Serious Sam: Tormental
Serious Sam: Tormental
Game
Game2011
Serious Sam: The Random Encounter
Developer Vlambeer, Croteam
Serious Sam: The Random Encounter is a 2011 role-playing and bullet hell game developed by Vlambeer and published by Devolver Digital. It follows Sam "Serious" Stone travelling to the future in search of his nemesis, Mental, teaming up with mercenaries on the way. The player controls Sam and his accomplices through confined levels, engaging in battles through random encounters. These pit the player characters… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
317 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
30
Rotten
52 positive · 123 negative
95% range 23–37%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 52 | 123 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 30 | 10 | 83 |
| Mastodon * | 3 | 0 | 13 |
| Lemmy * | 1 | 0 | 2 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mixed
184 of 428 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
31% recommend · 55 yes, 122 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 177 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mixed (401 of 825 positive).
Some players find it a fun, short spin-off for Serious Sam fans, especially after fixes. [1][2][3] Many reviewers criticize the game for repetitive, frustrating, and unbalanced random encounters. [4][5][6][7] Several players report technical issues, including crashes and incompatibility with modern Windows. [8][9][10]
Liked
Representative posts
- [1]
I can give positive review to this game just because they finally fixed it and we can play it now. But battles sometimes frustrating, because of random enemy placement they can get to you before you can shoot them. Otherwise its fun little game for Serious Sam fans.
- [2]
I can't quite understand why the game has received so much hate. I personally find it entertaining. Sure, it's not a AAA title, but it only costs 5€. For such a low price (or on sale) you can get the game. I got it in a bundle with all the Serious Sam games. It is worth a few hours of fun.
- [5]
Forget about furious running and shooting this is RPG Sam... Walk around the map and fight some random encounters. Gameplay is somewhat turn based and each action takes one move. You can choose between shooting, swapping weapons or using an item. While in action phase you're able to dodge incoming enemies and bullets by going up or down. Music feels a bit melancholic but it's not the main con. What drives me insane …
- [8]
Unplayable in Windows 10, Games crashes at second battle upon recieveing the shotgun.
- [12]
Short, boring, repetitive, hard, uninspiring turn-based Serious Sam spin-off. Game has potential, but in its current state I can recommend it only for people who want to play EVERY Serious Sam game. Pros: - Cool art design; Cons: - Very steep difficulty curve; - Not enough strategic options; - Overall repetition; - Game is VERY short;
Summarised from 34 of the 276 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
31% of the 177 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Serious Sam: The Random Encounter. The complaint that keeps coming up: repetitive and boring gameplay. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Serious Sam: The Random Encounter received "mixed or average reviews", according to the review aggregator website Metacritic, which calculated a weighted average rating of 64/100 based on eleven critic reviews. Several critics—including Allistair Pinsof of Destructoid, Eric Neigher of IGN, and Lana Polansky of Kill Screen—considered the combat system innovative. The Eurogamer writer Christian Donlan described it as "ingenious", while David Sanchez of GameZone labelled it as an "excellent amalgamation of genres". Polansky specifically lauded the battle designs, which she found akin to a strategic puzzle requiring planning. Conversely, Ryan Hodge, in his review for GamesRadar, stated that…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 317 · most liked first>game is called "Serious Sam" >every single level is completely unserious bullshit are they stupid?
negative · AI labelView post →Ooh, (very WIP) trailer dropped for Zortch 2. The first game was short but tons of fun, like a long-lost N64 shooter given a PC remaster. The sequel kinda makes me think of Serious Sam meets Duke Nukem 64 so far.
neutral · AI labelView post →Game Pass titles leaving in 2 weeks: -Anuchard -Darkest Dungeon -Broforce -Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem -Maquette -Death's Door
neutral · AI labelView post →Every Serious Sam game looks like it's a fake game that a TV show character is playing and I love it
positive · AI labelView post →It's funny that people were freaking out and declaring Serious Sam dead because a third-party spinoff game... existed. Forgetting all the other weird third-party spinoffs we've had over the years.
neutral · AI labelView post →I've thought about how I'd handle a Serious Sam video, but the games are all so similar and repetitive that I think I'd just do one giant video covering every major Sam game. What do you think?
neutral · AI labelView post →A super early version of the Colosseum from Serious Sam Next Encounter, running on the PC's Serious Editor. This is from January 25, 2002, while the game wouldn't release on GameCube until April 2004.
neutral · AI labelView post →Showed the gang an Easter Egg in Serious Sam Double D XXL where there’s a monument to the Xzibit “X in your X” meme that gets you an achievement. Was a little hard finding the footage as Youtube search sucks now and few recall this game.
neutral · AI labelView post →The easiest way to dabble in #GameDev? Modding. Pick your favorite game and it probably has some sort of modding support. My first #IndieDev experience was adding a tiny feature to Serious Sam, back in 2001. It was ~5 lines of code and seeing it in-game felt amazing.
neutral · AI labelView post →People talk about video games that look fake sometimes but I think Serious Sam TSE might somehow have the fakest looking video game cover art ever.
neutral · AI labelView post →Seriously flawed game with great art and presentation but with boring repetitive gameplay that is too hard and tedious to bother with. Stick with the FPS SS games or you're going to be in for a seriously awful time.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Please everyone buy this game It's so great and i have been enjoying it lots too! It has catgirls. It plays similar to DOOM Quake & Serious Sam, but it's own unique experience to the FPS genre. Also a meow button And made by trans devs too 💙🏳️⚧️
neutral · AI labelView post →Every action game fan needs to play Serious Sam because of much it tests player patience and crowd control skills.
positive · AI labelView post →Forget about furious running and shooting this is RPG Sam... Walk around the map and fight some random encounters. Gameplay is somewhat turn based and each action takes one move. You can choose between shooting, swapping weapons or using an item. While in action phase you're able to dodge incoming enemies and bullets by going up or down. Music feels a bit melancholic but it's not the main con. What drives me insane are encounters which happen too frequently. On top of that gameplay gets…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →AAAA games are nothing special, Serious Sam was the world's first AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA game.
positive · AI labelView post →The classic Serious Sam 2 gets a big upgrade and now Steam Deck Verified https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/10/the-classic-serious-sam-2-gets-a-big-upgrade-and-now-steam-deck-verified/ #SeriousSam2 #SteamDeck #SeriousSam #PCGaming #FPS
neutral · AI labelView post →A short spin-off that probably shouldn't have happened. More for the lols than a serious game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Games leaving Game Pass on February 1st. - Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem - Darkest Dungeon - Deaths Door - Broforce - Maquette - Anuchard
neutral · AI labelView post →Serious Sam can be in any video game, at any time.
neutral · AI labelView post →NEW SERIOUS SAM GAME??
neutral · AI labelView post →My patch to add #SeriousSam to #Guix got merged!!! It's a really fun and silly FPS, and it wasn't a trifle to get it working on Guix :) #programming #gaming #retro
positive · AI labelView post →I did say I'd like to do something for you all when I get my channel access back. Thinking of perhaps a live stream, but what game should it be? I know people often request a repeat playthrough of the janky Serious Sam 3 port for PS3, lol.
neutral · AI labelView post →Serious Sam: Shatterverse announced as a new co-op roguelite FPS https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/03/serious-sam-shatterverse-announced-as-a-new-co-op-roguelite-fps/ #SeriousSam #Shatterverse #FPS #PCGaming
neutral · AI labelView post →Author: 200. Francis — unknown. 1/ An African mercenary named Francis, originally recruited as a foot soldier, was repurposed into a headless “kamikaze” role reminiscent of a Serious Sam video game character. Continue… ⬇️
neutral · AI labelView post →THREAD of Remix 80s now that I have more than one, will be updated with each one I level! number one: Samward "Serious" Stonefuse. my "main" for remix this time, he's a cosplay character of Serious Sam from classic FPS game ... Serious Sam.
neutral · AI labelView post →Serious Sam does a better job being a "bullet hell" than alot of gentrified modern/indie games putting bullet hell elements in their game cause it actually gives a shit about you actually dodging shit and not having a million different ways to ignore damage
positive · AI labelView post →Onirism will likely always have some rough edges, because it is by a small indie team, and the game is simultaneously Serious Sam, Blood, Call of Duty Zombies, Bioshock, Timesplitters, Halo, Star Wars Battlefront and every PS2-era mascot platformer ever made.
neutral · AI labelView post →We’re now in the paper session - we had a great range of papers, first exploring the representation of Egypt in Talos Principle from @jennycromwell.bsky.social - a great deep dive into what this game is made of (part of which is: Serious Sam!)
neutral · AI labelView post →I made the mistake of playing through both Mouse PI and Serious Sam lately. Too many jumpy shooters that get me all worked up and tense. Need to play something more laid-back next time like an RPG or Kirby game.
negative · AI labelView post →On this windy #RandomGameSaturday, I have Serious Sam: Next Encounter, a game not to be confused with Serious Sam: The Second Encounter or Serious Sam II no matter how much it sounds like a direct sequel. I've not played much of any game in this series, but I feel like I'd really enjoy it once I do
neutral · AI labelView post →number 1 rule of a Serious Sam game: anyone with a homing projectile must die first (Aludran Reptiloids, Technopolyps) number 2: keep fucking running number 3: the sooner you ride the Werebull, the better
neutral · AI labelView post →Doom 2016: A great action shooter with a compelling narrative throughline. Half Life on coke Doom Eternal: Fast paced arcade arena shooter. Mobility is everything. Nobody's knows wtf is going on Dark Ages: Serious Sam with lore??? They're trying to add story this late in the game???
neutral · AI labelView post →it's a bullet hell game, which is a genre Amy got me into back in the day with Serious Sam
neutral · AI labelView post →🎊🎈Pre-Birthday Twitch stream 🎈🎊 Tune in at 2pm CST, about two and a half hours from this post going up BUT I will QRT again with the link when I go live! Playing the Alpha build of Serious Sam! It will be jank! But should prove... interesting!
neutral · AI labelView post →Serious Sam: The Third Encounter gets teased by Croteam and Devolver Digital https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/10/serious-sam-the-third-encounter-gets-teased-by-croteam-and-devolver-digital/ #SeriousSam #FPS #Action #Steam #Proton #PCGaming
neutral · AI labelView post →I woke up hearing new Serious Sam… Good.. very nice.. wait… Hunter the Reckoning?? New game? In this modern day???! I was literally talking to friends about it maaany maaany times begging for a new game since the original xbox days! The game was one of the inspirations for this commission!
neutral · AI labelView post →lol my kids still pull up the 2000s interview I gave to EP for Serious Sam to laugh at how much I have aged and how excited I was about dual wield uzis as a game mechanic
neutral · AI labelView post →Does not function on modern computers.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In some videogames with no player character options, you get to actually have a character (Serious Sam). In some, you get a blank slate with pronouns (FEAR). To an extent, I can accept it if the game is old. . . . This post is about Mechwarrior 5.
neutral · AI labelView post →Serious Sam on the original Xbox. Never played Halo on it, lmao, But Serious Sam I loved so much, I'd regularly try to convince my parents to play it with me No clue who I'd be if I hadn't played that silly little game back when I was a wee little batty
positive · AI labelView post →I found out about new Serious Sam game. Not really sure if I want to play it or not. I love Serious Sam but this game looks like the most generic "Fortnite wanna be" slop. Feels like they wanted to make Serious Sam popular among gen Z or something. I hate that trend and direction.
negative · AI labelView post →They call this the random encounter, but i call it the failed encounter. Who even thought this game was a good serious sam game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unplayable in Windows 10, Games crashes at second battle upon recieveing the shotgun.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🔴 Another new Serious Sam video! This one covers the leaked game design document, sketchbook and various community projects.
neutral · AI labelView post →wait what the fuck I own Serious Sam 3 somehow. it's just in my Steam library. that's funny as shit. won't be my first game but I'll probably try it at some point
neutral · AI labelView post →A GIRL SERIOUS SAM? ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS? Yeah man Sammy was in the game long before the new girl Sam like who gives a fuck you can be aliens and shit in these games lmao
neutral · AI labelView post →87. Serious Sam 3 Jewel of the Nile: Solid little expansion. The secret weapons from the main game became normal pick-ups and the hammer is now a sick axe. The first couple levels are oddly stingy on health though which got annoying. I liked it, but I'm taking break before I play Serious Sam 4!
positive · AI labelView post →Plan to postpone artwork with I-NO again, start artwork with Barry Stickfries, who will refer to the cover of the game Serious Sam 3: BFE and at the same time finalize the summer SparkTEJ illustration
neutral · AI labelView post →So, back to Game Club, the very first game project I ever worked on was the first Game Club project - a mod for Serious Sam, called "Propain", with transforming mechs I made. I made the Mechs. 15/?
neutral · AI labelView post →I think what's great about Serious Sam The First Encounter is that despite 99% of the game taking place in the desert, the environments still feel varied, and the game is quite vibrant.
positive · AI labelView post →⚫️LIVE FROM 3:30PM BST🟡 We've launched some seriously cool collections over the last few weeks but now it's time to relax and enjoy a game with some pals as the boys from the Coin try out Serious Sam: Shatterverse. Watch here www.youtube.com/live/EWi7_l1... or on twitch.tv/officialinsertcoin
neutral · AI labelView post →I see you, new Serious Sam game. Lizard man
neutral · AI labelView post →THEY MADE SERIOUS SAM A PICK ONE OF THREE GAME SELL THE INDUSTRY
neutral · AI labelView post →When there’s a secret teleport or ammo stash in a Serious Sam game
neutral · AI labelView post →I’m watching Serious Sam: The Second Encounter being played with 5 player co-op and this is the fakest video game ever in a fun way
positive · AI labelView post →Submitted my #SeriousSam patch to #Guix [1]!!!! This took a few days to get working, but I'm happy with the result. The engine assumes both its libraries and the official game data exist in the same directory. This is impossible on Guix, since the store where the engine libraries are located is immutable. Some work had to be done to get the game to read all of the game data from the user directory, as well as patch some linking errors. [1] https://codeberg.org/guix/guix/pulls/1480 #programming…
neutral · AI labelView post →Serious Sam HD: Second Encounter (2010): Definitely better and more fast-paced than the first game, but not nearly as fun as Serious Sam 2. I still despise Kleers, though the flamethrower makes quick work of them. But let's be real, the main reason we play this one is because of the Grand Cathedral.
neutral · AI labelView post →Join me and @d6learning.bsky.social for a live interview/Q&A with writers Jonas & Verena Kyratzes on March 5, 17:00 CET! We will discuss writing for video games (The Talos Principle and Serious Sam 4 mostly), and then host a Q&A session. Grab a (free) seat here: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-writin...
neutral · AI labelView post →I can't wait for the next serious Sam game to be announced #gaming #serioussam
neutral · AI labelView post →Is ᴛʜɪs ᴀ ʙᴀᴅ ᴊᴏᴋᴇ?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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