Publisher Devolver Digital has announced that Serious Sam 4 will release in August 2020.
Rather more surprisingly, the game will launch exclusively on Steam for PC and Google’s fledgling cloud gaming service, Stadia.
The news contradicts previous reports that the game would launch simultaneously on consoles, notably PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Serious Sam 4 will eventually land on Sony and Microsoft’s consoles, but not until the Stadia exclusivity runs out in 2021.
As for the game itself, the developer Cro Team, who was responsible for previous entries in the franchise, is once again on development duties. The plan is to reignite ‘the classic FPS series in a high-powered prequel loaded with an explosive arsenal, intergalactic carnage, and perfectly timed one-liners.’
Here’s how the official marketing describes what players can look forward to, ‘Humanity is under siege as the full force of Mental’s hordes spread across the world, ravaging what remains of a broken and beaten civilization. The last remaining resistance to the invasion is the Earth Defence Force led by Sam “Serious” Stone and his heavily-armed squad of misfit commandos.’
There’s a brand new trailer cooked up for the occasion, channeling the Serious Sam franchise’s silly tone coupled with bombastic violence, ridiculous visuals, and over-the-top gameplay.
Key features include fighting through hordes of alien invaders, an arsenal of weapons ranging from high-powered guns to melee chainsaws with a raft of upgrades, and an online co-op action-packed campaign with up to four players.
Alongside, Serious Sam 4 will introduce a new Legion System, which will allow a dizzying number of enemies to be on screen at any given time, reportedly numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
While we await release later this year, Devolver has axed the price of existing Serious Sam games over on Valve’s Steam digital storefront to commemorate the announcement.