Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope

This article contains spoilers. Read at your own risk!

Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope
Release date	September 20, 2017
Genre	First-person shooter, virtual reality, arcade-action, indie
Mode	Single-player, co-op, Arena
Distribution	Steam
Specifications
System requirements	Minimum: Intel Core i5 - 4590 equivalent processor, AMD R9 290 or Nvidia GTX 970 graphics card, DirectX 11, 6 GB of RAM, 10 GB of hard drive space, Windows 7 64 bit Recommended: Intel Core i7-6800 (or equivalent) processor, 8 GB of RAM, AMD Fury or Nvidia GTX 1070, DirectX 11, 10 GB of hard disk space, Windows 10 64 bit
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Input	Internet connection (only for Steam), keyboard and mouse, HTC Vive or Oculus Rift VR headset plus hand controllers
Production information
Developer(s)	Croteam VR
Publisher(s)	Devolver Digital
Series information
Serious Sam
Previous game	Serious Sam's Bogus Detour
Next game	Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE

 

"Have you ever wondered what it's really like to be Serious Sam? Have you ever wanted to fight Mental's alien hordes with your own two hands? Well, now you can! Step into the shoes of the Earth Defense Force's greatest hero in this unique VR simulation based on Sam Stone's own log files from his time as captain of the Battlecruiser Saratoga. Experience the missions that turned Captain Stone into the legend that he is today."

―Game description

 

Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope is a first-person shooter virtual reality video game developed by Croteam and published by Devolver Digital. It is the third VR game in the Serious Sam series, after Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter and Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter. The game was released on 20 September 2017 and is available for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The game was first announced on June 13, 2016 at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016.

Gameplay

Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope follows the traditional Serious Sam series of gameplay and elements such as a large arsenal of weapons and a huge number of enemies. The game is developed exclusively for virtual reality glasses with the support of motion controllers, in connection with which the gameplay is somewhat static: the player cannot move through the levels except for a few meters around them, due to the characteristics of VR devices and, as a rule, small room sizes, in which there may be a playing person present.

The game takes place on five planets, each with 4 stages, with the end of each chapter being a boss fight. At the beginning of the game, the player starts on the Battlecruiser Saratoga, where they can select which mission to begin, refill ammo and health with credits (which are collected after defeating enemies), or unlock new weapons. During gameplay, the player is given a skill tree that can unlock special abilities and improve their stats and weapons.

After selecting a level, the player finds themselves in the thematic arena and fights with the waves of arriving enemies. The number of opponents is traditional for many Serious Sam games, and they include both familiar old enemies (Beheaded Kamikazes, Gnaars, etc.) and some new types, including Flying Mines and spherical bots from The Talos Principle. The player’s arsenal is numerous and includes a large number of firearms and cold arms, including a chainsaw, pistols, laser rifles, machine guns, and so on. 

Health, armor and ammo no longer appear scattered throughout the level. Instead, they appear randomly throughout the battle, which the player can pick up to replenish ammo or a small amount of health. To compenstate for lack of armor, the player can use the shield to block or deflect enemy projectiles. When using the shield, it acts like a force field, blocking projectiles that can be deflected back at the enemy. This shield does not last indefinitely, as the player can only use it for a short duration of time. After using the shield, there will be a small cooldown before it can be used again. The player can replenish their shield level faster with credits or pickups that appear throughout the levels.

Plot

Set prior to the events of Serious Sam 3: BFE, it is the period of the first Mental War. Earth’s military forces are crumbling under the hordes of the vicious extraterrestrial being Mental. He managed to break the will of many nations by destroying the ancient shrines of the native people. A fearless Earth Defense Force Captain, Sam "Serious" Stone, is leading the resistance from the Battlecruiser Saratoga in a desperate attempt to save the galaxy.

Characters

• Hermann Stein (Not seen)
• Mental (Mentioned)
• Sam ”Serious" Stone

Enemies

• Adult Arachnoid
• Beetle
• Beheaded Kamikaze
• Beheaded Rocketeer
• Cloned Soldier
• Common Aludran Reptiloid
• Drone
• Earth Giant (Boss)
• Fleet Fighter
• Giant Anomaly (Boss)
• Gnaar
• Hatchling Antaresian Spider
• Juvenile Antaresian Spider
• Kalopsy
• Khnum
• Kleer Skeleton
• Lava Golem
• Lightning Man
• Major Bio-mechanoid
• Marsh Hopper
• Metal Snake
• Mine Bomber
• Minor Bio-mechanoid
• Reeban Electro-Fish
• Rollerball
• Scrapjack
• Scythian Witch-Harpy
• Shaanti Dragon (Boss)
• Sirian Werebull
• Siren
• Skeleton
• Space Fighter
• Space Mummy (Boss)
• Swamp Hive (Boss)
• Technopolip
• Tentacle
• Witch-Bride of Achriman
• Zumb'ul

Weapons

• 12 Gauge Pump-Action Shotgun: A standard pump-action shotgun that uses 12-gauge shells as ammo. Has a decent rate of fire but rather weak firepower.
• AS-24 Devastator: An automatic shotgun that fires 40 mm explosive rounds. The rounds can pierce through multiple weak targets at once.
• Bow: Ranged weapon that uses two types of arrows: standard and explosive. Can be used to fire arrows at a distance that deal instant death to weak enemies or deal high damage to tougher targets.
• Double Barrel Coach Gun: A powerful shotgun that fires two shells at once. Compared to other games the weapon appears in, the shotgun has a much higher rate of fire.
• Flying Mine: An explosive device that will fly into the player and explode on contact with them.
• Heavy Lasergun: Energy weapon that behaves in a similar way to the XL2. Deals moderate to high damage and a useful weapon for clearing out hordes of enemies.
• Laser Pistol: Energy weapon with high rate of fire but low damage output. Has infinite ammunition.
• Laser Sword: A ranged energy weapon that delivers arcs of beams that can decimate groups of weak targets. The blades can also be used to destroy enemy projectiles.
• M29 Infantry Assault Rifle: Automatic assault rifle with decent range, damage and fire rate overall. Useful for eliminating small to medium groups of enemies.
• P-LAH Chainsaw: A chainsaw modified for combat. Can tear weak enemies to shreds that get in its range, but not recommended for use against tough enemies.
• RAPTOR Sniper Rifle: A powerful ranged weapon that causes instant death to weak targets, and high damage upon tougher opponents.
• SBC Cannon: An extremely powerful weapon that fires cannonballs with extreme speed that can mow down hordes of enemies in a row.
• SOP38 Pistol: A semi-automatic special issue handgun with infinite ammunition and good rate of fire, but only useful against weak enemies due to manual rate of fire and weak damage output.
• Thompson submachine gun: Highly accurate submachine gun. Deals moderate damage to enemies.
• XL2 Lasergun: An energy weapon that fires deadly lasers with perfect accuracy. Has a slightly lower rate of fire than the minigun, but deals twice as much damage.
• XPML21 Rocket Launcher: Experimental rocket launcher that fires slow unguided rockets at the target. These rockets deal a lot of damage to a single target, or can be used to wipe out groups of weaker ones.
• XM214-A Minigun: An automatic weapon with an extremely high rate of fire, but burns through ammunition quickly.

Development

The game was first announced on June 13, 2016 at E3. The announcement was accompanied by the release of a trailer, a demonstration of gameplay and interviews with Croteam employees at the PC Gaming Show and E3 Live conferences. A demo of Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope was also presented to journalists at the exhibition site of the publishing house Devolver Digital where everyone could try out the game with virtual reality glasses. Many fans of the franchise, who expected to receive news about the continuation of the series - Serious Sam 4: Planet Badass, the announcement of an exclusive spin-off game for VR glasses was initially perceived very cool; though some felt that the development of Serious Sam 4 was once again postponed due to the new game studio, The Talos Principle. In this regard, the developers had to release a statement in which they convinced fans that Serious Sam VR is just a small third-party project, while the company's primary goal is still the development of the fourth part. Later it was stated that only four people from the total number of studio employees were working on a VR-game.

Almost immediately after the announcement, the game page was opened on Steam. The developers said that the game would be available in early access, and the first version was released in the summer of 2016. Over the next six months, Croteam planned to improve the project and add new planets, weapons, enemies, bosses and even more diverse content. As a mandatory technical equipment on the page in the store indicated the presence of HTC Vive and Oculus Rift helmets, as well as motion controllers. In the gameplay demonstrations, released after the E3 exhibition, mostly Egyptian locations were shown, but screenshots and concept art of some other planets, including futuristic and antique places, were also presented on the game page in the Steam store.

Some time after the announcement, the mainstream media reported that developers were offered financial dividends in exchange for the exclusiveness of the game for one platform. Croteam employee Mario Kotlar in one of the topics on the Reddit website said that the virtual reality helmet maker Oculus VR allegedly offered the Croatian team a huge amount of money in exchange for the temporary exclusivity of Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope for Oculus Rift, bypassing the owners of HTC Vive, but the developers rejected this. The statement of the employee caused a resonance in the circles of VR-enthusiasts and was accompanied by publications in a number of informational publications.

Soon after, representatives of Oculus made an official statement in which they denied the information on the proposed offer of the financial transaction for Croteam. Sometime later, Croteam's technical director, Alain Ladavats, also corrected the information of his employee, commenting that the offer of financial assistance to speed up development in exchange for temporary exclusivity was indeed, but there was no complete restriction of the game for one platform.

Especially for Serious Sam VR, developers had created a working prototype of a game controller in the form of a proprietary minigun, made in full size based on a model from Serious Sam 3: BFE/ This controller is fully functional and uses motion sensors and a fire control system from the original HTC Vive controller. Lightweight construction created from readily available materials based on polyurethane tubes and construction drill; when the trigger is clamped, the shooting in the game and the rotation of the minigun shafts are simultaneously controlled. According to the developers, they created three minigun workers in total, but they were made for personal use - for their own entertainment and for advertising purposes. . A unique weapon was demonstrated at the Gamescom and EGX 2016 exhibitions, where everyone could do it with a mini-gun with their own hands, which caused great excitement among journalists and players present.

Reception

Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope received positive reviews. The game scored 8.5 out of 10 on UploadVR, stating that "Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope combines frenetic action, testosterone-laden humor and beautiful graphics into a solid VR package that kept me coming back for more punishment. It has few minor blemishes and may not have lasting power for some gamers, but ultimately it’s one of the best VR wave shooters you can play."

The game was also featured in Rock, Paper, Shotgun's list of top 22 VR games for the PC.

Trivia

• This is the first game in the Serious Sam series to introduce shields, which serve to protect the player from incoming projectiles, apart from physical dodging.

External links

• Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope on Oculus
• Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope on Croteam's website
• Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope on the Steam Store

Videos

• Launch trailer: Teaser trailer for Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope.