Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter turns its 15-level campaign into an online co-op shooter for up to 16 players. You and your friends fight through ancient Egyptian ruins while waves of creatures charge, scream, and fire from every direction. The VR edition requires a headset and tracked motion controllers, with motion controls woven into aiming, weapon handling, and movement. Co-op is online, and the game’s central launcher, Serious Sam Fusion 2017, is where you access the VR campaign and its multiplayer.
The campaign does not hand out character classes or assign jobs. Each player has access to the same broad arsenal, so the teamwork comes from fighting the same crowds together, watching different approaches, and sharing one sprawling level. One player might be dealing with a charging beast while another tracks the source of a distant barrage. That is a moment-to-moment difference, not a permanent support role or a progression tree. If your group wants a tactical shooter where one friend heals and another carries the key, look elsewhere; if you want to keep moving and shoot a lot of monsters, this is the point.
A campaign built around enemy waves
The original campaign is a chain of 15 large levels set in ancient Egypt. You move from open sand and temple spaces into enclosed passages and arenas, clearing a route as more enemies enter the fight. Encounters often begin with a handful of threats and widen into crowds that come from several directions. A quiet stretch can give you room to look around for a route or a secret; the next arena can fill with charging beasts, ranged enemies, and explosive foes at once.
The plot is a light frame for that action. Sam is sent into the past to stop the alien threat led by Mental, and the campaign carries you toward the giant warlock Ugh-Zan III. The story does not ask the group to make choices or follow a branching set of objectives. The shared goal is much simpler: cross each level, survive its combat spaces, collect what you need, and reach the next exit. That keeps the co-op easy to understand when friends drop in with different levels of shooter experience.
Serious Sam’s enemies make the arena itself part of the pressure. Sirian Werebulls rush in a straight, punishing charge; Beheaded Kamikazes sprint toward you while screaming; other creatures attack from range or force you to keep turning to track them. The large arenas leave room to move, but they also make it harder to keep every threat in view. In VR, hearing an enemy before you see it can be as useful as looking for the next target, and a wave can turn a calm sweep into a noisy scramble in a few seconds.
Two weapons, several ways to move
Motion controllers let you hold a weapon in each hand, fire both at once, or use a different gun in either hand. The roster spans the series’ familiar tools, from a basic revolver and shotgun to heavier guns and explosives. Dual wielding makes the controls feel different from the flat original: you can keep one hand on a close threat while turning the other toward a target farther away, or double up on the same weapon when a crowd is closing in. Reloading, aiming, and swapping weapons happen through the VR controls, so the arsenal is part of the physical rhythm rather than just a set of keys.
The weapons do not create locked-in character builds. There are no classes, skill trees, or separate equipment tracks that make one friend a permanent damage specialist. Instead, the level’s pickups, weapons you find, and the way you use the two controllers shape each fight. A shotgun can make sense when enemies are near; a longer-range weapon gives you another way to handle a target across a broad arena. The game keeps its focus on combat decisions in front of you rather than on menus between missions.
Movement is a major choice because the game combines fast enemies with room-scale VR. You can use continuous trackpad or stick locomotion, choose teleport movement, or adjust the available Serious Warp movement options. A translocator lets you move quickly out of danger, and jump pads can throw you across parts of a level. Those alternatives give you more than one way to cross an arena, but the action remains quick, and smooth movement can be uncomfortable for some people. Teleportation is available for players who prefer it; your group can use different movement settings while fighting together.
Secrets, supplies, and the next level
Exploration gives the campaign some breathing room between firefights. Levels hide more than 80 secrets, along with ammunition and other supplies. Some are tucked away from the main route, while others are easier to notice if you slow down long enough to inspect a ledge, side passage, or suspiciously open stretch of sand. Finding a secret is optional, but it rewards the kind of curiosity that can otherwise get swallowed by the next wave.
Secrets are optional detours rather than separate missions or dialogue branches. The levels get their variety from different layouts, enemy combinations, and the way the main path alternates between travel and combat. Revisiting a level on another difficulty keeps the same route recognizable while making its enemy waves more demanding. Secrets add reasons to scan the environment, but the core reward is reaching another arena with enough supplies to handle what arrives.
Progression is mainly about completing the campaign’s levels and learning their layouts. There are five difficulty settings, which change the challenge for the run, and co-op options can make enemy strength scale with the number of players. The campaign also lets a host adjust friendly fire, ammunition rules, and the number of respawn credits. Those settings affect how a group approaches the same sequence of levels: limited lives make a mistake more consequential, while generous respawns let a large team stay in the action. They do not turn the game into a character-level grind or a long-term gear collection loop.
Coin-Op Co-op changes the campaign into an arcade-style run with limited lives. It gives the group a different condition to manage while keeping the same levels and enemy encounters at the center. If you would rather replay shorter rounds, Team Survival places players against ongoing attacks in a dedicated survival map. The wider Fusion multiplayer also includes competitive modes such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Beast Hunt, but those are versus options rather than more co-op campaign chapters.
There is no fixed class roster to coordinate around, and no special ability kit that tells each person where to stand. All of you share the same core job: shoot, move, and keep the group alive through the current wave. A large lobby can make the screen and soundscape chaotic, especially when enemies and explosive effects pile up together. With up to 16 players, co-op is better suited to a group that enjoys lively, crowded combat than to a small team looking for careful stealth or precise mission roles.
Set up the right kind of group
The VR campaign supports online co-op for up to 16 players. It requires tracked motion controllers and a VR headset; this is a VR-only edition. This is a separate product from Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter: Fusion can bring supported entries into one launcher, but owning a flat version does not make the VR edition a flat-screen game. The VR campaign is not a living-room split-screen session; Fusion’s split-screen feature applies to flat play, while VR players join network multiplayer. Fusion advertises cross-play between VR and flat editions, but do not assume a mixed-client session will work reliably today; check current compatibility before counting on it. The server browser lets you search for or host a session, but it cannot guarantee an active public lobby when your group is ready to play.
Start the VR game through Serious Sam Fusion 2017, the hub used for its supported Serious Sam entries and multiplayer. Online co-op is supported, and Fusion offers a server browser, player-hosted sessions, and dedicated servers. Those options do not guarantee a current public lobby or that every invite, join, or hosted connection will work; verify that your group can connect before relying on a session. Once connected, you can adjust the co-op rules before the fighting begins: the server settings cover difficulty, enemy scaling, friendly fire, ammunition, and respawn credits.
The campaign is a better fit if every friend is comfortable with PC VR and quick first-person action. The named VR setups include SteamVR or Oculus PC with HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. Fusion also added Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) support, but it is now a legacy option: Microsoft removed WMR from Windows 11 version 24H2 and newer. Existing WMR devices can continue working with Steam through November 2026 only if the PC stays on Windows 11 version 23H2. Before organizing a session, check that your headset and controllers work with a supported PC VR runtime; don’t assume a current Windows installation supports WMR. A VR headset is required for every person joining this edition.
A group that wants a connected campaign, broad enemy crowds, and room to tune the difficulty has a lot to work with here. A group that needs local split-screen, a flat-screen friend in the same room, careful class roles, or persistent character upgrades will find a different kind of co-op. Serious Sam VR keeps the loop direct: enter the next Egyptian arena, find a weapon that fits the threat in front of you, and make it through the wave together.