Serious Sam: Shatterverse Reviews
A roguelike FPS that attempts to bring the formula of Croteam’s classic series into a new format, with only partial success. Given its relatively modest launch price, Serious Sam: Shatterverse can still provide some fun, particularly thanks to its faithfulness to the mechanics of the original series. However, its genuinely unappealing visual style can be quite hard on the eyes.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Serious Sam: Shatterverse is an incredible pitch which should be a genuine joy to play. However, it's not. The progression is awful, the moment-to-moment gameplay is okay at best, and it's got more than it's fair share of bugs as well. It's just not what it could have been. This is a game that could be saved by patches, and I hope it is, but on release, it's just not fun.
Shatterverse is fun when it manages to enrich its roguelite recipe and the builds finally take direction, but before getting to that point it takes a lot of patience and the willingness to overlook several uninspired elements.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Personally, when I look at Serious Sam: Shatterverse as a piece of pure entertainment, the only thing that really let me down is that it just doesn’t have the frequency of true bedlam moments that I like in my Serious Sam titles.
Fun. Especially since it delivers on that front in both its single-player and—above all—co-op modes. It’s a video game that builds on the franchise’s foundations, featuring good level design, a distinctive art style, and a well-paced gameplay experience. However, its fate is uncertain, and the current release schedule may have overshadowed this title too much. The lack of players in its early days is a sign that something isn’t right, and—as unfair as it may seem—it’s almost a death sentence for a title that’s so much more enjoyable when played with others, especially on the higher difficulty levels. In any case, Sam Stone is back in his most retro form, taking down anyone who stands in his way.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Serious Sam: Shatterverse is a fun and surprisingly natural evolution of the franchise.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Serious Sam: Shatterverse is an interesting attempt to bring the action-focused series into the multiplayer roguelite genre, but it falls short due to insignificant upgrades, poor solo balance, a frustrating weapon system, and broken matchmaking. Without Croteam’s involvement, it feels like a low-quality cash grab aimed at a passionate niche.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Serious Sam: Shatterverse has a genuinely promising roguelite foundation, with satisfying gunplay, chaotic action, varied builds, and co-op that suits the series extremely well once everything starts opening up. Unfortunately, it takes far too long to get there, with sluggish early progression, repetitive environments, limited initial variety, and technical issues making the opening hours much weaker than the game eventually becomes.
Review in Czech | Read full review
It’s hard to believe Devolver Digital decided to invest in a project as mediocre, predictable, and hollow as Serious Sam: Shatterverse, which forces a classic series into something it simply isn’t: a co-op roguelike with sluggish progression, uneven difficulty, and uninspired gameplay that gives us very little reason to return to this half-baked multiverse.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Serious Sam is one of those games you can just load up, hit a few rounds of killing aliens, and feel satisfied with what you have achieved. Shoot, punch, heal, kill it’s simple and fun, a great way to end or start your day. The sheer fact that we are still making this type of game in 2026 is just a testament to what a solid community can do when you make something fun. If you’re a fan of the series, this entry will satisfy your inner Sam.
Serious Sam: Shatterverse had potential but falls short. It is a playable title—and fun when played with others—but it falls far below the standards set by the series.
Review in Italian | Read full review
There is nothing inherently wrong with Serious Sam: Shatterverse. It ticks all the boxes. It’s a perfectly serviceable first-person shooter / roguelite hybrid that uses its source material well enough to conjure up a half-decent excuse for a plot, and a varied arsenal of weapons for you to use against hordes of familiar enemies. I guess my main issues with it are how grindy it is, requiring you to play multiple runs before being able to unlock anything worth giving a crap about, and the simple fact that it is yet another roguelite in a sea full of painfully similar competitors.
This new Serious Sam offers a side of the franchise we haven't seen before. I seriously doubt whether that is the right direction. You’ve seen the environments at some point, the enemies become very recognizable after a while, and the gameplay is too much of the same to become truly addictive. After quite a few loops, you’ve seen it all pretty quickly. The progression you make slowly but surely is the most attractive aspect of the game, but it is too slow. Co-op is where the game is most fun, and it is practically mandatory to play it. In that regard, however, I would rather see the good old campaign return instead of this roguelite approach that has now been chosen.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
“Serious Sam Shatterverse delivers a chaotic and refreshing roguelite experience that captures the franchise’s trademark humor and frenetic action.”
Review in Spanish | Read full review
My early impression of Serious Sam: Shatterverse was not all that positive – felt like a “Serious Sam at home” that lost the uniqueness of the original games, while also simplifying the game formula, losing the wacky easter eggs and more. And yet, despite some repetition of the stages, a couple hours in the game truly shines, thanks to the vast array of stage modifiers, the depth of the loot game and class builds, and the intensity of the gameplay on higher difficulties, making for quite the exhilarating FPS roguelite experience – especially in co-op. While we wait for the next mainline Serious Sam, Shatterverse shall keep us busy with its intense and highly replayable roguelite scenarios.
Shatterverse is surprisingly shallow for what it offers, but its fast paced combat does retain its signature feel. The multiverse appeal may be exhausting for some players, given its overuse in multiple forms of media at the moment, but a lack of creating your own Sam is an omission that is bizarre to me. Still, the cast here is fine enough, and at the end of the day, if it looks like Serious Sam and plays like Serious Sam, then I'm glad that the series is still kicking around, some 25 years later.