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I’ve been a fan of the Serious Sam games for quite some time and as it relates to the main series, I can’t say any of them have disappointed me so far. But if I had to pick one, it would be Serious Sam 3. It feels a little too familiar and doesn’t do a lot that we haven’t seen before. I also prefer the more colorful presentations of its predecessors and even Serious Sam 4 for that matter. But it still delivers the goods and makes for a great time. I went into the next game, Serious Sam 4, unsure of what to expect. I heard mixed things about it and from what I understand, it released with many graphical and technical issues. It has been patched since release and in my experience, it ran well and, ultimately, I had a wonderful time playing it. It retains what makes a Serious Sam game a Serious Sam game but also introduces things to make the experience feel fresh. It’s not perfect, mind you, but I really enjoyed it and have been looking forward to jumping into the standalone expansion, Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem.
Developed by Timelock Studio and Croteam and published by Devolver Digital, Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem was released for PC in January, 2022 and PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series systems in October of that same year. For this review, I played the PC version. From what I understand, Timelock Studio is a group composed of long-time members of the Serious Sam modding community and they developed Siberian Mayhem under the oversight of Croteam. Siberian Mayhem is considered a standalone expansion so it doesn’t require Serious Sam 4 to play but is set during the events of its campaign.
Set during the events of the Serious Sam 4 campaign, Sam arrives in Russia and begins to make his way to Tunguska. Considering that Siberian Mayhem simply expands upon Serious Sam 4’s storyline, there’s really not much to say that won’t spoil anything. It’s not really telling a new story. It is more of the same in terms of style and gameplay. There are new cut scenes and characters here and the brand of humor is very much in-line with what you see in Serious Sam 4. Despite this being a standalone expansion or separate game, you will definitely get more out of the plot if you play through Serious Sam 4 first. Also, if you don’t care for that game’s storyline or brand of humor, don’t expect Siberian Mayhem to be much different.
Right off the bat, I want to say that Siberian Mayhem is basically more Serious Sam 4. The campaign is shorter but comes with plenty of replay value and some cool new content. Overall, it’s more of the same so if you didn’t care for Serious Sam 4, I don’t think Siberian Mayhem does much to turn things around for you. This review will not tread on too much of the same ground so if you want to know how I feel about the gameplay in general, check out our review of Serious Sam 4. Just like that game, Siberian Mayhem comes with a campaign and Survival mode. Both can be played cooperatively and the Survival mode comes with more maps than that of Serious Sam 4. Most of the weapons, upgrades, and gadgets from that game are here and skills return.
So what’s new in Siberian Mayhem? Well it features some new weapons, gadgets, and foes, and some features that extend the game’s replay value significantly. You’ll get your hands on many of the same weapons featured in Serious Sam 4 but the AK-74MX replaces the Assault Rifle and a Crossbow replaces the Sniper Rifle. Another new weapon is the XPMR “Burner” Raygun and it’s awesome. It unleashes a beam that will heat up targets eventually causing them to explode. Siberian Mayhem also features two new gadgets, T.A.C.T. and the Hoverboard Scooter. T.A.C.T. can be used to call in air strikes and the Hoverboard Scooter is equipped with laser guns so you can use it to quickly move around the battlefields and mow foes down. Several new foes are basically variants of existing foes but the most significant is easily the Octanian Sentry Tower. It comes equipped with turrets and cannons and can target Sam from long range.
I think the biggest highlight of Siberian Mayhem is its New Game+ mode. After you beat the campaign, you unlock New Game+. It allows the player to start the campaign over again while keeping all weapons, upgrades, gadgets, and skills from the previous playthrough and is designed to be more difficult with tougher foes and additional enemy placements among some other things. But that’s not all. Additional weapons also appear and a weapon upgrade mechanic is introduced. Sirian Artefacts of Might still grant you skill points that can be spent on skills but in New Game+, you can also spend them on weapon upgrades. One upgrade is actually a perk that allows you to access Christmas bonus areas which are also available during a Christmas event from what I understand.
The campaign will take you to multiple areas including an oil refinery, bunker, and train station among others. I like that it throws you into some pretty intense skirmishes early on and in typical Serious Sam fashion, many environments are huge. So huge that you are given vehicles at certain points to get you from A to B and just like in Serious Sam 4, you will get to pilot a mech and use it to decimate hordes of foes. There is a decent amount of environmental variety and most of the campaign has you running and gunning. Several areas will throw waves of foes at you and you’re always given plenty of space to maneuver. Friendly NPCs will fight by your side for a brief time and there are side objectives to complete that will often reward you with gadgets which I found do come in handy for some of the more challenging battles, especially later in the campaign. There’s also plenty of secrets to find which do contain goodies but some are traps so you always need to be alert.
I would say the presentation is in-line with what you see in Serious Sam 4. That means the game looks good, overall, with detailed environments. It also means that pop-in is still rampant. That includes textures and things popping in during cut scenes. Other than that, I can’t say I noticed too many eyesores. Several environments showcase beautiful scenery and I like the new weapons and enemies and feel they fit in well with the existing arsenal and cast. The audio work is also good and the soundtrack features some awesome metal tunes. On the technical side, I did not encounter any major issues.
Siberian Mayhem is a standalone game and it’s also an expansion to Serious Sam 4. If we want to compare this to the previous games’ DLC like Legend of the Beast for Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter and Jewel of the Nile for Serious Sam 3, I think Siberian Mayhem is the best. The best additional content for any Serious Sam game up to this point. It retains what’s great about Serious Sam 4 and gives you more of it with some cool new stuff. The battles are fun and intense, the new weapons are fun to use, the new enemies fit in well, and the New Game+ mode is easily my favorite thing about it. Serious Sam is a series that has always offered plenty of replay value and Siberian Mayhem is no exception but the New Game+ mode extends it significantly. New Game+ is not just the campaign made more challenging, it actually comes with new features. This means you will need to play through the campaign multiple times to see everything it has to offer. I don’t know what the consensus is on Siberian Mayhem but it appears to have received mixed or average reviews so based on that, I feel it is a bit underrated. I don’t know what people expect from a Serious Sam game but the way I see it, Siberian Mayhem delivers and it’s fun.
I absolutely recommend Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem. Even though I probably sound like a broken record at this point, I’ll say it again, if you didn’t care for the previous entries, I don’t think you’ll care for Siberian Mayhem. This is a series that may not be for everyone. You need to go into these games expecting to engage hordes and waves of foes. That’s what Serious Sam is all about. The gameplay can certainly get repetitive but it’s not mindless. Siberian Mayhem offers the series brand of gameplay in the Serious Sam 4 style and is a blast from beginning to end. Definitely check it out.