Split-Screen Co-op

Lore & Background

Following Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, the exiled Sirian Great Council summons Sam and tasks him with retrieving the five pieces of the Medallion of Power, an ancient artifact that can make Mental vulnerable. The pieces are guarded by Mental's forces across five planets. Sam travels to M'Digbo, Magnor, Chi-Fang, Kleer, and Ellenier, defeating various enemies and bosses to obtain each piece. With all five pieces, he heads to Kronos, frees resistance fighters, uses a laser cannon to damage Sirius's shield, and eventually reaches Siriusopolis. After being captured and forced into arena battles, he is rescued by allies and fires at Mental in the Mental Institution, only to discover he shot a speaker. He departs with a hidden spaceship.

In Their Own Story

In the living room, four friends gathered around a single television, each gripping an Xbox controller. The screen split into quarters as they launched into the planet M'Digbo, the first world of Serious Sam II. On one quadrant, a player wielded dual revolvers, while another fired a rocket launcher into a cluster of Kleer skeletons. The difficulty adjusted automatically, spawning more enemies to match their numbers. When one player fell, they respawned instantly beside their teammates, keeping the action relentless. After clearing the level, the player who reached the exit first triggered the transition, pulling everyone into the next stage without pause. The shared screen meant every explosion and enemy charge was visible to all, turning the campaign into a frantic, cooperative scramble.

Reader's Guide

In multiplayer, the campaign can be played cooperatively with up to sixteen players on Windows and up to four players on Xbox. On Xbox, players can connect locally via System Link or online through Xbox Live. Split-screen multiplayer was left out as it appeared infeasible on the Xbox. Each player has a customisable number of lives, and upon death they are immediately brought to the other players. The difficulty adjusts to the number of players. When one player finishes a stage, all others automatically follow. Xbox Live allowed players to enter scores into online leaderboards; after the service's shutdown, it was unofficially succeeded by the third-party Insignia service.

Did You Know?

• Serious Sam II was one of the first releases of 2K Games, which had succeeded the original games' publisher, Gathering of Developers.
• The game's proprietary engine, Serious Engine 2, incorporated a bespoke physics engine and support for higher-quality graphics.
• The Xbox version includes an aim assist.
• The shift to a cartoonish art style was polarising among fans, and Serious Sam 3: BFE (2011) became a prequel to The First Encounter.