Serious Sam Double D

Development and release

Serious Sam Double D was developed by Mommy's Best Games, an indie studio founded by Nathan Fouts in 2007. Devolver Digital contacted Fouts after encountering his studio's first release, Weapon of Choice, and asked him to create a game for the Serious Sam Indie Series, a trio of spinoffs meant to promote Serious Sam 3: BFE. Fouts, a fan of the series, accepted and modeled Double D after Weapon of Choice, reusing and improving its development tools and XNA-based engine.

The publisher requested a "Contra on acid," and Fouts pitched the gun stacker mechanic using a prototype image and specifications. He handled design, art, animations, programming, and sound effects, joined by composer Hamdija Ajanovic, writer AJ Johnson, and programmer Richard Rosenthal. Croteam was hands-off, and Devolver Digital provided funding and marketing with little interference. The gun stacker was conceived to include irregular guns from previous Serious Sam games; initially up to twelve guns could be stacked, but Fouts reduced it to six.

The ability to stack chainsaws was added after a user comment on a Joystiq article. The jump pad was included to adapt circle strafing from 3D Serious Sam games. Fouts chose ancient Egypt as the first setting due to fan familiarity, with original locations for later parts. The game was announced in March 2011 and released for Windows in August 2011.

An expanded version, Serious Sam Double D XXL, was co-released by Mastertronic for Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade in February 2013, adding content and local cooperative multiplayer; this version was ported back to Windows as a free update in October 2013.

Reception

Serious Sam Double D received mixed or average reviews, with Metacritic scores of 66/100 for the original and 68/100 for XXL. VentureBeat ranked it as the fourth-best indie game of 2011. Critics responded positively to the gun stacker, calling it clever and fresh, though some noted a lack of depth and reliance on the same weapon combinations. The game was considered a good fit for the Serious Sam series, but one reviewer thought it would have limited appeal to newcomers.

Repetitiveness was criticized, with one reviewer pointing out similarity between bosses. The shooting was described as quantity over quality, and self-harm from explosions was disliked. The XXL upgrades were said to critically change the game's feel. Level design received conflicting opinions, with one critic calling it nicely varied and another calling it scattershot and amateurish.

The difficulty progression was entertained by one reviewer, and puzzle sections were welcomed. Unlockable challenges were considered interesting by one critic but adding little content by another. The head-to-head mode in XXL was deemed a throwaway distraction.