The Octanian Grenadier is a variant of Octanian soldier that was cut from Serious Sam 4 before the final game's release. The Grenadier was later added in its standalone expansion pack, Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem. They behave similarly to the Beheaded Bomber, but they do not explode upon death, unlike the latter enemy.
Overview[]
The Octanian Grenadier belongs to a race of humanoid creatures originating from an unnamed planet in the Sigma Octantis system. They have allied themselves with Mental during the Mental War as part of his goal to eradicate knowledge from the universe.[1]
The Grenadier can be identified by his orange goggles, and well as the signature grenades attached to his back. Unlike the Octanian Commander and the Octanian Gamma Trooper, the Octanian Grenadier is armed with grenades instead of a gun. He uses two types of grenades, fragmentation and rolling grenades.[2]
Application[]
Grenadiers are usually deployed in or near Octanian bases, often appearing with other Octanian troops, such as Octanian Gamma Troopers. In combat, Grenadiers serve as elite support units, often appearing far-away and sometimes on rooftops or pillars to distract the player from focusing on more dangerous enemies, similarly to Beheaded Bombers. They usually appear in small groups.
Appearances[]
Serious Sam 4[]
The Grenadier does not appear in Serious Sam 4, as he is an unused and unfinished enemy. He can, however, still be put into custom maps via the level editor.
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]
Grenadiers first appear in A Smell Of Petroleum Prevails, and then appear as common enemies throughout the rest of the game.
Behavior and skills[]
Though similar in concept to the Beheaded Bomber, the Octanian Grenadier is significantly more agile than his beheaded counterpart, running around in an attempt to dodge incoming fire and to flank the target. His primary method of attacking is tossing grenades at the target in rapid succession. Unlike grenades thrown by the Bomber, the Grenadier's grenades do not explode instantly once deployed, but instead a few seconds after being thrown. Like Bombers, Grenadiers can throw their grenades from an impressive distance, so long as the player is within a clear line of sight.
In addition to normal grenades, Grenadiers are armed with smart rolling grenades, which they will use occasionally in an intentionally unpredictable way to distrupt the target. These grenades are controlled by suicidal micropolyps that are cybernetically linked to the Grenadier's mind, becoming active upon contact with the Earth's atmosphere and rolling towards a tracked target while producing a noticeable beeping sound.[2] These grenades will explode upon contact with the target of if they are destroyed by gunfire or explosives.
Like Octanian Gamma Troopers, Grenadiers can ride on Combat Drones. They can be much harder to track this way when the Drone is moving around.
Equipment[]
Like other Octanian soldiers, Grenadiers are equipped with standard-issue body armor, which provides them with moderate to substantial protection in combat. They also wear respirators and goggles to help them survive Earth's environment.
Tactics[]
- The grenades tossed by the Grenadier can be easily dodged by sidestepping.
- It’s recommended to destroy their rolling grenades with gunfire instead of waiting for them to explode by themselves, as the grenades can be troublesome while trying to avoid other enemies’ attacks.
- Like other Octanian variants, Grenadiers have low health points, thus a few shots from the SOP38 Pistol can kill them.
- These enemies, along with other Octanian troops, are fairly weak, and can easily be dispatched with the AK-74MX or the SOP38 Pistol.
- When encountered with other enemies, Grenadiers are medium-priority targets, as their grenades and roller mines are often a nuisance while fighting other enemies. However, they can be easily killed, so focusing on them isn’t necessary most of the time.
Behind the scenes[]
- The Grenadier was originally meant to appear in Serious Sam 4, and can be seen in early gameplay videos of the game. He was cut from the game for unknown reasons, probably because his behavior was similar to the Beheaded Bomber, another enemy that appears in the game. The Grenadier appears alongside other Octanians in the game's artbook, suggesting that he was cut in the later parts of the game's development.
- The Grenadier can be found in the game files. Using the Serious Editor, he can placed into maps, but he has a buggy melee attack, as he circles around the player at fast speed when in melee range, and also has incomplete gibbing, with his beheaded model having completely different textures than his normal model. This implies that he was cut before the other Octanians were finished.
Trivia[]
- The frag grenades used by the Grenadier look very similar to the Stielhandgranate, a hand grenade used by German troops during World War I and World War II.
- They also have the Mental's Horde logo on it, and have the words enscripted "use with intent to kill".
- The Grenadier's grenades use the same sound as the bombs tossed by the Beheaded Bomber.
- The rolling grenade used by the Grenadier reuses the Rollerball's model from Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope, but has a slightly different texture.
- In turn, it is a retextured version of the Buzzer, a puzzle obstacle from The Talos Principle, another Croteam game.
- The rolling grenade also uses the beeping sounds from the Mine, a deadly puzzle obstacle also from The Talos Principle.
Gallery[]
Artwork[]
Retail[]
List of appearances[]
- Serious Sam 4 (Game files only) (Concept art only)
- Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem (First appearance)
References[]