Serious Sam Classic: The First Encounter Review Summary

A timeless classic FPS with a diverse weapon arsenal, though repetitive levels, a weak story, and outdated visuals and UI hold it back.

Diverse Weapon Arsenal: Players consistently praise the wide variety of weapons, noting that each has its own character and that there are no useless weapons. The arsenal is described as well thought out and huge, offering many options for any play style.

Timeless Classic Shooter: The game is widely regarded as a classic and an icon of the shooter genre. It is described as a true FPS classic that remains entertaining.

Great Soundtrack: Many reviews highlight the music as great, unforgettable, and beautiful. The soundtrack is often mentioned as a standout feature.

Co-op Supports Up to 16 Players: The game features co-op multiplayer that supports up to 16 players on a server, making it even more fun. Some also mention a 4-player co-op mode.

Nostalgic Old-School Shooter: The game evokes pure nostalgia for 2000s shooters and pays homage to classic 90s shooters. It feels like a late 90s shooter in a good way.

Repetitive Gameplay and Level Design: The core gameplay loop of shooting endless waves of enemies in similar arenas becomes repetitive and monotonous. Level design is often basic, consisting of corridors and large empty spaces with little variety.

Weak and Minimal Story: The plot is extremely simple, virtually nonexistent, and often serves only as an excuse to move from one battle to the next. It lacks depth, character development, and any meaningful twists.

Outdated Visuals and UI: Many reviewers note that the graphics, interface, and overall presentation look dated compared to modern standards. The game shows its age and lacks modern features.

Tedious and Unfair Difficulty: The game is often described as unfairly hard, with cheap tactics, lack of checkpoints, and resource scarcity forcing frequent quicksaving. High difficulties exacerbate these issues, making it a test of patience.

Poor Enemy Spawn Design: Enemies frequently spawn in unfair ways, such as right in front of the player, without warning sounds, or in large waves after clearing an area. This leads to many unavoidable deaths and frustration.

First-person shooter gameplay: Players consistently describe the game as a first-person shooter with classic, old-school, arcade, and boomer shooter influences. The action is fast and combat-focused, with some noting an optional third-person view.

Large weapon arsenal: The game provides a vast array of weapons with distinct strengths and weaknesses, including shotguns, miniguns, rocket launchers, revolvers, and futuristic guns. Weapon designs are detailed and well thought out for any play style.

Multiplayer and co-op modes: The game offers multiplayer with cooperative and split-screen support, including deathmatch and co-op modes. Co-op supports up to 16 players, with some mentions of 4-player campaigns.

Diverse enemy types: Enemies are highly varied, each with unique attacks, including kamikaze, melee, and ranged types. Specific creatures mentioned include headless kamikazes, kleers, bulls, reptiloids, and scorpion machine gunners.

Ancient Egypt setting: The game is set in ancient Egypt, featuring pyramids, temples, deserts, tombs, and architecture from Egypt and Mesopotamia. Battles take place in large open arenas and monumental halls.

Runs well on modern hardware: Many players report that the game runs without issues on modern hardware, including Windows 11, and some even achieve high frame rates suitable for streaming. A few mention zero crashes when using community patches.

Performance issues and lag: Several reviews mention poor optimization leading to frame rate drops, lag, and stuttering, especially in the Revolution version. The game may require tweaks or mods to run smoothly.

Resolution and display problems: Players encounter issues setting higher resolutions, such as Full HD, and may need to edit configuration files manually. The map editor is incompatible with 64-bit Windows 7.

Optimization praised by some: A few players find the optimization excellent and the game lightweight, capable of running on low-end hardware.

Compatibility with modern systems: While the game often works on modern systems, some users report it feels outdated, janky, or requires mods and low resolutions to run properly.

Great Game Worth Playing: Reviewers overwhelmingly recommend the game as a great title that is very good and worth playing. It is described as a must-have classic.

Appeals to Old-School FPS Fans: The game is highly recommended for fans of classic shooters like Doom and Duke Nukem and those who grew up during the golden age of FPS games. It offers mad, old-school FPS action.

Worth Trying for Newcomers: Many reviewers suggest trying the game at least once, especially if you haven't played it yet or enjoy this type of game. It is seriously worth giving a try.

HD Version Offers Better Visuals: Several reviewers suggest playing the HD version for improved graphics and achievements, noting that the gameplay remains identical. Some explicitly recommend the HD version over the original.

Buy in Bundle or Revolution: Reviewers recommend purchasing Serious Sam Classics: Revolution or the Complete Pack because it includes both the first and second encounters for less than buying them separately. One reviewer even suggests getting Revolution to receive both original encounters.

Community fair range: $1.00 - $5.00.

Game completion: 6.0h.

Story completion: 6.0h.

Session length: 2.0h.

Serious Sam Classic: The First Encounter is largely described as fun from the start, especially for fans of fast old-school FPS combat and co-op play. Some players report later drop-off and note dead online multiplayer, but immediate enjoyment is the dominant report.

Friction: Dead online multiplayer and empty servers; Repetitive core gameplay structure; Later enemy design can feel unfair or frustrating; Desert-only setting; Limited active community.

Unlock drivers: Co-op play with friends; Split-screen multiplayer on PC; Fast old-school FPS combat with large enemy waves; Powerful and varied weapons.

Nostalgic Old-School FPS Veteran: Revisits classic fast-paced campaigns, explores secrets, and enjoys iconic old-school shooting. Motivation: Reliving childhood and golden-age FPS memories. Stance: buy.

Co-op Mayhem Seeker: Plays campaign co-op, split-screen, and large-map battles for chaotic fun. Motivation: Sharing huge, chaotic battles with friends. Stance: sale.

Hardcore Arena Challenge Seeker: Fights aggressive arena hordes, memorizes spawns, and chases high kill counts. Motivation: Testing skill against massive enemy waves and hard combat. Stance: buy.

The Windows under-8GB VRAM cohort reports a positive experience overall, with all included hardware-tagged reviews recommending the game and no reported performance problems.

Windows <8GB VRAM: positive. Players on Windows systems with less than 8GB VRAM generally report the game working well, and all included reviews recommend it.

Linux and Proton: The available Linux feedback is positive. Users report that the game is playable on Linux with the default Proton configuration, and one mentions a Steam Play compatibility option. No Linux-specific launch failures, Proton workarounds, anti-cheat issues, or stability problems are present in the provided reviews.

Remaster versions are superior: Reviewers consistently say the remastered version is better and more polished than the original. Many recommend the remaster as the definitive way to play.

Released in 2001: The game was released in 2001 and is considered a classic from the early 2000s. Its age is often mentioned in reviews.

Favorably compared to Doom: Reviewers find it more fun than Doom and compare it to Duke Nukem. It is celebrated as a classic FPS of its era.

25th anniversary celebration: The game is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and many reviewers note how well it still holds up. It remains unique and engaging after 25 years.

Developed by Croteam Croatia: The game was developed by Croteam, a Croatian studio. Fans praise the team for raising their country's prestige in the gaming industry.