the satellite.

Side objectives

"Key to Success"

Right after leaving the first arena, there is a locked door. Interact with it to activate the side quest which involves finding a key. Inside the depot is a crate containing three Rage Serums along with health and armor.

"Thin Red Line"

In the portable next to the radio, there is a note about a missing employee named Alessandro. Follow the waypoint and the trail of blood to his last known position. At the place where he died is an equipment case containing the grenade launcher attachment for the 12 Gauge Pump-Action Shotgun. Be prepared for a big fight after completing this side quest.

"Amateur Archeology"

Progress through the level normally and Professor Kiesel will contact Sam about retrieving an alien artifact for him at a dig site. Follow the blue waypoint marker to get to the artifact. At the dig site is a case containing two Time Warps.

S.A.M. locations

1. By the ruins past the garden after planting the first beacon.

Secrets

1. From your starting point, there will be a bush to your left. Go behind the bush to find an ammo depot containing some assault rifle bullets and shells.
2. Before going through this stone arch, to the right there is a small path blocked off by some planks. Break the planks to find a supply depot containing assault rifle bullets, shells and a Small Armor.
3. When you get the key needed to proceed through the level, there is some scaffolding and planks next to the portable on the right. Above these planks is a health pickup. Shoot the planks to have the health drop to the ground. Pick it up to register the secret.
4. In the area where you fight a Belcher and some Kleer Skeletons, look for this place with an open stone coffin. Interact with the coffin to activate a "bad karma trap", which will spawn 4 Kleer Skeletons.
5. When you get to the radio, you should see some shells on some ruins. Simply hop from the lowest point to the highest point and you should be able to get it.
6. In the arena where you first encounter a Common Aludran Reptiloid, facing the exit, go to the leftmost side of the arena and you should see this slightly lower area. Enter the area and pick up the pill bottle. Picking it up will spawn a Beheaded Rocketeer. Keep picking up the pill bottles that respawn and the Rocketeers that spawn. Once they're all dead, this will trigger a massive Rocketeer, "Big Man Pyrone", to spawn. He has lots of health and can fire his rockets very fast, so use the Double Barrel Coach Gun or XPML21 Rocket Launcher to quickly finish him off. Killing him will cause 2 L.I.F.E. gadgets to spawn.
7. In this area where Professor Kiesel contacts Sam about finding an alien artifact for him, there are some hidden rockets. As seen in this screenshot, you can get there in two ways, either by jumping to the left behind the wall, or jumping to the right on the grassy area.
8. After you pick up the rocket launcher and fight more Kleers, hug the wall to the left and you will come across a small area with 3 Kleers and a sleeping "Count Dracula" (Aurigan Haemovore) in a coffin. Press the Use key on him to register the secret.
9. After you place the second beacon, there will be two doors on the left side of the arena. Go through the left one, then turn left again and you should see a gate with a hole in the middle. Shoot a rocket or two to destroy all the rocks and a companion orb will spawn. Shoot it to register the secret and activate the orb.

Related achievements

	Cultist Stimulator 15
	Recover a key stolen by a cultist.

	For the Cause 15
	Find out what happened to Alessandro.

	That Belongs In A Museum 15
	Recover the alien artifact located by Dr. Stein.

	Volcano Antagonizer 10
	Die HAARP With A Vengeance.

Trivia

• The name of this level is a reference to the four figures who appear in the Book of Revelation.
• The achievement "That Belongs In A Museum" refers to a well-known quote said by Indiana Jones in the 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
• The achievement's description for "Volcano Antagonizer" is a play on the 1995 American thriller film Die Hard with a Vengeance.
• If the player picks up the key to unlock the gate at the start of the level rather than attempting to open it, several quotes said by Sam, Hellfire, Jones and Kenny will be skipped.