Serious Sam 4

This game is 60% walking/running and 40% action.
Stunning graphics and visual effects.
Plethora of weapons and enemies.
Vast and open landscapes with stunning scenery.
Although you have these massive arenas to fight in it feels that you are running around more which can get very tedious.
Not an game that I could play for hours on end as turning monsters into red mist becomes bland.
The game only really picks up the action around chapter 10.
The one liners and jokes falls flat and was not amusing at all.
Sam is old and tired and it is time to let him rest.
7/10

So, Serious Sam 1&2 were perfect. 3 was five steps in the wrong direction, and then this game is 3 back in the right direction.

Pros:
- The combat is good as usual
- New enemy types (some better than others)
- New secondary fire abilities on classic weapons
- "Gadgets" such as a black hole, time slow, mini-nuke, etc.
- Arrows telling you which way to go, because this isn't a puzzle or open world game. Great choice
- Copied L4Ds homework, which makes a lot of sense for this kind of game

Cons:
- Too many cutscenes (I would prefer if there were none.. at least I can skip these)
- Characters existing at all
- Characters yapping at your over the radio

Once again Croteam has made a delicious meal. In S3 they shat all over the plate afterward. However in this one they have placed the shit nicely in the corner. You can eat around it, but man I really wish it wasn't there.

7.5/10 ?

A good, modern take on Serious Sam. I think this is what they wanted Serious Sam 3 to be, but it doesn't matter cause we have this now. :D

- Serious dialogue? Check
- Serious guns? Check
- Serious soundtrack? Check
- Serious monsters? Check
- Serious setpieces? Check

The scream AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I dream at night.
The gameplay of all parts of this series boils down to the fact that we move to the playground, shoot monsters, move to the next room, repeat, reach the boss, win and that's it - the level is passed. This part was no exception. The plot of the game is simple - the planet was attacked by aliens and you need to protect the world. At the same time, the innovation was the expansion of the game area and a kind of open world, which is not very suitable for the game and the open area is a forest without interactions.
The game introduced a system that allows you to show a huge number of enemies on the screen at once, but you can only experience this system on one level.
In general, an ordinary shooting game without features. If you have played the previous parts and you liked them, then you can familiarize yourself with this one. I do not advise the rest.
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The game itself is simple: take a big weapon and kill ordes of cannon fodder monsters because they're bad and we're good :) But it's fun with its cheesy lines and playfully cliche' situations. The perfect game to stop thinking and escape from reality.

Barely recommended. It's the weakest of all main Serious Sam games without a doubt (below Next encounter and 2), some maps are insanely huge but there are baarely any encounters, and the ones there are, are usually lackluster and even boring. (and i played on Serious difficulty throught all of it and all secondary objectives)

There are only a few good/brilliant fights, the standout being the one in a Quarry... However, having slogged through the rest of the game to get there, and afterwards having mediocre to some good fights sprinkled throught... doesn't fully redeem it in my eyes. I am sure most of the space could've been used better (as exemplified with the quarry fight)

This is before even going into it's other problems like:
1) Having bad performance while looking just a tiny bit better than Sam 3, i had to tweak the game quite a bit to feel stable.
2) A badly paced and not so good or entertaining story (with, again, only really one/very few standout moments)
3) The latter chapters fight's with the exception of the final chapter feeling emptier/more rushed than usual
4) Some gadgets felt completely useless despite the efforts required to get some of them.
5) Some upgrades feel mandatory like the reload speed or reloading while sprinting when they could've been there by default and tuning a few fights with them in mind, and other upgrades being extremely niche/useless.

With all they got, they could've crafted many more kickass fights and a better story, but i guess being in development hell for so long made things very messy. Here's hoping the next main game comes brilliantly after all lessons learned from dev hell, and some of the experience with the Talos Principle 2.

Serious Sam 4 is a solid entry in the often underappreciated Serious Sam series.

The story and writing are hilariously over-the-top, like the best kind of terrible action movie. It's completely self-aware of its schlocky nature and fully embraces it. However, the events are pretty inconsequential and could easily be skipped. Let’s be honest—you’re not playing this game for a gripping narrative.

New to the series is a perk system, where you’ll find items that grant various perks as you progress. Whether you love or hate this addition, it does add a sense of progression, but in some ways, it feels like a step back compared to previous games where the power was unlocked from the start. At its core, Serious Sam 4 delivers the same bullet-hell, run-and-gun gameplay the series is known for. You’ll be facing overwhelming mobs of varied enemies while constantly jumping and strafing to avoid a barrage of projectiles. In many ways, it’s the same Serious Sam we know and love, with a few new enemy types but not much innovation compared to past entries.There are, however, a few fun twists on the classic run-and-gun gameplay, including vehicle combat missions and side missions scattered throughout the semi-open levels.

The gun arsenal is just as varied and fun to use this time around, with some new additions like the auto-shotgun and chainsaw launcher. Unfortunately, at several points through the game, your arsenal gets taken away, and you’re forced to re-collect your weapons over the next several levels. It’s an odd design choice that doesn't add much to the experience.

On a lighter note, I played The Talos Principle before Serious Sam 4 and couldn't help but notice the reuse of many assets between the two. It’s amusing, considering how tonally different these games are. In Serious Sam, you're painting ancient environments with alien blood and guts, while in The Talos Principle, you’re peacefully solving physics puzzles and exploring metaphysical concepts in the same surroundings.

Ultimately, I’d recommend Serious Sam 4 to fans of the series. For everyone else, there are better games out there that offer a more visceral and engaging bullet-hell or boomer shooter experience.