# Serious Sam II turns the campaign into a co-op stampede

Take on a colorful, weapon-packed FPS campaign with friends online or over LAN, then swap monster waves for versus play.

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

![A first-person view faces a shield-bearing creature on a bright tropical beach.](https://playnext.party/steam-images/80fd1f64-881e-4b91-b194-69d47734993a/ss-c6f3cedda343c596b614e5d7d1d60fe6373fd144?width=1200)

Serious Sam II lets you and your friends charge through its full arcade-shooter campaign together. Online co-op supports up to **16 players**, and the default session maximum is two players rather than four. The campaign’s 42 levels mix monster-filled arenas with switches, defense objectives, vehicles, and the occasional turret. You can also play across separate computers on a local network; the PC version has no built-in split-screen mode.

The setup is straightforward if everyone wants to shoot first and work out the details while the level loads. One player starts an Internet or LAN session, and the others join that game. You share Sam’s route and its objectives, with no character classes to choose and no team roles to unlock. Everyone gets the same basic job: keep Mental’s forces from overrunning the area and move on when the fighting stops.


## A rescue mission across strange worlds

Sam’s goal is to stop the alien warlord Mental, and the campaign sends him through a parade of colorful worlds along the way. The scenery shifts from thick jungle and swamp to snowy terrain and futuristic streets. Friendly native characters appear in some areas, too: rescuing or defending them can turn a stretch of combat into a small objective instead of another straight run toward the next exit.

The story mostly serves as a frame for the action. Between levels, short cutscenes trade serious science-fiction drama for broad jokes and references. If you and your friends want a shooter that keeps the talking light and the weapons loud, that tone is part of the package. If you need a tightly plotted story to give every mission a distinct purpose, the plot has less to offer than the steady stream of new places and enemies.

Across 42 levels, the campaign alternates open arenas, routes through buildings and settlements, and set pieces that interrupt the usual run-and-gun pace. Some objectives ask you to hold a position while waves pour in; others have you flip switches, open a gate, or help a local group under attack. Defending natives pulls the group toward a fixed area, while gates and switches carry the action deeper through the level. They make you cross a space or cover a different point, but combat remains the task that dominates each stage.

The main loop stays easy to read: move forward, pick up ammunition and health, meet a group of enemies, then push on once the arena is clear. Enemy waves can combine fast chargers, ranged attackers, flying creatures, and explosive foes. Some of the 45 enemy types charge into close range, while others fill the sky or throw explosives from farther away. Bomb-toting clowns, windup rhinos, zombie stockbrokers, and screaming kamikazes give the seven environments different crowds to face. Seven bosses break up those waves with larger health bars and recognizable attack patterns, though they still ask you to aim, move, and keep firing rather than learn a new character kit. The mix creates noisy fights where you are constantly changing targets and moving around incoming attacks. The game has five standard difficulty choices, so the host can set a more forgiving run or ask the group to handle a tougher rush. Difficulty applies to the session as a whole, giving everyone the same campaign challenge rather than individual handicaps.

## A generous arsenal and detours from the footpath

Sam carries a wide assortment of weapons rather than building toward a class-specific loadout. Shotguns handle close crowds, while the minigun, rocket launcher, cannon, and stranger tools such as the Klodovik give you other ways to thin out a wave. Grenades add an alternate-fire blast, and you can dual-wield and use the BeamGun. Different friends can favor different weapons in the moment, but no formal role system assigns one player to healing or support.

Ammunition pickups give you a reason to look around as the group advances. Secret areas hide extra weapons and other items behind less obvious routes, and each level records secrets and score as you finish. Finding them is optional: the campaign’s main objectives do not require a completionist sweep. These side discoveries add a light reason to revisit levels, especially when someone spots a passage the group ran past the first time.

Several levels also hand control of the action to a vehicle or mounted creature. You might ride into a fight with a weaponed machine or take over a turret and aim into an incoming crowd. Those sections change your view and the way you attack, so the campaign is not made entirely of walking between arenas. The novelty is temporary, though; vehicles and turrets are brief diversions within the same larger loop of clearing enemies and moving forward.

An enemy multiplier can raise the number of foes in both single-player and co-op, letting you increase the density of a wave. The multiplier changes the incoming action, not progression: it does not create new character builds or a long-term equipment grind.

## Co-op shares the campaign; versus changes the goal

In co-op, you and your friends fight Mental’s horde through the campaign’s levels. A Respawn in Place option changes where a fallen player returns after a death, rather than sending them back to the level’s usual respawn point. It gives a group another setting to consider alongside difficulty and friendly fire, and applies specifically to co-op.

Internet and LAN games use the same host-and-join flow. A LAN session connects separate computers over the same local network.

The PC version has no built-in split-screen co-op, so every player needs a separate computer and game view. Serious Sam II is available for Windows, not Mac or Linux. Controller support is partial; keyboard and mouse are also options, with their bindings kept separate in the controls menu.

Co-op is not the only multiplayer mode. Deathmatch sends players against one another instead of against campaign enemies. Twelve additional multiplayer maps give that mode dedicated arenas, separate from the 42-level co-op route. A group choosing a shared story run should select Cooperative when creating its session; choosing Deathmatch changes the objective to competing for kills. The modes give you different ways to use the same shooter’s weapons without requiring the campaign to be replayed for a new class or character.

## Extras beyond the campaign

Renovation offers clearer menus, high-definition HUD art and fonts, and modern display options. Controller settings include an auto-aim profile. The built-in level editor lets you create levels outside a match; it is a separate creator tool, not another campaign mode.

These options do not make the campaign a class-based co-op shooter. Weapons, objectives, and large enemy waves remain the focus.

The distinct style is hard to mistake for a military shooter. Its saturated worlds change from level to level, while Sam’s one-liners and slapstick cutscenes lean heavily into silly humor. That colorful presentation sits alongside graphic violence as monsters burst apart under gunfire, so it is worth considering if someone in your group would rather avoid gore.

## A focused shooter with a long familiar rhythm

The campaign has plenty of levels, enemy types, weapons, and visual changes, but its structure remains familiar for long stretches. Many objectives lead back to wave fights, and some encounters blur together even as the weapons and scenery change. This is a broad arcade shooter rather than a carefully escalating tactical campaign.

The campaign progression is mainly about reaching the next level and collecting what you need along the route. You do not earn separate classes, skill trees, or persistent team perks. Score, secrets, difficulty choices, and later achievements give you small goals to revisit, while Deathmatch shifts the same weapon set into competitive play. 

If your group likes exaggerated enemy designs, broad jokes, and long stretches of uncomplicated shooting, Serious Sam II offers a lot of campaign to share. Online and LAN co-op let friends run through the levels together, while the separate maps and Deathmatch option provide a competitive detour. Its scale is the attraction and its limitation: there are many places to visit and weapons to try, yet the core rhythm keeps returning to the horde, the gunfire, and the next arena.

## On Steam

- **Play together:** Online co-op, Online PvP
- **Steam reviews:** Very Positive, 90% positive of 14,342 reviews
- **Playing now:** 32
- **Platforms:** Windows
- **Developer:** Croteam
- **Publisher:** Devolver Digital

[View on Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/204340/)

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

Language: en