Serious Sam: Tormental

Lore & Background

Serious Sam: Tormental was developed by Gungrounds, a Croatian indie studio, as their second game. The project began as Spitfire Inferno, a game inspired by Geometry Wars, created by Kristian Macanga and Guy Unger. After exhibiting at several conferences, the team was noticed by Croteam and joined the Croteam Incubator programme. The expanded team, including programmers Ivan Gabriel Juričić and Goran Tomašić and artist Ana Marija Lončar, shifted the game's theme to the Serious Sam universe, renaming it Tormental and later Serious Sam: Tormental. The game entered early access in April 2019 and was fully released in April 2022.

Gameplay takes place in Mental's frontal lobe hub, with players choosing from characters like Sam "Serious" Stone. Each character has a dodge roll and a unique special ability, such as Sam's ability to jump over hazards. Players use a primary weapon with mods and a limited-ammo "serious" weapon. Mods are found in chests or purchased with currency from defeated enemies. Defeating large enemies with a dodge roll yields better rewards. Bombs in rooms damage both the player and enemies. Upon death, the player resets to the start, losing all weapons and upgrades. After completing all stages, black keys unlock power-ups from a vault, and stages loop with increased difficulty. The game supports local two-player co-op.

Reader's Guide

Serious Sam: Tormental received mixed reviews, with a Metacritic score of 66/100 based on five critic reviews. Critics praised the game's humour, art style, and combat, noting that the art fit the Serious Sam series well. The arsenal and challenge were commended, as was the distinctive visual presentation. However, the game faced criticism for technical issues, repetitiveness, and a lack of innovation. Some reviewers felt that the weapons and upgrades never reached a level of absurdity to excite repeated runs, and that the game's scope was small, leading to tedium faster than its replayable structure should allow. The game's significance lies in its transition from an indie Geometry Wars homage to an officially licensed Serious Sam title through Croteam's incubator, and its mixed reception highlights the challenges of balancing rogue-lite mechanics with established franchise expectations.

Did You Know?

• The game was originally developed as Spitfire Inferno, inspired by Geometry Wars.
• Gungrounds joined Croteam Incubator after exhibiting at multiple game conferences.
• Players can use bombs that damage both enemies and the player character.
• The game's early access release was delayed from August 2018 to April 2019 for quality assurance.