Hi everyone, Update #3 is now live on Steam!



While we are spending most of our time on fixing bugs you reported, we also added some new content. Next we will be working on the overall game balance. Have fun and thank you for the feedback!

V0.15
Major Bug fixes
- Fixed a problems with various quests
- “Why can’t we be friends” - npc should interact properly
- Score quests - Mysterious Stranger should appear in proper locations
- Weapon quest “Another Hello to Arms” - fixed bug where it wasn’t possible to receive required weapon, changed requirement from Ghostgun to Homing Harpoongun
- Loop quests - it’s not possible anymore to finish loop quest by returning to Vault from Forest
- Fixed a problem with huge FPS drop in main menu (still needs more confirmations)
- Fixed black screen of death when restarting the game
- Fixed hunter upgrade, now you will gain and helper that shoots permanently
- Snakes die if they are killed :P
- Fixed a problem that crashed the game when player spent all his HP in dark converter shop
- Fixed a problem that would cause gravity vortex to drag hidden/disabled players

Minor fixes
- Fixed a problem with bull boss key, animation would stuck when opening a door
- Fixed rotation of turret enemies
- Fixed a problem with cursor when game was alt-tabbed when using multi-monitor setup
- Fixed a problem with UI text not displaying properly in Mindmap
- Fixed a problem when too much serious weapons would break weapon wheel UI
- Fixed some overdraw problems with UI, now it layers elements properly

Changes
- Reworked enemies in sea area
- Reduced all explosion damage by 50%
- Rebalanced homing ability of projectiles, its now more reliable and more homing
- Dodge roll now activates when pressed even if player is not moving
- Bomb special ability will only explode bombs in active room
- In co-op Bomb special ability won’t make bombs explode instantly when other players are close to it
- Increase ammo cost for freeze guns
- Added knockback lvl2 upgrade for primary weapon
- Added sniper upgrade for primary weapon
- Added homing lvl3 upgrade for primary weapon
- Electric bombs explode slightly faster
- Added a new enemy that shoots lasers
- Smaller shooting enemies in Forest area deal less damage
- Slightly increased initial precision for primary weapon
- Improvements for camera movement in co-op
- Update russian and chinese translations
- Update cyrillic letter glyphs (thanks to Ar2R-devil-PiNKy)

Hi everyone, Update #2 is now live on Steam!



Today we fixed some quest issues, and the Bomb character should finally appear in HUB after being unlocked. We hope you will have fun playing with him!

Bug fixes
- Fixed a bug where some player would not unlock Bomb character permanently
- Fixed a quest where you need to chain 8 Brutal Kills to get a key
- Fixed a bomb danger indicator sometimes lingering after bomb has exploded
- Fixed a quest “Why Can't We Be Friends”
- Fixed some weapon icons not refreshing properly
- Fixed Leaderboard layout problems
- Fixed some issues with corrupted save files

Changes
- Changed Bomb ability, you can now only activate bombs in the room that you are in
- Changed the way Exploding Bull works - it will explode right away after killing it - be careful how you brutally kill it!
- Elite Charger - new enemy, appears in Forest while looping
- Reduced the number of primary weapon upgrades while looping
- Improved the readability of Chinese text
- Reduced the maximum number of snakes spawned in Nightmare Caves for improved performance, more balanced fights and coin gain
- Reduced difficulty of some rooms in tutorial
- Removed unnecessary voice lines in tutorial that would overlap


Hotfix added to fix few bugs introduced in previous patch.

v0.14

Bug fixes
- Fix bug with that showed many chests unlocked in vault
- Fix a bug that would not generate and start a room properly

Changes
- Added another quest in Nightmare Caves
- Special quest rooms appear more often
- Languages in settings now display in their local names

Hi everyone, Update #1 is now live on Steam!

Thank you for your awesome feedback!
We created a big list of everything you mentioned, and this is just how much we managed to do since yesterday. We will keep working in upcoming days, and there are also some big things coming!



Bug fixes
- Fix weapons appearing before they are unlocked from Vault
- Spike chest won’t damage the player while it’s being spawned in the air
- Fix interactions with Shopkeeper
- Fix issues with Russian font
- Fix Sam balding issues
- Fix looping, before you would instantly go to hardest loop, there is now proper scaling after looping
- Fix bug with unlocking third character, the Bomb. He can be found in Sea of Thoughts
- Reduced the migranes for a Mysterious stranger, now he will actually talk to you
- Fix few bugs with players ending up locked out outside of rooms (we are still not sure we got all of them)

Changes
- New track for Mentals Forest
- Add Bull charging sound variations
- Player character voice reactions play less often
- Weapon Knockback upgrade reduced by 40%
- Reduced amount of HP droped from Serious Scalpel and Treasure Hunting
- Limit the type of upgrade you get in HP Converter Device
- Boss chests are now immune to explosions
- Improve Brutal Kill tutorial section, its now easier to figure what you have to do
- Improved several perk descriptions

Hi everyone,

Serious Sam: Tormental (SST) is now live on Steam Early Access and we hope you will like the game and share your feedback with us. We’ve been working on this game for quite some time, improved it over and over again until we were happy with this version.



To celebrate our Early Access release, we would like to invite you to official launch party of Serious Sam: Tormental in Croteam Discord channel where you can join, talk to us and the rest of the SST community while also participating in our contests and giveaways! Join us on April 2, 9PM CET and ask us anything. :)



Get a highscore and earn a reward while the supplies last! :)

2400 = CT Bundle
1800 = 2 titles from the prizepool
800 = 1 title from the prizepool

For those who don’t know, 2 weeks ago we released old alpha version of the game for free on Itch.io, and although it shows some base gameplay mechanics, current version is much more polished, with more areas, enemies and weapons, but also with some fundamental differences which make this version much bigger, better and with great replay value.



You can see all the differences between two versions here.

The full version will have lots of additional and improved content, including new areas, characters, weapons and boss fights. Improved leaderboards, daily runs, localizations and other social features are also planned to be incorporated as the community grows and will listen to community directly via Steam forums and Croteam Discord to determine how and when new features and content gets added.

• Fight against the wicked imaginations inside the mind of Mental, destructive god and Serious Sam's arch enemy, in an attempt to stop him once and for all.
  
• Rich with content and replayability: procedurally generated dungeons, characters with unique abilities, randomized pools of powerful upgrades, tons of fun Serious Weapons ™.
  
• The Vault ™: The final area contains many secrets and links to Mental’s identity, giving you more goals than just “defeat the final boss”. You will need to beat many challenges in order to stop Mental once and for all.
  
• Mindmap: discover hidden ideas inside of Mental's mind - what enemies, weapons, and items is he imagining to use in the real world? Acquire those ideas, and use them by yourself. Can you discover all of them?
  
• Every run, gather & combine random gun parts to construct unique powerful weapons.
  
• Quests: beat various challenges to unlock new worlds, characters, Serious Weapons ™ and upgrades. Over time, you will discover new places hidden inside of Mental's mind.
  
• Play together in local Co-op mode. Face stronger bosses, compete for (or share!) XP and revive each other with ankh pickups!
  
• and more...

Please feel free to post your comments on Steam forums, if you like the game, review is appreciated, and if you’ll have any issues, we’re here and will try to help. Please keep in mind it’s Early Access version so new content and stuff will be added soon.

If you think you’re ready for this nightmarish adventure, enter Mental’s mind alone or with friend (local co-op or online via Parsec software) and prepare for some mind blowing action! :serioussam:

Watch the Launch Trailer here: https://youtu.be/2QroK9KkfTU

First of all, thanks to everyone who already downloaded the early prototype version on https://croteam.itch.io/tormental.
For those who didn’t, early prototype build of Serious Sam: Tormental is available completely free via Itch.io right now. So jump in and get a taste of what's to come.

That early prototype is very different from this Steam Early Access version so we will try to explain everything that's newer or better in Serious Sam: Tormental in comparison to early prototype since we had several questions about that on our social networks. :)

We hope you will have fun playing early prototype, and properly warm up for Early Access version that is coming this April 2nd.

WHAT' S NEW IN EARLY ACCESS VERSION?

First, we have made some improvements in the combat system, like there being more places to take cover in. And we’ve made the enemies more aggressive, so this will definitely come in handy. Altogether, it’s a more exciting combat experience!



Destructibility is definitely a fun part of any game, so we also added destructible walls. Wreck even more havoc with your weapons. By destroying walls, it’s also possible to find pickups and the good ol’ secrets, but finding them depends on chance - so use your ammo wisely!





Brutal kills, where you can kill the dying (flashing) enemy by rolling into it, has become more important than ever. Every enemy is different, and successful brutal kills will require some training. The rewards are various pickups and a huge thrilling satisfaction!




We’ve made a great deal of progress on the Nightmare Cavesarea, where you can find Mental’s nightmares lurking around. Nightmare enemies (the ones that look like green ghosts) cannot be killed with normal bullets - they only die from explosions, or when all other enemies in the are are killed. So Sam will need to keep on the move and focus on other enemies!



Forest:


Tomb:



Levels and hallways are now procedurally generated and populated with random objects like traps, chests, locked doors etc. which enables a lot more replayability, making that one of the biggest changes in comparison to early prototype version which had predefined areas that could become boring after a while, which is not the case with Steam version of Serious Sam: Tormental.




Ever since we first started development on Tormental, we have constantly been changing how the shop works. In this update, we finally have a version we’re satisfied with! Killed implings drop FIGs (FIGments of Mental’s imagination), which can be traded for powers and items with the moody shopkeeper. Hey, why does Sam need to have all the fun, anyway?



We also added :

Weapon Shop - buy and upgrade serious weapons.



Vending Machine - buy various consumable items, including consumable weapons which are consumed after use - eg. Serious Bomb and Boomerang.



Energy Converter - special device that converts part of Sam into upgrade.




Chests come in various types - common, gold, health, and weapon, which determines the type of drop that you can find inside of them.

They can be also unlocked and locked. While content in unlocked will never create a surprise, content in locked ones is not so certain. Depending on your luck, you will find less or more goodies hidden inside of them.



There also mimic chests which needs to be opened at the right time if you want to avoid being hurt by their sharp spikes!




There are various traps now randomly spawning around the world of Mental, including spikes, minefields, turrets, bombs, and flames.




Along with changing the abilities of Sam and Netricsa, we also added two new characters - Bomb and Bulb.

Bomb likes to blow everything up. Destroyed enemies drop bombs which can be pushed around, but also activated from the safe distance with your own remote detonator.



Netricsa can create portals which suck in enemies. Gather them in one place, and unleash cannons, flamethrowers, and electrical shockers for maximum area damage.





With Bulb, you will need to rush - because Bulb needs electricity, making his health drop over time. Fry enemies with short-range electricity while collecting their life energy to refill yours.



Rolling into the biggest group of enemies is risky, but it's also the best opportunity for a shocking connection!



And Sam. Well, he got serious upgrade as well! Since even a copy of Sam is inherently awesome, he is now just a bit more powerful than everyone else. He has more health, is faster, carries more ammo, and as before can jump in the air - which catches most of the enemies completely off-guard, since they're not used to this kind of three-dimensional strategic thinking.



You can’t have a Serious Sam game without including the voice of Serious Sam himself - John J. Dick!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxHZhsO6808
Bomb, Netricsa, and Bulb are also casted by other actors.


We added bunch of completely new weapons to the usual Serious Sam rooster, and we currently have 38 weapons ready for the Early Access, with a plan to add more!

The weapons were completely rebalanced, and their mechanics tweaked with the idea that every weapon has unique advantages, and offers different ways to finish off the enemies.

Electric Shotgun: shoots quick bursts of electricity which shocks the enemies and spreads the electric joy to any other enemies that might happen to be nearby. Let’s connect!



Boomerang: this little puppy will follow you around the level, making it possible to guide it towards the enemies and hit them multiple times. If it manages to get back to you after it has done its job, it will return you all the ammo it consumed.



We also added weapon shop and weapon leveling up system. For example, Flamethrower can be upgraded to Flamethrower Twin, Boomerang can be upgraded to Boomerang Gun, and Machine gun can be upgraded to Triple Machine gun.





Throughout the game, the player will encounter various challenges and quests. By completing these, the player will earn keys. Up in the Vault is Mental’s last line of defense; a giant Vault door locked away by unbreakable mechanisms. All of Mental’s strengths and secrets locked away in these massive, strong chests that keep the mechanism in place are seemingly immutable.

As you’re defeating Mental’s hordes of enemies and overcoming all the challenges that Mental deemed you would never overcome, you earn these keys, you unlock his most sacred chests and you get secrets and powers to use against Mental. Key by key, you grow ever more powerful as you make the ancient Vault mechanism move and push its door closer and closer to finally yielding. This will go on until you become so powerful that the Vault can no longer contain you. At this point, when the heaviest and most important door of the game opens, there’s no going back - you may only carry on. And this is where Sam gets to hit Mental where it truly hurts.

• completely revamped tutorial which offers now various challenges, narrative, voice acting, and completely new area
  
• we added new enemies, perks, weapons
  
• Player inventory
  
• starting location (HUB) where player can choose character, go to Vault or talk with other NPCs
  
• optional challenges
  
• mini-games
  
• tons of new sound effects including every weapon perk (wall ricochet, piercing, homing, etc.) having an unique sound effect to distinguish every weapon build
  
• Vortex
  
• characters procedural animations...

...and in general we improved and polished everything!

Good news everyone!

Serious Sam: Tormental is coming to Early Access on April 2, 2019 so we hope you're ready! You will be able to choose between Sam Stone, Bulb, Netricsa and Bomb and help them survive the terrifying journey through Mental's twisted mind! It's very dark in there so don't forget to take a friend with you to co-op mode and confront Mental together.

This is just the beginning because we still have big plans for Tormental and plenty of content to implement in the game. We will share Early Access roadmap with you soon so you will be able to stay up to date with updates and share your feedback with us! You can wishlist the game now or join us on April 2, 2019 and help us make the game as best as possible for full release. ːsteamhappyː

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uiFUjYQC_U

In today’s post we will be talking a lot about serious weapons! In Serious Sam: Tormental we are adding bunch of completely new weapons to the usual Serious Sam roster. Along with using some of your favorites from the Serious Sam series, you will be able to demolish Mental’s hordes in ways you never could before! So let’s get started, so we can finish this quickly and get back to destroying, smashing, and burning stuff!

Harpoongun: shoot deadly sharp harpoons that stab into the flesh of your enemies and take them on a ride - until they hit the wall and explode! This is especially effective when combined with exploding enemies like the Kamikazes, as it will turn your harpoons into missiles of mayhem. It's like spearfishing, but with more explosions.



Electric Shotgun: shoots quick bursts of electricity which shocks the enemies and spreads the electric joy to any other enemies that might happen to be nearby. Let’s connect!



Boomerang: this little puppy will follow you around the level, making it possible to guide it towards the enemies and hit them multiple times. If it manages to get back to you after it has done its job, it will return you all the ammo it consumed.



Most of these weapons can be also leveled up at the weapons shop. Higher-level versions are usually more effective, but also spend more ammo.

Flamethrower: unleashes fountains of flame onto your enemies, making for a nice bonfire. The only drawback is that they will start moving rapidly, and shooting frantically, so better stay back and enjoy the show until they are burned to a crisp. Can be also used to start a nice BBQ.

Flamethrower Twin: adds an additional turret, longer range of fire (literally), requires double the fuel and stronger muscles to wield.



Machinegun: transforms into the Triple Machinegun. Double cost, triple bullets, and lots more spread, making it more efficient against multiple targets. Although emptying the clip into an enemy's face at point-blank range also works just great.



Powered-up Homing Missiles: now shoots 3 homing missiles which hunt enemies down, and also destroy any wall they happen to crash into. Caution is advised when the enemies are standing right next to you, as the explosion might just take you along with them... unless you have the Atomic Skin perk equipped, that is!




In this post we showcased 7 of the 38 weapons we currently have ready for the Early Access version, and that is only to start with!

What weapon would you like to see in the game? Do you have any deep, dark desires for the ultimate weapon of impling destruction? Hit us up with your ideas, and remember: “It ain’t the size that matters, it’s how you use it!” Unless it’s a rocket launcher… then it is the size.

Bomb is an anthropomorphic bomb - and that's all you really need to know about his personality. How he came to enter Mental's mind is a mystery, but he's been busy making the most of his stay by blowing the hell out of pretty much everything. He claims to have worked in construction and enjoys horticulture and thrash metal.

As mentioned, Bomb likes to blow everything up. While observing from a safe distance, of course.


Activate the remote detonator and enjoy the show (without blowing yourself up)!





Netricsa (the NEuro-TRonically Implanted Combat Situation Analyser) is a computer system directly linked to Sam's brain. When a part of his mind was absorbed by the Mentalopticon, Netricsa got copied along with it and manifested herself as a snarky white cube. Don't ask us how that works - we're not scientists.

Netricsa can create portals which sucks in enemies. Gather them in one place, and unleash cannons, flamethrowers, and electrical shockers for maximum area damage.





And now, Bulb. A long time ago, a dying civilization's attempt to create robotic life accidentally produced a race of sentient light bulbs. After a short period of Enlightenment, the new light bulb civilization was attacked and destroyed by Mental. This partial copy of Bulb's mind is the only remnant of his once-proud people.

With Bulb, you will need to rush - because Bulb needs electricity, making his health drop over time. Fry enemies with short-range electricity while collecting their life energy to refill yours.


Rolling into the biggest group of enemies is risky, but it's also the best opportunity for a shocking connection!





Sam "Serious" Stone is the Earth Defense Force's greatest hero. Fiercely dedicated to protecting humankind, he faces tragedy and hardship with laughter and keeps on fighting to the end. This is a slightly fragmented, low-fidelity copy of his mind stuck inside the brain of his greatest enemy. What could possibly go wrong?

Since even a copy of Sam is inherently awesome, he is just a bit more powerful than everyone else. He has more health, is faster, carries more ammo, and can jump in the air - which catches most of the enemies completely off-guard, since they're not used to this kind of three-dimensional strategic thinking.




These characters will create an interesting variety of gameplay styles, each adding a lot of replayability and their very own flavor of crazy. We look forward to seeing what you can do with them!

Throughout the game, the player will encounter various challenges and quests. By completing these, the player will earn keys. Up in the Vault is Mental’s last line of defense; a giant Vault door locked away by unbreakable mechanisms. All of Mental’s strengths and secrets locked away in these massive, strong chests that keep the mechanism in place are seemingly immutable. But, as with all things - there is a weakness. Mental never figured anyone would be skillful enough to overcome these numerous challenges and pose any kind of a threat of taking his library of power.

As you’re defeating Mental’s hordes of enemies and overcoming all the challenges that Mental deemed you would never overcome, you earn these keys, you unlock his most sacred chests and you get secrets and powers to use against Mental. Key by key, you grow ever more powerful as you make the ancient Vault mechanism move and push its door closer and closer to finally yielding. This will go on until you become so powerful that the Vault can no longer contain you. At this point, when the heaviest and most important door of the game opens, there’s no going back - you may only carry on. And this is where Sam gets to hit Mental where it truly hurts.

We’re finalizing the presentation of these ancient doors, their mechanism and the Vault itself. Quests are being polished and continuously being tested. We will also be adding some more supporting NPCs for those.



However, this world is not a fixed place. It is an ever-changing world inside the mind of a demigod. The only fixed points in it are its beginning (the Hub) and its end (the Vault). As you wander around using your skills, weapons and upgrades to best Mental’s horde, you’ll be encountering various non-threatening characters, hidden away in this world. These characters are Mental’s manifestations of the secrets he’s keeping. They will tell you what you have to do to obtain one of Mental’s cherished keys. And as their secret combination is revealed, Mental becomes fully aware of your discovery of them, so they appear in the forefront of his mind (the Hub). And once the quest has been completed, their reason for being is no more, so they vanish.

This goes along with the quests being polished, as mentioned earlier. NPCs are working, we just need to set them up to appear at the Hub as well. They’ll even serve as a useful reminder if you try talking to them at the Hub, so you’re never lost as to which quests required which actions of you. If you don’t like the chatter, you can always take a look at your active quest list in your inventory. But it’s still a nice way to see how many quests you’re going after without having to dig through menus.



One of the main objectives while playing is to create strong combos of upgrades that synergize with each other. For example, if you have an explosive weapon, you might want to have a perk that creates big explosions! If there’s already plenty of explosions, why not make them bigger? Creating powerful builds will be necessary for conquering later levels.
We’re working on adding more upgrades, more synergies, but also more opportunities for the player to collect these. There will be optional challenges, various shops, and trades offered along the way while traveling the world. Make the right decision and you will become OP, but get too greedy, and you might just wind up dead.



There is still some work left to do with the sounds and voices. Bomb, Netricsa, and Bulb are still speechless. We also want every weapon perk (wall ricochet, piercing, homing, etc.) to add a unique sound effect that distinguishes every weapon build.
There’s also some sound effects missing for interactive objects, enemies, upgrades - and we wish for the UI interaction to sound very satisfying.



Passive abilities, alternative stronger versions of enemies during looped runs, an introduction scene, procedurally generated Nightmare Caves, a shinier weapon evolution screen, new Bulb model, Vortex visual effects… all that remains to be done - and it needs to be good!

The game’s difficulty and game duration needs tweaking as well, to provide enough bang for your buck. We still want you to have things to play with before we roll out the first big updates during Early Access!



Finally, we also need to make sure that the world hears about Tormental.
For this we need to create epic trailers, decorate the Steam page with exciting GIFs and descriptions, and create a roadmap that will show you how the game will be growing during Early Access.

https://youtu.be/bxHZhsO6808

John has been playing the game all while recording some badass new lines for us during the past few weeks: so we decided to ask him what he thinks about the game and how he feels about the Serious Sam indie games in general!


- What do you think about the game so far?
It’s a blast. I die in it. A lot. But just enough to where I feel challenged to push myself forward. I love that they are bringing back the old school hippie blood mode settings as an option, too. That kind of silliness was one of the things that always made me smile about the old school Sam games. The more non-Serious side of the franchise, with things such as that, seems to be the heart and soul of Tormental. I mean, the intense action defines the series. But the tongue in cheek attitude is really ramped up here too. And that’s a good thing.

- What's your favorite weapon to use in the game, and why?
Right now? The minigun has been treating me well. But my attitude on favorite weapons changes regularly. A lot of it depends on how the level randomly generates and what enemies I’m facing. The minigun just spits out ammo at such a rapid rate that I’m finding it a good go to weapon for a variety of situations. Also, it’s good for eating walls quickly to give you some space to dodge enemies in tight corridors.

- In the game, what's your favorite weapon combo to play with?
Ricochet bullets. Always bet on ricochet bullets. Man, I love those things. They even have a right trigger weapon called the bouncer that spews out ricochet bullets in every direction. You only get a few of those on a pickup. But, blessed hell, are they fun!

- Which bossfight in the game was the most enjoyable for you?
They really nailed it on the first boss fight. Werebull are the bane of my existence, so that Rodeo bossfight was perfect. Set the tone for the entire game. I still haven’t finished the game, though. And they still haven’t finished development. So I may change my mind later. Just saying that they set the bar high early on.

- We've heard your voice in other smaller projects such as "I Hate Running Backwards", "Serious Sam's Bogus Detour", "Serious Sam Double D" and we'll also be listening to your voice in "Tormental" once it comes out.
How do you feel about Serious Sam being part of these smaller indie titles, and the support that Croteam gives towards these game developers?
Croteam is probably the best developer in the world to work for. They never forget where they came from or how they started off as a tiny little indie studio themselves. And the support they give to other small developers is beyond what anyone could expect. I think it’s great how they lend out their core franchise so readily to take a chance on helping the next generation of talent get a leg up. Also, we get a huge variety of quirky new games to play out of it. So it’s a win / win.

- Do you think we'll ever see an end to Sam's fight against Mental?
Yes and no. At some point, I think we will have Mental as an end boss. But Mental is more of an abstract concept at this point. It’s like asking if we will ever see an end to the darkness. Well… yeah. When morning comes. But the clock always turns. Darkness always returns. And when a game messes around with time travel and flippant lunacy as much as the Serious Sam series does, there are always going to be some loose ends to tie up regarding Mental.

- As a last thing, is there any message that you would like to give to the Serious Sam community?
Yeah. Don’t be afraid to take chances. Nobody lies on their deathbed wishing they had taken less risks. Daredevils die more often, sure… but they die with less regrets. Go out there and do the thing. Whatever that thing is. Stop second guessing yourself. The only true failure in life is to never have tried. Also, buy Tormental. And Serious Sam Planet Badass, of course.

He was also kind enough to answer some less specific questions sent by the Serious Sam community. You can read those right here!