Two big studios have just gotten hitched in a maneuver that will likely bode extremely well for Serious Sam fans.
Croteam has announced this morning that they’ve been acquired by Devolver Digital, known for publishing an impeccable quality of titles with unique and exciting premises, along with a ‘no-crunch’ mandate that has bode extremely well for studios under their purview.
Devolver Digital has worked extensively with Croteam in the past: Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter through Serious Sam 3: BFE, so both companies are at the very least understanding of the processes and workflow of the environment.
Devolver Digital has had its mitts in quite a few ground-breaking titles: Hotline Miami, Shadow Warrior, OlliOlli, Genital Jousting, and Katana Zero to name an extremely limited few titles that many would readily recognize.
After the arguably rough launch that the most recent Serious Sam 4 had, with some readily drawing comparisons of the title towards Duke Nukem Forever which was similarly consistently delayed, and finally released to the public as a title that had already aged a decade.
We are extremely happy and proud to announce that Croteam has become a part of the Devolver Digital family. Our relationship goes back decades, and we're very excited to make it even deeper with this move. Here's to many years of amazing Devolver Digital games by Croteam! https://t.co/0r9DueRBnI
— Croteam (@Croteam) October 21, 2020
Now with Devolver Digital offering some additional oversight, it’s possible that the frustrating results from Croteam could finally be polished out; Devolver Digital similarly has a penchant for leaning into over-the-top shenanigans and buffoonery, so the match does, upon first glance, look to be fantastic.
Unfortunately for fans of ol’ Sammy, Serious Sam 4 is still a bit of a mess; the hugely anticipated Legion system turned out to appear as little more than a gimmick that is used sparingly to flesh out massively sized maps, and the number of enemies on screen never really match what was teased by Croteam in the latter stages of development.
The final boss still offers a hard crash on some systems, the storyline is bafflingly omnipresent, the voicelines (while delivered impressively well) are constantly in your ears, and overall seems like Croteam has simply forgotten why Serious Sam took off in the first place.
That being said, SS4 shouldn’t necessarily be written off by fans of the series; the music score is fantastic, the dual-wield option is an absolute blast to chew through hordes of enemies, and the modernization that felt haphazardly attached to SS3 has been a bit more fleshed-out.
Granted, that does mean that the modernization is likely here to stay, but in terms of what we should select to be picky about, that seems to be at the very tail-end of the list. Get excited, SS fans; it seems like a much-needed hero has arrived.
