# Serious Sam HD turns Egypt into a co-op shooting gallery

Clear an arcade FPS campaign with up to 16 online players, or use Fusion 2017 for local split-screen with up to four on one display.

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

![A cannon fires across an Egyptian desert battlefield as enemies advance through smoke and debris.](https://playnext.party/steam-images/efd51ae7-2752-482a-a772-08a6a6e257c7/ss-ffa39bba22567e87e28df2b996ceac894344d38d?width=1200)

You and your friends can turn Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter’s Egyptian campaign into a crowded arcade firefight. Its online co-op supports up to 16 players, while the separate Fusion 2017 build adds local split-screen for up to four people around one display. Sam Stone’s job is simple: cross ancient ruins, collect bigger guns, and clear the Sirian army that Mental has left in his way.

## Egypt, one arena at a time

The story sends Sam back through time to ancient Egypt, where Mental’s forces have taken over temples, desert routes, tombs, and ruined cities. The plot gives you a reason to move through those places, but it stays in the background. This is an arcade shooter first: the scenery opens up, enemies arrive, and forward progress resumes once the fighting is done.

The campaign has 15 levels, built around large spaces that let monsters approach from several directions. You might cross a sunlit courtyard, move through a dark stone interior, then emerge into a broad stretch of sand. Wide sightlines make the battlefield easy to read at a glance, but they also mean the next threat can be running in from far away while something else is already close.

A quiet walkway can change into a full arena without a long buildup. Enemies appear after you cross a trigger or enter a new area, and some waves arrive in groups that fill the space. The next door may stay closed until the current attack ends. Later sections mix in switches, keys, or objects to collect, so progress is mostly linear but not limited to holding the trigger down in every room.

There are hidden items and side passages among the main routes. Secrets can add supplies or give you a detour away from the obvious path, which puts a little exploration between the big fights. They do not turn the campaign into a sprawling maze; the levels are still shaped around moving onward and surviving the next encounter.

## A crowd with different ways to close in

The Sirian army is memorable because its enemies make their intentions visible. Headless Kamikazes sprint toward you with explosives, announcing themselves with a high-pitched scream. Sirian Werebulls build speed across open ground and charge in a straight line. Kleer skeletons leap at you, while gun-wielding Arachnoids can pressure you from farther away. Slower, heavier creatures and huge bosses add a different scale to the mix.

That variety changes the shape of each wave. Fast enemies can cross an arena while you are tracking a distant threat; a charging bull forces you to pay attention to open lanes; projectiles fill space you might otherwise use to move through the crowd. The game does not assign your group character classes or jobs. Everyone is Sam, with access to the same weapons and supplies, and the shared problem is the shifting mass of enemies.

One fight may leave room to spread out and watch threats approach across the sand. A narrow interior can compress the same number of enemies into less space, and a later wave may overlap several kinds at once. You see the familiar cast repeatedly, but the order and scale of the attacks make the rhythm swing between brief breathing spaces and noisy, screen-filling rushes.

![Two large blue mechanical enemies close in around a first-person rocket launcher in a rocky desert pass.](https://playnext.party/steam-images/efd51ae7-2752-482a-a772-08a6a6e257c7/ss-9e38e064fc3df1e0561ddee539ac4cb47f451db2?width=1200)

## Finding the right tool in a loud arsenal

Sam’s weapons give you several ways to answer those threats. Revolvers and shotguns work at closer range; the Double Shotgun makes a heavy blast feel different from a steady stream of bullets. A Tommy gun and Minigun put repeated fire across an approaching group, while the rocket launcher, grenade launcher, laser gun, and hand-held cannon offer more explosive or high-impact attacks. Most weapons do not ask you to reload manually, so the action stays focused on firing, switching, and keeping track of what ammunition remains.

Weapons and supplies are part of the route, not a permanent character build. You pick up ammunition, health, armor, and new guns as you move through the levels. The basic revolver gives you a way to keep firing when other ammunition runs low; stronger weapons can make a wave feel very different, but they also have limited reserves. Ammo crates and health pickups matter because a long encounter can put several waves between the group and the next quiet stretch.

The weapon mix also affects distance and timing. A close-range blast has a different reach from a rocket crossing an open courtyard; a cannon shot takes a moment to travel before it lands. In the middle of a wave, those differences can help make the same field of enemies feel less like one undifferentiated target. There is no upgrade tree to build around or new ability set to unlock between missions. The satisfaction comes from recognizing what is arriving, finding a weapon that fits, and making it through with the ammunition you have.

Music and sound effects help announce the shift from exploration to combat. Enemy calls can cut through the soundtrack, then mix with weapon fire and explosions as the arena fills. Sam’s one-liners keep the tone knowingly silly even when the enemy count climbs. The HD edition rebuilds the original adventure with brighter, more detailed visuals, so its ancient Egyptian temples and open skies give the frantic fights a colorful backdrop rather than a grim war setting.

![A first-person shotgun faces enemies and flying projectiles in a green ravine beside a waterfall.](https://playnext.party/steam-images/efd51ae7-2752-482a-a772-08a6a6e257c7/ss-fe44167d6d6cfcd3399a83f12e643fac9d5c5ee8?width=1200)

## A campaign that scales with the group

Online co-op lets up to 16 players enter the campaign together. Enemy numbers and strength can scale with the size of the session, and the host can adjust the challenge. That matters because a room that feels manageable with a few friends can become a storm of overlapping enemies once a larger group joins. With ten or more people, contemporary coverage describes the action as hard to follow; the big player cap is there for groups that want the spectacle, not a quiet tactical shooter.

The online option is built for campaign play, with voice chat and a server browser documented in contemporary PC coverage. You can start a player-hosted session, set a private session and cap its player count, or use the dedicated-server utility added for the PC edition. The maximum of 16 applies to campaign co-op; the game also has Deathmatch, but its player cap is not established by the campaign listing. The versus matches use separate maps and goals, so they are a different option from moving through Sam’s story together.

If everyone is sharing one computer and display, use Serious Sam Fusion 2017. The original standalone HD launch did not include split-screen, while the Fusion build adds local split-screen and supports up to four players on the shared screen. Fusion also supports a range of gamepads and cross-platform multiplayer among its supported computer versions. Its local and network player arrangements are separate: the split-screen setup is for people at the same screen, while online sessions connect each player over the network.

The Steam account that owns this HD Encounter can access its Fusion version through the separate Fusion hub. That gives the group a choice of how to launch the game: standalone online play, or Fusion when you need local split-screen or its wider platform support. Each local player shares the same display, so a four-person session means four viewpoints in one picture. If your group expects independent full-screen views, online co-op is the better fit.

## Who will enjoy the campaign’s loop?

Serious Sam HD suits friends who want a direct shooter with a clear shared objective and a lot happening on screen. It has no class setup, loot management, cover system, or elaborate mission briefing to work through before the first fight. You enter a level, find weapons and supplies, and face waves that become more demanding as you travel farther. The campaign gives you a beginning and endpoint, with enemy encounters and Egyptian locations supplying most of the variation along the way.

That focus is also its main limit. A large part of the game asks you to fight another group of monsters, and the same basic rhythm returns throughout the campaign. The different enemies, weapons, and spaces alter the details, but there is little narrative development or long-term character progression between battles. If your friends want a mission-based shooter where roles and equipment evolve over time, this may feel repetitive before the final level.

Difficulty also depends on the group and setting. The adjustable options can leave lighter sessions more forgiving or make enemy waves much harsher. Some fights can feel punishing, especially when enemies arrive from several directions or when the group has spent the ammunition that best fits a threat. Large parties bring more action and keep the firing line going when individual players die, but the screen can become so busy that individual monsters are difficult to track.

The final stretch leads toward Ugh-Zan, a towering multi-storey boss that gives the campaign a more imposing finish than its usual enemy rush. Secrets offer reasons to look beyond the direct route, and the range of difficulty and co-op settings can change the pressure on a repeat run. The game does not build a separate cooperative puzzle around each friend; its lasting appeal is the contrast between open Egyptian landscapes, a strange bestiary, and increasingly crowded gunfights.

For a small group, the lower player limit and adjustable difficulty leave room to experience the campaign without filling every corner of the screen. Larger groups can push the spectacle further, while a local gathering can use Fusion’s shared-display mode. The loop stays deliberately straightforward in either setup: find a route through Egypt, meet another Sirian attack, and get the whole group to the next stretch of quiet ground.

## On Steam

- **Play together:** Online co-op, Remote Play Together, Online PvP
- **Steam reviews:** Very Positive, 93% positive of 9,034 reviews
- **Playing now:** 67
- **Platforms:** Windows
- **Developer:** Croteam
- **Publisher:** Devolver Digital

[View on Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/41000/)

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Source: https://playnext.party/en/games/serious-sam-hd-the-first-encounter/

Language: en