Serious Sam: Shatterverse is Here – Co-op Roguelite Shooter Launches on PC and Consoles

Sam Stone is back – and this time, there's more than one of him. Serious Sam: Shatterverse is available starting today for PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Instead of the usual solo rampage through massive arenas, this new installment fully embraces co-op roguelite gameplay for up to five players simultaneously.

What Serious Sam: Shatterverse Brings for Co-op Fans?

The story provides the excuse for the chaos: Arch-villain Mental's machinations have torn open the boundaries between universes, forcing multiple versions of Sam to team up to mend the so-called Shatterverse. But that's not what's really important – the focus is on the shooting in ever-changing arenas, procedurally assembled from handcrafted building blocks. Here are the key features at a glance:

• Co-op for 1 to 5 players, battling ever-new waves of enemies together
• Procedurally mixed, handcrafted arenas instead of fixed level sequences
• Collectable boons and run modifiers that make each playthrough different
• Permanent upgrades that are permanently unlocked between runs
• Mix of classic Serious Sam weapons and completely new guns
• Risky portal events with particularly tough enemy encounters

Who Developed Serious Sam: Shatterverse and How Does it Fit into the Franchise?

The Serious Sam series has been around since 2001, when Croteam established the arena shooter classic with its first installment. However, Shatterverse is not developed by Croteam themselves, but by the Canadian studio Behaviour Interactive – best known for the asymmetric horror hit Dead by Daylight. Croteam has, however, explicitly given its blessing to the project, and the publisher, as with many Serious Sam titles, is Devolver Digital. This marks a significant step for the brand: instead of another classic solo shooter, we're getting a genuine co-op roguelite spin-off for the first time, one that leans more towards titles like Vampire Survivors or Risk of Rain than the main Serious Sam series. From our perspective, this is a clever move to re-engage the brand with a younger, co-op-loving audience without alienating fans of the classic installments – who are sure to continue getting their pure shooter spin-offs.

Source: Gematsu, Steam

Already played it? Let us know in the comments if this co-op excursion works for you, or if you miss the classic solo shooters.