New Game+

This article contains spoilers. Read at your own risk!

The New Game+ option in singleplayer mode.

New Game+ is a gamemode and feature exclusive to Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem. It allows the player to replay the campaign with added difficulty and while retaining weapons and skills from previous playthroughs.

Overview

New Game+ is unlocked after completing the main game in singleplayer or co-op, with the option presented to the player right after the credits, as well as being unlocked in the menu. It allows the player to start the campaign over again while keeping all weapons, gadgets, S.A.M. skills and weapon upgrades from the previous playthrough. The difficulty is raised by adding extra enemy placements and increasing enemy spawns, speed and/or damage, but the player's stats are also slightly buffed. The XL2 Lasergun and later the FRPCL also appear in NG+, being absent from the regular campaign.

A new unique mechanic in NG+ is weapon upgrading. Pressing the "Way to go" button (default C) opens a menu where the player can spend S.A.M. skill points to increase the damage output of chosen weapons by a certain percentage, differing by weapon, up to a certain limit.

Clearing NG+ presents the player with a choice to start NG++, and clearing that offers a choice to start NG+3, followed by NG+4, NG+5, etc. The number of NG+ cycles is not limited. Note that only the first New Game+ cycle can be started from the main menu, later cycles are only available by playing and clearing the game as a direct continuation.

Changes

• S.A.M. skill points can be spent to upgrade any weapon for more damage output. The upgrades can be rerolled at the start of each level and upon finding each new S.A.M. pickups.
  • The same menu includes the option to enable the Christmas bonus areas, allowing players to unlock the XPMR "Freezer" Raygun skin outside of Christmas. Note that after spending a skill point to enable Christmas content, it will stay permanently enabled for this run including following NG+ cycles, without the option to refund the skill point spent.
  • In co-op mode, the menu has options to save and load the game, only available to the host. Saving the game records the current level and NG+ cycle and the players' weapons, gadgets, skills, and upgrades. Loading the game will put players at the start of the level, not the exact point where the save was made.
• New enemy spawns have been added throughout the game; notably, Octanian Sentry Towers now appear on every level, and the Cryomorph Gnaar Pair are encountered during the baby mech segment.
• The XL2 Lasergun can now be found in the first level, on the first oil rig. Its death ray upgrade can be found in the last level, before the huge open area fight. As a result, electricity ammo now appears throughout the game.
• Ammo for late-game weapons like the TCC-2 "Perun" Crossbow has been added to earlier levels.

New Game+

• Weapons can be upgraded up to three times each.
• Player and enemy stats are modified as follows:
  • 3x enemy spawns
  • 2x max ammo
  • +10% player movement speed

New Game++

• Weapons can now be upgraded up to five times each. This stays true for all subsequent cycles.
• Player and enemy stats are modified as follows:
  • 4x enemy spawns
  • 2x max ammo
  • +30% fire rate
  • +40% player movement speed
  • +30% enemy movement speed

New Game+3

• The FRPCL can now be found at the very start of the first level, in the container surrounded by Gnaars. It stays there on later NG+ cycles.
• Player and enemy stats are modified as follows:
  • 4x enemy spawns
  • +10% player movement speed
  • +100% damage received by player
  • +50% damage received by enemies

New Game+4

• From this point on, save files and level names are marked as NG+? instead of the specific cycle number.
• Player and enemy stats are modified as follows:
  • 5x enemy spawns
  • 2x max ammo
  • +40% fire rate
  • +50% player movement speed
  • +40% enemy movement speed

New Game+5

• Player and enemy stats are modified as follows:
  • 5x enemy spawns
  • +15% fire rate
  • +10% player movement speed
  • +100% damage received by player
  • +50% damage received by enemies

New Game+6

• Player and enemy stats are modified as follows:
  • 5x enemy spawns
  • +15% fire rate
  • +10% player movement speed
  • +150% damage received by player
  • +30% damage received by enemies

New Game+7

• Player and enemy stats are modified as follows:
  • 5x enemy spawns
  • +15% fire rate
  • +10% player movement speed
  • +200% damage received by player
  • +10% damage received by enemies

New Game+8

• Player and enemy stats are modified as follows:
  • 5x enemy spawns
  • +15% fire rate
  • +10% player movement speed
  • +250% damage received by player
• In subsequent NG+ cycles, damage received by player will be raised by 50% per cycle, while other stats will remain unchanged.

NG+ modifiers.

NG++ modifiers.

NG+3 modifiers.

Note: enemy damage multipliers are further multiplied by the difficulty setting's damage multiplier. For instance, a x1.25 enemy damage multiplier on Serious difficulty will multiply that by 2, resulting in an enemy damage multiplier of x2.5, identical to that used in Serious Sam 3: BFE.

Tactics

• It's advisable to go for every S.A.M. skillpoint to maximize weapon upgrades. A maximum of 11 skillpoints can be collected per one playthrough.
  • Starting New Game+ from the main menu will start the game with only 7 skillpoints as opposed to the max of 11 the player could get by entering NG+ as a continuation of a regular game.
  • Maxing out every weapon and enabling every perk requires reaching NG+9.
• Gadgets are saved between playthroughs, so seek them out and don't waste them. Hard hitters like the Black Hole, Mini-Nuke and T.A.C.T. should be used strategically. Per one playthrough, it's possible to collect up to:
  • 1 Mini-Nuke
  • 2 Black Holes
  • 3 H.E.A.R.T.s
  • 5 Time Warps
  • 5 Rage Serums
  • 5 Hacked Drones
  • 7 T.A.C.T.s
  • 8 Hoverboard Scooters
  • 20 L.I.F.E.s
• The player can reroll upgrades when starting the level and when finding a S.A.M. point. It may be advantageous to keep early weapons upgraded during early levels where ammo for late-game weapons is scarce.
  • Upgrading the shotgun will affect its grenade launcher attachment as well.
  • Upgrading explosive weapons won't increase the explosion radius, but will increase self damage, which also can increase the likelihood of the player gibbing themselves from explosive weapons, especially with a Rage Serum active. For this reason, the player should take extreme care to never use explosive weapons in close quarters.
  • Upgrading the crossbow will push it past the damage threshold for one-shotting all medium enemies and headshotting or two-shotting most heavy enemies.
• With enemy rates increased at least threefold, the player will commonly find themselves swarmed. Prepare accordingly by minding escape routes and choke points, and make good use of crowd control weapons such as the grenade launcher, Lasergun, or Raygun.
• Higher enemy damage multipliers, especially on Serious difficulty, can eventually cause enemies even as weak as a combat drone or male Gnaar to deal lethal damage. A male Gnaar punches for more than 50 health points on at least NG+6 on Serious difficulty.
• Octanian sentry towers can be easily destroyed with a single T.A.C.T. - it will damage the tower even when its weak point isn't exposed, as long as the player is within aggro range.
  • Alternatively, one FRPCL round to an exposed weak point is enough to destroy a tower. It will keep dealing damage even after the weakpoint retracts.
• The "Hide and Seek" side objective on the third level, Siberiade, includes a tough fight on the ice-covered lake, but only awards one Hoverboard Scooter and three L.I.F.E.s upon completion, both being commonly found gadgets. On later cycles it might be beneficial to just grab the time warp from the side mission area and leave.

Behind the scenes

• New Game+ was added in the Christmas Update.
• Prior to the Anniversary Update, the player could not change the difficulty settings when playing on New Game+, could only select Serious difficulty, and could not unlock certain achievements that they have not yet unlocked (i.e. Veni Vidi Vici).

Glitches/bugs

• If the last cutscene is skipped, the text prompting the player to begin a new NG+ cycle may not be displayed on the end screen, though fortunately the cycle can still be started as usual by pressing LMB within 15 seconds. Note that waiting for 15 seconds on this screen will quit the game.
• Saving and loading the game in co-op will often lead to unpredictable results, such as losing gadgets, weapons, and upgrades.
• There is a glitch in the moddable version of the game where the player will lose access to the upgrades menu as pressing the "Way to go" button will not work anymore. This can be caused by certain mods that alter the HUD parameters file.