When Behaviour Interactive heard that Devolver was on the lookout for a developer to make a brand new Severe Sam, we couldn’t have been extra excited and we jumped on the alternative. Many people on the crew had fond recollections of enjoying Severe Sam: The First Encounter when it was launched within the early 2000s and remembered the wacky enjoyable the franchise is understood for. You realize, it got here from an period when video video games had been unapologetically video games first, at all times pushing the boundaries of what the expertise might do. As massive followers of Croteam’s work, we merely couldn’t cross it up.
As discussions moved ahead, we knew we needed to make one thing completely different, one thing that may construct on the legacy of Severe Sam and honor what got here earlier than, whereas nonetheless standing by itself and shining a brand new gentle on the franchise. We needed to create a sport that longtime followers would instantly acknowledge, however {that a} youthful viewers with no historical past with Severe Sam might leap into simply as simply. And so, Shatterverse got here to be.
Our first process was to recreate the texture of Severe Sam in Unreal Engine, the backpedaling, the gunplay, the traditional enemies, after which modernize and redesign these parts. We knew early on that The First Encounter and The Second Encounter could be our largest inspirations as a result of these are the video games we nonetheless replay to at the present time. With the franchise’s twenty fifth anniversary arising, we needed the brand new sport to really feel like a celebration of the place all of it started. That meant preserving the high-octane motion, the large enemy waves, and naturally, the bosses. Severe Sam has at all times been identified for enormous showdowns towards spectacular baddies, so we needed each boss to really feel like a significant set piece and a real check of the gamers’ would possibly.
At that stage, the sport felt good and undoubtedly seemed like Severe Sam, nevertheless it was nonetheless lacking one thing: its personal id. We thought lengthy and laborious about why individuals missed the great previous days and what they felt when enjoying the unique video games. We needed to search out that feeling once more with out merely copying what Croteam had already accomplished, and we finally zeroed in on two design objectives. The primary was that urge to replay the identical mission again and again, trying to find each secret and chasing the next rating. The second was the sensation that something might occur and that typically the deck was stacked towards you, (due to Croteam’s typically cheeky encounter design). As we talked by means of tips on how to convey these emotions again, the FPS roguelike style rapidly emerged as the right match.
That stated, roguelike FPS video games can nonetheless really feel fairly area of interest and laborious to get into, and we needed Shatterverse to be simple to select up and share with household and mates, even when they’d by no means touched a Severe Sam sport, an FPS, or a roguelike earlier than. Each system wanted to be simple to know whereas nonetheless providing sufficient depth to reward mastery. That accessibility additionally formed our strategy to multiplayer: we needed a sport individuals might maintain enjoying collectively for years to return, not one that may disappear from the “digital cabinets” if it didn’t turn out to be an enormous success.
To make that potential, we selected peer-to-peer multiplayer as a substitute of counting on devoted servers and included an offline solo mode, guaranteeing the sport might nonetheless be performed 5, 10, and even 15 years from now. It was actually necessary to the crew to create one thing that would final and by no means merely be shut down. We additionally needed Shatterverse to launch as an entire, appropriately priced standalone sport, one which was value gamers’ cash from the get-go and didn’t want live-service releases to be enjoyable. On the identical time, we had so many concepts for locations to go to, previous and new enemies and weapons to create, and all of the loopy issues we might do with Shatterverse. So, we constructed the sport to assist expansions, DLC, and new content material that would develop the bottom expertise if followers needed extra, with out ever cannibalizing the sport they’d already paid for.
The crew has been extremely excited by the reception throughout our many beta playtests, and we’ve listened intently to group suggestions as we’ve continued to tweak and polish the Shatterverse expertise. The Severe Sam group is a devoted one, and its assist has helped us make the sport even higher by means of a number of rounds of testing. What makes us proudest is that our core viewers appeared to know instantly what we had been attempting to do: create a Severe Sam sport they may simply share with others, spreading their love of the franchise and serving to it attain a brand new viewers. In the end, we hope Shatterverse not solely welcomes newcomers, but additionally conjures up them to select up the sooner video games and turn out to be followers themselves.
We hope you’ll choose up Severe Sam: Shatterverse and assemble a squad to tackle Psychological’s hordes to save lots of the Samverse!
Severe Sam: Shatterverse
Devolver Digital
$19.99
$17.99
Severe Sam Stone is again, however this time he is not alone. Uber Psychological’s maniacal machinations have fractured the partitions between universes, and now Sam’s from a number of dimensions should be taught to work collectively to restore the Shatterverse.
As a part of the Severe Program, a multidimensional drive opposing Uber Psychological, you may journey throughout shifting universes to complete battles different Sams could not. Psychological has been looking the hero throughout realities, and in lots of timelines, he is already received. Now, it is your flip to push again. To advance, you have to convey down his 5 lieutenants, every a formidable boss looking for whole annihilation.
Wield a relentlessly damaging arsenal of devastating weapons, unlock highly effective boons, and experiment with run modifiers that reshape gameplay. In true roguelite trend, dying isn’t the tip, and every run opens the door to new methods and limitless prospects throughout the Shatterverse.
MULTIVERSE MAYHEM
Actuality cracked and now Severe Sams from a number of universes are combating the identical struggle. Workforce up throughout shifting worlds, collide with alternate variations of the legend, and produce guns-blazing chaos to timelines that had been by no means supposed to satisfy.
BIG GUNS, SERIOUS DAMAGE
Pack the classics, then crank it into the bizarre. Wield a mixture of iconic Severe Sam staples and brand-new toys, constructed for one function – clearing arenas when Psychological’s hordes resolve tons of is a warm-up. Explosive, loud, and very violent.
ESCALATING DESTRUCTION
A world stuffed with unstable anomalies, hidden portals, and high-risk alternatives that may supercharge a run, or finish it immediately. Push ahead better rewards, unlock highly effective modifiers, and upgrades that completely increase your prospects.
MENTAL’S HORDE, REMIXED
Acquainted foes are again, and so they introduced mates. Face a collection of traditional Severe Sam enemies alongside contemporary monsters, all underneath Psychological’s management, all engineered to overwhelm you, and all begging to be changed into mush.
ARCADE-STYLE FPS ENERGY
Excessive-adrenaline, run-and-gun enviornment chaos, massive battlefields, nonstop stress, quite a lot of backpedaling, and perfectly-timed one-liners when the whole lot’s on hearth. Shatterverse leans into the Severe Sam legacy and pushes it ahead with procedurally shifting runs throughout hand-crafted arenas set in beforehand unexplored worlds.
