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Dr. Hermann Stein is a scientist and researcher who works for the Earth Defense Force. He assisted them with his research into ancient Egyptian and alien artifacts, some of which revolved around the Time-Lock.
He appears as a minor, yet pivotal unseen character in Serious Sam 3: BFE, Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE and Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope, and is mentioned at least once in Serious Sam 4.
Biography[]
Little information is known about Dr. Stein. From his name, it can be assumed that he or his family originated from Germany. and. At some point in his life, decided to work as an archaeologist. He also joined the Earth Defense Force and became one of its many scientists, devoting a great deal of time and research on historical and alien artifacts, such as the Time-Lock.[1] When he was working there, he met professor Gottlieb Kiesel, and the two began helping each other with research regarding anomalies and finding out the purpose of the alien artifacts they discovered.
At some point during the Tunguska Offensive, Professor Stein visited the ruins of Pompeii and discovered traces of Sirian activity in the area. He set up a dig site and. within the dig site, he came across a strange Sirian device - the Time Warp. He also found a bronze cylinder next to the artifact. Enclosed within this pecuilar object was a fragment of the "Prophecies of Q'Ar-Tah", an ancient scroll written by a grand Sirian warrior. The scroll refers to the Time-Lock and its mysterious properties surrounding time. According to this scroll, the Time-Lock was not built by the Sirians, but by an even older and more techologically advanced race than the Sirians (possibly even by the Infinite Ones themselves). The scroll also notes that the Time-Lock was delivered to Earth shortly after the planet Sirius fell to Mental.[1] Professor Stein noted that parts of the scroll had decayed too much to be readable, so he was unable to determine the Time-Lock's location. Dr. Kiesel speculated that the Time-Lock was located in Egypt, but Dr. Stein dismissed his theories, commenting that "the old man has been watching too many adventure movies".[1]
While at the dig site, Pompeii soom comes under attack by Mental, who has taken an interest in the area. Stein and the staff working there came under siege for a hours until a rescue helicopter could arrive. One security guard, Alessandro, diverted Mental's forces away from the dig site so Stein could have enough time to escorted away safely via helicopter. This, of course, came at the cost of Alessandro's life.[2][3]
Appearances[]
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope[]
At some point during the Mental War, Professor Stein contacted the main headquarters of the Earth Defense Force and told them that he believed that in one of the temples in Egypt, there could be tablets which could be deciphered and thus aid them in their quest to activating the Time-Lock. He informed the commanding center that he wished to hold an investigation there, but he required protection due to the fact that Mental's servants were not just hanging around for fun, and would never let Stein make his plan work without a fight. Having understood the importance of this mission, the headquarters made a decision to bring back on Earth their best man, a true symbol in war against the invaders, the commander of the Battlecruiser Saratoga, Captain Sam Stone, also known as Serious Sam.[4]
Not long after that, Saratoga approaches the planet and Stone finds himself back on Earth. Having met Stein, both of them make their way to the mentioned temple in Egypt, but are greeted by waves of Mental's servants as they approach their final destination - the Monolith of Time. Sam orders Stein to get into the temple and do his research while Sam keeps the monsters at bay. As always, Sam crushes the aliens using everything at his disposal, as well as small orbital bombardment provided by Saratoga.
While Sam was slaying Mental's alien forces, Stein was already beginning his work. During this time, Stone manages to finish the first wave of monsters off and follows the object of his protection, but finds something interesting and gets lost inside the temple, coming face to face with another wave of aliens waiting for him in the Tomb of the Forgotten. Finally reunited, the two men try to make their way out of the temple, as professor Stein was eager to tell Sam about the tablets he found. According to his words, these findings may play a vital clue in powering up the Time-Lock. He seems very passionate about them, but Sam himself takes almost no interest in those tablets, as all his thoughts are only about how to kill more aliens.
Such opportunity arrives immediately, as Sam and Stein are ambushed in the Court of Contemplation - one of the temple's courtyards. Stone tells the professor to take cover, as he unleashes another portion of his firepower against everything that dares to head their way. In the end, Sam manages to defeat them.
Following this attack, Sam and Stein have finally leave the temple with the professor's research being successful, but another group of Mental's hordes are waiting for them in the Desert of the Lost with one of their generals - the unholy Space Mummy of Gamma Pegasi. While Stein takes cover, Sam, eager to fight, heads directly at the enemy. The horde are no match for Sam and are eliminated. Finally safe, now that Stein has gained more knowledge and acquired the tablets that he presumably took pictures off, returns to Cairo to continue his research one step closer to the answer, while Stone returns back to the Saratoga.
Soon afterwards, the EDF report that Mental is testing a secret superweapon somewhere on the planet Shaanti. The professor has to stop his work on the Time-Lock for a moment and deal with this new matter. Having conducted some research, Stein manages to find out the precise location of the superweapon and make notes for Sam, who is tasked with locating and destroying the threat. The Saratoga is then immediately sent to Shaanti and Sam, using the professor's notes, though hardly understanding anything, battles his way up to the flying islands of the planet where he encounters Mental's superweapon - a dragon. In the following fight, Sam manages to destroy the creature.
Serious Sam 4[]
Stein is not seen in Serious Sam 4, but he is mentioned by Professor Kiesel when he needs Sam's help recovering an alien artifact, and two of Dr. Stein's letters can be found throughout the campaign. The first letter describes his research found at a dig site in Pompeii, and the second one is a letter to one of his colleagues, Gabriella.
Serious Sam 3: BFE[]
within the following year, Professor Stein had been working hard on his research and, fortunately for everyone, he finally got an answer for what he was looking for. Using all the knowledge he got from the research he held, Stein finally comes to the conclusion that to make the Time-Lock work, someone had to activate two generators that fuel the device, though their precise locations were yet to be uncovered. The professor decides to keep all of the important data on his phone, and, when Quinn calls him to upload the data to headquarters, so the other scientists can help, he refuses to cooperate until he has been rescued from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, where he resides at the time, as the building itself has already been besieged by the aliens.[5]
In order to get Stein back safely, Bravo Team is sent with the task of extracting Stein, but around 0900 hours upon entering the museum, they are ambushed and lose contact with HQ, though the professor himself was fortunate to survive.[6] Upon losing contact with Bravo Team, HQ send in Alpha Team to aid them. The group consists of Sam Stone, Jones, Rodriguez, Miller and his co-pilot.
The only remains of Professor Stein.
Upon arriving in Cairo, their helicopter comes under attack by Mental's forcse, and is shot down. Sam battles his way back to his comrades, but discovers that they have been already killed, thus, Sam decides to go forward with the mission on his own. Sam makes his way inside the museum to find Professor Stein, while Quinn contacts him asking to find cover, until his arrival.[5]
After all of the members of Alpha Team, save for Sam, are wiped out, Sam manages to reach the museum where Stein is hiding. Unfortunately, he is too late, as Stein is killed and eaten by a pack of vicious Antaresian Spiders before he can be rescued.[5] However, Sam is able to find his phone, which has the data he was looking for. Sam is able to upload the photos and data to HQ and then leaves the museum to head to the extraction point.
Relationships[]
Sam Stone[]
Not much is known about the interaction between Professor Stein and Sam. Stone wasn't particularly interested in archaeology, as he found it "boring" and that protecting Dr. Stein while he was doing some research on some ancient Egyptian tablets wasn't much of an enjoyable job either.
Gottlieb Kiesel[]
He is one of Dr. Kiesel's colleagues and assisted him with researching alien artifacts, especially ones that were made by advanced species such as the Sirians. He also helped Professor Kiesel with working into the Sirians' research into the properties of time and the mysterious artifacts that they made with respects to said subject - the Time Warp.[7]
Gabriella[]
She was one of Professor Stein's colleagues and they helped each other with research into alien artifacts and space-time anomalies.[8] A letter written by him that was sent to Gabriella can be found in the building where she works. From what can be read from the letter, it can be assumed that Gabriella was a love interest of his.[9]
Personality and skills[]
Being an archaeologist, Professor Stein takes a great interest and passion in science, human history, and the properties surrounding alien artifacts, such as the Time-Lock. He assisted the Earth Defense Force with his findings from various archaeological dig sites around the world. He had quite a stubborn personality, such as when he wouldn't be willing to upload the Time-Lock's data to headquarters unless he was rescued.
Powers and abilties[]
- High Intelligence: While Dr. Stein isn't a noteworthy genius like Dr. Kiesel, he has proven to be an expert in his field, especially with regards to the studying of historical objects, such as alien artifacts or hieroglyphic slabs written by the ancient Egyptians. During his time spent on researching ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, he was able to determine that there was a secret chamber located inside the Great Pyramid, which could potentially be a key for activating the Time-Lock before he met his demise.[10]
Related achievements[]
Serious Sam 3: BFE[]
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| Rescue professor Stein. So to say. |
Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE[]
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| Rescue professor Stein. So to say. |
Serious Sam Fusion[]
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| Rescue professor Stein. So to say. |
Trivia[]
- If the player listens closely to Stein's muffled screams and cries for help, they can hear gunshots before he is killed. This implies that he was using the SOP38 Pistol (or perhaps a similar weapon) to defend himself from the Antaresian Spiders, before being overwhelmed by them.
- Professor Stein, along with Quinn, are the only two characters not seen in Serious Sam 3.
- According to Sam, Stein had terrible handwriting, as it was almost impossible for him to understand anything from the professor's notes during his quest for locating Mental's superweapon.
Gallery[]
Serious Sam 4[]
List of appearances[]
- Serious Sam 3: BFE (First appearance) (Heard and arm seen only)
- Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE (non-canonical appearance) (Heard and arm seen only)
- Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope (Not seen)
- Serious Sam 4 (Mentioned and letters seen only)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Serious Sam 4 - NETRICSA - Dossiers - Notes - "Letter from Dr. Stein"
- ↑ Serious Sam 4 - NETRICSA - Dossiers - Notes - "Letter to Commander Pasolini"
- ↑ Serious Sam 4 level: Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ("Thin Red Line" side objective)
- ↑ Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Serious Sam 3: BFE level: "Into the Spider's Nest"
- ↑ Serious Sam 3: BFE level: "Summer in Cairo"
- ↑ Serious Sam 4 level: "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"
- ↑ Serious Sam 4 level: "When in Rome"
- ↑ Serious Sam 4 - NETRICSA - Dossiers - Notes - "Letter to Gabriella"
- ↑ Serious Sam 3: BFE level: "Under the Iron Cloud"