Nostalgia that still holds up
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“Coming back to it now was a pure nostalgia trip, and I'm happy to say that the game still holds up incredibly well.”
Steam review · 13.5 h played ↗
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 93%Very Positive · 93%Croteam2009FPS · Shooter · Action
$14.99
Open on Steam ↗US Steam price, checked 5 h ago
The verdict
A pure old-school horde shooter with huge enemy counts, great in co-op and for nostalgia. Skip it if you dislike repetitive arenas, cheap enemy spawns and trap pickups.
Great for
Nostalgic fans and co-op friends who want mindless, chaotic old-school shooting
Main risk
Repetitive arenas and cheap enemy spawns and traps make the second half a slog
What players love
Chaotic hordes and fast old-school action
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 positive reviews
“Just you, a huge desert, and 500 enemies screaming while charging straight at you.”
Steam review · 7.1 h played ↗
Great co-op with friends
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews
“We held a New Years LAN party last year, and everyone installed SSHD and we played all the way through in co-op. What a blast.”
Steam review · 2.8 h played ↗
Improved HD graphics
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews
“The HD version looks amazing.”
Steam review · 7.1 h played ↗
Satisfying challenge on higher difficulties
Mentioned in ~1 in 10 positive reviews
“Fights are challenging, specially on hard and above.”
Steam review · 6.5 h played ↗
Fun weapons, humor and secrets
Mentioned in ~1 in 12 positive reviews
“The weapons are as awesome as are the enemies.”
Steam review · 5.4 h played ↗
What players complain about
Repetitive arenas and enemy spam
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 negative reviews
“The second half of the game feels like identical arenas with identical hordes.”
Steam review · 14.1 h played ↗
Cheap enemy spawns and trap pickups
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“25% of the pickups are harmful, spawning more enemies than they return health to you.”
Steam review · 5.2 h played ↗
Aged badly, clunky and dated
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“Game didn't age too well.”
Steam review · 2.4 h played ↗
Kleer skeleton overuse
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 negative reviews
“The game spams you with multiple groups of Kleer in every single level.”
Steam review · 24.3 h played ↗
Bugs and stuck enemies, final boss issues
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 negative reviews
“More than 50% of the enemies that spawned would get stuck in place and couldn't move unless you hit them first”
Steam review · 3.8 h played ↗
Better to buy Second Encounter or Fusion
Mentioned in ~1 in 17 negative reviews
“Just buy The Second Encounter instead. It includes the campaign from this one.”
Steam review · 11.8 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Playable
Minimum
OSWindows XP w/SP1 or newer
ProcessorIntel Pentium 4 3+ Ghz or AMD Athlon64 3500+
Memory1 GB
GraphicsnVidia GeForce 7600, ATI Radeon X1600 (Shader Model 3.0 Highly Recommended)
OSWindows XP w/SP1 or newer
ProcessorIntel Pentium 4 3+ Ghz or AMD Athlon64 3500+
Memory1 GB
GraphicsnVidia GeForce 7600, ATI Radeon X1600 (Shader Model 3.0 Highly Recommended)
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