Games database
Serious Sam: The First Encounter cover art
Action

Serious Sam: The First Encounter

by Croteam·published by Gathering of Developers

21 March 2001Mature28
PCWindows

Reader score

7.9/ 10

109 votes

How long to beat

only 3 reports

14h

Rushed

main story only

17h

Normally

story and some extras

19h

Completionist

everything in it

Where to get it

Trailer

Gallery

29

Screenshots

Key art

About

When aliens ruled by the evil Mental attack Earth, it is up to Sam "Serious" Stone, one of the toughest guys on Earth, to time-travel back to Ancient Egypt in order to change history by defeating Mental back in the ancient times. The First Encounter tells about the first part of Sam's voyage through Egypt.

Serious Sam: The First Encounter is a high-adrenaline first-person shooter heavily focused on frantic arcade-style single player action. The game goes "back to roots" of the first-person shooter genre; it does not feature intricate story, character interaction or the need for careful tactics which were becoming common in the FPS's of its time, instead concentrating on epic battles where the player, armed with powerful weaponry, takes on tens or even hundreds of enemies at once.

Sam travels through deserts, Egyptian temples, palaces and cities, killing countless enemies and occasionally stopping to solve a more or less easy puzzle. There are many weapons to be found; they are all classic FPP armaments - shotguns, chainguns, rocket launchers etc., up to the most powerful weapon: a cannon which shoots devastating cannonballs. There are also many pick-ups, of course, containing ammo, health and armor.

The enemies come in many varieties - headless suicide bombers, giant bio-mechanical creatures that shoot missiles, scorpions with chainguns, bulls that charge at Sam, etc. There are also a couple of powerful bosses.

Sam has a mini-computer which contains basic info about the levels he's travelling through, weapons he collects and enemies he kills.

Ways to play

Modes

Single playerMultiplayerCo-operative

Perspective

First person

Engine

Serious Engine

Mods

Serious Sam Alpha RemakeSeriously Warped DeathmatchSerious Sam: Realm of Thoth

Included in

Serious Sam HD: Gold EditionSerious Sam: GOG CollectionSerious Sam: Gold Edition

Ported as

Remastered as

Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter

Languages

1 languages, with audio, subtitles and interface
Languageaudiosubtitlesinterface
English—

Game details

Business Model

Commercial

Supported Systems/Models

x86 (32-bit)

Drivers/APIs Supported

Direct3D, OpenGL

Media Type

CD-ROM, Download

Sound Capabilities

DirectSound3D, EAX

Input Devices Supported/Optional

Keyboard, Mouse, Other Input Devices

Additional Hardware Required

3D Accelerator

Multiplayer Options

Internet, LAN, Same/Split-Screen

Multiplayer Game Modes

Co-Op, Free-for-all / One-on-one (VS)

Number of Offline Players

1-4 Players

Number of Online Players

2-16 Players

GOG.com

Multi-player, Single-player

Steam

Achievements, Cloud, Leaderboards

System requirements

Min. CPU Class Required

Intel Pentium II

Min. OS Class Required

Windows 95b (OSR2 / 2.1)

Min. RAM Required

64 MB

Min. DirectX Version Required

DirectX 8.0

Video Modes Supported

Full screen, Window

Box art

Also known as

Krutoj Sam: Pervaja Krov' — Russian title

Serious Sam Classic: The First Encounter — Steam title

Serious Sam: 1st Encounter — Informal title

Serious Sam: O Primeiro Confronto — Brazilian title

Serious Sam: Pierwsze Starcie — Polish title

Serious Sam: Premier contact — French title

Reader ratings

Rate this game

Nobody has rated this yet.

Facts

Developer

Croteam

Released

21 March 2001

Platforms

PCWindows

Age ratings

ESRBMaturePEGI16USK16ACBMA15+OFLC (New Zealand)R16ELSPA15+SELL16VET/SFB15 (Square)DJCTQ18

Standing

Top 7% by 24hr peak players

Tags

1st-personShooterDirect control