Sandwhale

 

Sandwhale
General information
Type	Wildlife
Affiliation	Mental's Horde (presumed)
Individual information
Health	N/A (unkillable)
Attacks / weapons	Devour (instant death)
Game information
Entity name	SandWorm

 

"I'm a lot of things fella' but I am not your lunch!"

―Sam Stone

 

The Sandwhale is an unkillable enemy and obstacle featured in Serious Sam 3: BFE and Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE. Their main purpose is to prevent players from wandering too far away from the map boundary.

Overview

Due to their massive size and the fact they filter sand, these creatures are commonly referred to as Sandwhales. Despite their name, they are not whales, but are in fact worms of polychaeta class. It is not known how they appeared on Earth, though the most likely cause is that they were transported to the planet in their microscopic larval state from an unnamed desert planet in Gamma Pegasi, probably due to landing pad contamination.

It is not known if the Sandwhale has any connection to Mental's forces, since they arrived on Earth by accident. Despite this, they show no hostility towards any of Mental's forces, even if they are wandering on the sand.

Appearances

A Sandwhale first appears in the opening cutscene, bursting out of the ground and attempting to devour the UH-60 Black Hawk that Sam and Alpha Team are flying on. Luckily, the pilot manages to avoid the creature by performing evasive maneuvers. They are first encountered in-game in The Silent Riddler and every other level onwards. They also sometimes randomly appear, diving in sand far in the background. In the final level, a Sandwhale will come bursting out of the sand when Ugh-Zan IV appears and they begin fighting.

The Sandwhale also appears in the Deathmatch map Slumoner, functioning exactly like how it does in the campaign.

Behavior and skills

Sandwhales are highly territorial, and will devour anything that enters it. Even aircraft like helicopters is enough to aggravate them.

Sandwhales mostly feed on minerals and sediments, and don't usually prey on living organisms. However, they are highly territorial creatures, and if they are disturbed, an aggravated Sandwhale can swallow a main battle tank whole, without chewing. They are so well protected by their thick scales that the only known way to kill them is with nuclear weapons. The short stubs along the Sandwhale's back are thought to be a kind of very sensitive Cilia, allowing them to feel presence of intruders walking on sand for some distance. These scales are so sensitive that a Sandwhale can detect a cat walking on sand from up to 10 miles away.

When the player begins to move away from the map boundary, the ground will start shaking, which is an imminent warning that a Sandwhale is approaching. If the player continues to wander, the Sandwhale will burst out of the ground and devour them. This results in instant death.

The player cannot damage or kill the Sandwhale with any of their weapons, as they will have no effect. The player cannot sprint away from a Sandwhale either, as it can easily catch up to them. The only way to avoid them is to return to the confines of the map. Despite being invulnerable to the player's weapons, the player can use the Sandwhale to help them defeat the final boss, as Ugh-Zan IV sometimes walks up to the sand and growls, calling the Sandwhale to fight him. The player still needs to be careful though, as being in the area of the Sandwhale will cause it to eat them.

Tactics

• The player should not stray too far from the map, even if they are being outnumbered by enemies, as death by a Sandwhale is always certain.
• When the player starts to see the sand shaking and the Sandwhale coming towards them, they should get back within the map boundary immediately.
• On tbe map Slumoner, the Sandwhale will rise and eat any players that try to go out of bounds, deterring players from running away from heated firefights.

Behind the scenes

• In the game's files, there are "wound" and "death" sounds in the Sandwhale's folder.
  • The Sandwhale's unused death sound would eventually be reused for the Draconian Burner enemy in Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem as one of three possible death sounds.
• As their bodies are partially hidden underneath the sand, they have no "tail", but rather a stub at the end of their body. This can be seen in the Serious Editor in the Animations tab, or by no clipping under the map.
• Some of the Sandwhale's sounds are recycled from Kwongo.

Trivia

• The Sandwhale seems to be heavily inspired by other fictional creatures, such as the Sandworm from the Dune series and the Graboid from the Tremors film series.
• Like the sentry turrets that appear earlier in the game, NETRICSA will automatically update the player about the Sandwhale rather than show its description, as, like the turret, the Sandwhale cannot be killed.
• The Sandwhale is one of four enemies that does not appear in Jewel of the Nile, with the others being the Cloned Soldier, Technopolyp, and Witch-Bride of Achriman.
  • Since they don't appear in the DLC, this implies that Sandwhales only inhabited parts of Egypt that had more arid environments, rather than areas near bodies of water like Abu Simbel or Philae.
• The Sandwhale is called "SandWorm" in the game files.
• More civilians have been eaten by Sandwhales after Mental's forces invaded Cairo than the ones killed by his armies in the city.
• Sandwhales are one of the few enemies in the series that are not affiliated with Mental's forces. Another example of a non Mental-affiliated enemy is Kukulkán, the Mayan god of wind.
• In real life, polychaete worms are mostly marine, so it is bizarre for a Sandwhale being classed as such and being able to adapt to living in such a hot, arid enviroment like the Sahara.
• Sandwhales are not present in Serious Sam: The First Encounter, due to the game being set in a different timeline. Even if the player wanders from away from the map in desert areas, they will instead slowly start to lose health and armor due to heat damage.
  • The same heat damage mechanic is reused in Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, albeit only officially used in Ziggurat.
• Unlike other enemies in the game, the Sandwhale's health will not show on the player's crosshairs, as they are invulnerable.
• There are certain tactics to avoid the Sandwhale's attack on some levels, which can help speedrunners.
• The jetpack will overheat instantly if the player flies far enough into the desert to provoke the Sandwhale.
• After Sam defeats Ugh-Zan IV and escapes just before the Moon is sent crashing into the Earth, it is presumed that any Sandwhales on the planet at the time were also killed.

Gallery

Model.

Concept art.

Ditto.

A provoked Sandwhale bursting out of the ground.

List of appearances

• Serious Sam 3: BFE (First appearance)
• Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE (non-canonical appearance)