# Serious Sam 3: BFE turns co-op into an alien stampede

Blast through Serious Sam 3: BFE’s campaign with up to 16 online players or four people in local split-screen, against waves of monsters in Egypt.

[PLAYNEXT](https://playnext.party/) · Published: 10/2/2026

![A character fires into a crowd of enemies as another stands amid explosions in a ruined Cairo street.](https://playnext.party/images/games/serious-sam-3-bfe/cairo-co-op-battle.jpg)

Serious Sam 3: BFE turns a campaign against an alien invasion into a shared firing line. You and up to 15 friends can play online, or up to four people can share one computer in offline split-screen. Mental’s monsters pour into the streets, ruins, and open sand of Egypt as the campaign’s fights fill with running, strafing, and an expanding arsenal. There are no character classes or puzzle roles: everyone faces the same waves and draws from weapons found along the same route.


## A whole campaign built for company

The story follows Sam Stone through Earth’s last struggle against Mental’s forces, with the events leading into Serious Sam: The First Encounter. The plot provides a reason to move through the campaign, but the action is the draw: cross a level, open the next route, and face a sudden wave that fills the available space with charging beasts, armed clones, and flying projectiles. The standard campaign has 12 levels, and its missions can be played cooperatively rather than switching to a separate set of group-only stages.

The spaces change from ruined streets and tight passages to broad courtyards, desert stretches, and monumental Egyptian ruins. A quiet corridor can turn into a trap once enemies appear at both ends; open arenas leave fewer walls between players and the next wave. Some fights are short bursts between objectives, while others hold the group in a large area until the mix of enemies is cleared. That shift between movement and sudden pressure gives the campaign more texture than a single endless arena, even though shooting stays at its center.

The early part of the campaign is more restrained than the huge battles later on. You begin with basic weapons and smaller encounters, then the enemy combinations and open fights grow busier. If your friends are looking for an immediate parade of enormous hordes, expect the game to take some time before it reaches that pace. The campaign’s final stretch is also long and intense, so a group can treat it as a full evening rather than a quick run.

## Change weapons as the horde changes

Sam can carry a broad arsenal and switch between weapons as the fight demands. The pistol and assault rifle cover regular enemies, the double-barreled shotgun is powerful at close range, and the automatic shotgun sends explosive shells into a dense crowd. A rocket launcher, minigun, laser weapon, sniper rifle, and cannon offer heavier or more specialized firepower as you find them. Ammunition and weapons are distributed through levels and hidden side areas, so exploring between fights can pay off when a later arena gets crowded.

Your group is not choosing roles in a menu. Each person picks up weapons and supplies along the route, then reacts to the current wave. A minigun chews through bodies in front of you; rockets can reach a target across an arena; explosive shells spread damage through a close-packed group. The variety is in how each gun answers the next rush, not in a party build that needs a healer or a tank. That makes it easy to understand what is happening when a friend joins late, but it also means the game does not ask for much coordination beyond fighting the same enemies.

When guns are empty or an enemy gets dangerously close, melee attacks give players another option. The sledgehammer has several attack motions, and some creatures can be finished with a context-sensitive hand kill. Pulling a Gnaar’s eye or breaking through a creature’s armor is deliberately grisly; it is a brief close-up in a game otherwise focused on distance, movement, and heavy fire. Health and armor come from pickups rather than regenerating automatically. Supplies can sit in a cleared corner, while enemy waves can keep the route to them dangerous.

## Enemies that ask different questions

The horde is a mixture of recognizable silhouettes and attack patterns. Headless Kamikazes sprint toward players with explosives and a scream that announces the rush; Kleer skeletons close distance with fast leaps and blades; Gnaars lunge at short range; and Sirian Werebulls charge in a straight line, cutting across the arena. Other creatures attack from farther away with projectiles, while the Scrapjack and towering Khnum bring heavier bodies and attacks into larger encounters. The danger often comes from combinations: close-range attackers press in as other enemies fire across the same arena.

That mixture gives combat its changing rhythm without a formal group-strategy system. Everyone can attack anything, while enemies occupy different distances and move at different speeds. A charging Werebull can break across an arena; a Kamikaze may appear during a long-range exchange; and a large brute can draw attention as smaller creatures keep advancing. The game does not pause to introduce each threat or provide a tactical command wheel. Enemy audio cues signal danger beyond the center of the screen.

Combat is built around movement and aim rather than the cover-peeking rhythm common in military shooters. There is no conventional cover system, and many breakable structures will not protect players for long. Fights move between open ground and pillars as enemies close in from different directions. Some guns can aim down sights, but fast movement and close threats keep the pace focused on quick shots and frequent changes in direction rather than careful corner holds. If your group prefers slower firefights built around cover and synchronized abilities, BFE’s constant pressure may feel blunt. Its appeal is the swelling enemy count that turns the arena itself into a challenge.

![Sam faces a spread of small aliens and larger beasts across a wide desert battlefield.](https://playnext.party/steam-images/ab4a5677-a078-4484-a281-b636a346f8ce/ss-63713b15a386bfe26f9d363f14b77cfe9ef4104f?width=1200)

## Choose how much a death costs

Online co-op supports up to 16 players, and the same campaign can be played locally by up to four people on one computer. Standard Co-Op, Classic Co-Op, and Coin-Op Co-Op offer different campaign rules, alongside Beast Hunt and Team Beast Hunt. Classic lets the host adjust enemy strength, extra enemies, and lives; Coin-Op gives the group a more limited supply of retries. The chosen mode and server settings shape the challenge, so the player cap alone does not tell you whether a session will feel relaxed or punishing.

Deaths are part of the score and respawn rules rather than a permanent campaign loss. Depending on the selected mode and server settings, you can return to the fight after falling, with a score penalty or a limited pool of extra chances. More players can make many encounters easier because more guns can attack at once and a downed player can rejoin, though some settings increase the opposition as the group grows. You can turn the experience toward a breezy monster-clearing session or make the horde stronger and retries scarcer. The customization is practical for a mixed-skill group, though a new player joining a highly tuned server may find that “co-op” does not automatically mean gentle.

Beast Hunt and Team Beast Hunt put players into a score competition while enemies remain on the map, and the broader multiplayer list also includes Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Last Man Standing, and other versus modes. Those are useful if your friends want to shoot at each other, but they do not make the campaign a team-versus-team game. For the shared invasion story, pick one of the co-op campaign options; the versus modes have separate goals and a different group dynamic.

Survival is the shorter alternative when you want the horde without moving through the story. It places players in a purpose-built arena and sends waves until everyone is down. There is no calm shop break between rounds: the pressure keeps building, and the session ends when the group does. That makes it easier to fit one attempt into a short call than to start another campaign chapter, though Survival trades the campaign’s changing places and progression for repeated defense in a contained space.

## Online squad or one shared screen

For an online session, you can host a game or join a server, and the in-game mode menu separates campaign co-op from player-versus-player matches. Sixteen slots leave room for a large Discord group, while smaller parties can play the same campaign. Public lobby activity can vary, so a full server is not guaranteed when relying on open sessions.

Local split-screen is available offline for up to four players on one computer. It divides the display into multiple views, and PC split-screen supports controllers as well as multiple keyboards and mice. Each person still needs a separate usable control arrangement. Rendering several views at once can tax the computer, so split-screen performance depends on the host machine. This provides a same-room option, with performance tied to the hardware running the game.

The Steam versions for Windows, macOS, and Linux can play together online and host servers. That lets friends use different operating systems without splitting into separate multiplayer groups.

An optional expansion, Jewel of the Nile, adds three campaign missions set around an island, canyons, and temples. Its three missions support online and split-screen co-op, and add a new enemy and boss, plus the sniper rifle and laser rifle as regular weapons in those missions. The base game remains a complete 12-level co-op campaign; the DLC adds more of the same style of fights.

## Loud, gory, and deliberately uncomplicated

The presentation leans into an over-the-top monster movie: ancient architecture, modern weapons, giant creatures, heavy-metal music, and one-liners from Sam. The tone is more blunt than subtle, and the blood and dismemberment are visible during fights and melee finishes. A blood-and-gore setting, including a “hippie mode,” can reduce the graphic effects for someone in the group who wants a less gory view. The settings cannot change the game’s basic structure, though: most of your time is spent shooting, dodging, and crossing combat spaces.

There is no character leveling track or permanent equipment tree for friends to build together. Progression comes from finishing the next campaign level, finding weapons and supplies, and learning how the next enemy mix behaves. Secrets reward a second look through each mission, and difficulty and co-op settings can change the feel of a repeat run. The level editor and Steam Workshop add room for community-made content, but they are extras rather than requirements for completing the official campaign.

Serious Sam 3: BFE suits a group that wants a straightforward FPS where everybody gets a weapon and the screen keeps filling with targets. The online cap is unusually generous, while local four-player split-screen gives a smaller gathering a same-room option. The tradeoff is the game’s narrow focus: there are no support classes, shared puzzles, or quiet stretches for conversation once a big arena starts. If your friends want a chaotic arcade campaign with a dial for its difficulty, the mix of huge enemy waves, varied guns, and configurable co-op rules gives you plenty to play through together.

## On Steam

- **Play together:** Online co-op, Remote Play Together, Online PvP, Cross-platform multiplayer
- **Steam reviews:** Very Positive, 88% positive of 28,764 reviews
- **Playing now:** 97
- **Platforms:** Windows, macOS, Linux
- **Controller support:** Full
- **Developer:** Croteam
- **Publisher:** Devolver Digital

[View on Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/41070/)

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Source: https://playnext.party/en/games/serious-sam-3-bfe/

Language: en