Serious Sam Fusion - Remasters of Remasters - FREE for owners of the previous Remaster(s)

[Durandal]

http://steamcommunity.com/games/564310/announcements/detail/2542694703633010179

Serious Sam Fusion 2017 Update 310488 released!

IMPORTANT: With this update, Serious Sam 3: BFE is added to Fusion. Note that there is no VR version of it, as there are still some VR features specific to SS3 that are not implemented yet. The VR version of SS3 will be released at a later date.

Also please note that the SS3 Fusion download will become available gradually during the day as we are adding it to various packages that people have bought the game through. Possible hiccups are expected and please let us know if something is broken (there probably will be).

However, unlike with Serious Sam HD for Fusion, multiple smaller and bigger changes were made to the game, according to the feedback that we have received since the release of the original Serious Sam 3: BFE.

The largest changes include:

- Changes made to the levels and enemies to fix a so called "churn" with the overall gameplay; where the game seemed to annoying or monotone. Due to these changes, mainly on Normal difficulty, some battles were changed, some enemies no longer spawn, and some enemy stats have been changed. In general, the game should be less annoying and difficult to play on Normal.
- Enemies that had a perfect immunity to non-explosive weapons, like the Khnum and the Technopolip now have a 50% immunity to non-explosives instead.
- On the other hand, Hard and Serious difficulties have been made more difficult. Some enemy spawns that no longer appear on Normal will appear again. Several enemies also have additional attacks on Hard and Serious! (You'll "love" the kleer.)
- Many many smaller changes. Try to find them all!

As SS3 is a highly complex game, here can be a plethora of additional bugs that are not yet fixed. So consider this release as a beta. Thank you for understanding and for any potential help you can provide finding all these bugs!

You'll "love" the kleer.

 

[Multidirectional]

Can't find "No Reload" mod for Fusion BFE yet, would love to replay otherwise.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I think I'll give the Fusion update of SS3 a go.

EDIT: Once it's actually available to me. They weren't kidding about the "adding it gradually" bit.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Update: Gave SS3 Fusion a go. Played on Hard through the first level, saw no notable changes to enemy behavior, but did spot that there are 2 new secrets. (Hint: They're both in the starting building.)

However, SS3 crashed far too often due to some graphical issues I couldn't identify. I suggest holding off further until Fusion leaves its "Beta" mode.

 

[Lithium Flower]

They should really remix the first few SS3 levels to make them less boring.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

From what little I saw they changed nothing about the layout of the first level, and left the second level completely untouched.

Sadly it's the first four levels they really need to work on, so early impressions are not exactly in their favor.

Finally they need to integrate the DLC levels into the main campaign as that mod did a few years back.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I took SS3 BFE Fusion 2017 (what a mouthful!) for a spin recently. This time the game didn't crash even once.

I tried playing it on Hard to see these new "extra attacks" that the enemies have.

# The Rocketeer can now fire a large homing projectile. Think Revenant rocket from Doom. Time it right and keep moving in the right manner, and you can have one orbiting around you!
# The Gnaar has a Shoryuken-punch that sends you flying.
# The Kleer fires its projectile diagonally with an electric charge. This can get really bothersome in large arena fights against multiple Kleers (Level 9 bossfight for example).
# The Technopolip can now fire a barrage of rockets down upon you. On the upside the Technopolip can now be hurt by every weapon, but killing it with a shotgun takes FOREVER.
# The Laser Mechanoid pivots on the spot and sprays lasers in all directions.
# The Rocket Mechanoid fires an obscene amount of rockets at you in a matter of seconds.
# The two spiders power up their acid attack to fire a fast-moving projectile that bounces off walls.
# But the winner is the Scrapjack, who fires a salvo of bouncing grenades high up in the air if you're hiding behind walls. These have a LONG reach, so you're rarely safe around Scrapjacks anymore.

Other enemies not mentioned are unchanged.

In addition I did some reading on how the Fusion project is going. It sure is ambitious: The plan is to revamp every Serious Sam title to update graphics, levels and story inconsistencies. This includes an almost total rework of the Legend of the Beast DLC (which they admit sucks balls) and possibly adding some new weapons and enemies. The downside, however, is that there are only three people working on the Fusion project - everyone else is working on Serious Sam 4.

So one day the Serious Sam games will be awesome and up to date... just don't hold your breath waiting on it.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Speaking of holding one's breath - I return to Serious Sam because... Serious Sam Classics: Revolutions has hit 1.0 release, meaning it's 'feature ready'.

That means FE, SE, a Steam Workshop and Bright Island are finally available to play on the old engine, fully working and compatible with modern operating systems and hardware devices.

Seeing as I've played FE and SE extensively through the years, I decided instead to try out Bright Island, the most official unofficial add-on for the old SSam games, and IIRC has been hinted and rumored at for years, but it's only now that it's finally playable.

Bright Island consists of six levels (plus two secret levels) that mostly use scenery and artwork from SE (with one level using some from FE as well) as well as a few new sights to see. Gameplay-wise it's much more challenging than even SE, but I think that is more due to the emphasis moving away from SSam-esque gameplay and more towards locked arenas. As a result I only really enjoyed two of the levels as they had the least amount of arena fights and had the more open and freeform gameplay that defined the earlier SSam games.

Bright Island isn't all just old maps and old ideas... well OK it is, but that means new weapons and new enemies. The Lightning Gun from Quake makes an appearance as the Ghostbuster gun, but due to its short range I rarely used it. The Mine Layer offers loads of potential due to the almost non-existent AI of Mental's forces, but it's a rare weapon with even rarer ammo drops. Finally there's the Plasma Gun (not to be confused with SSam's Laser Cannon) which fires a mini-explosive projectile as standard fire, but it has a wicked spread of eight projectiles as an alt-fire - just the thing to take down large enemies quickly.

As far as enemies go, they're all reskins with new abilities. The Beheaded Commando has a truckload of HP and has five times the firepower of a normal Beheaded (meaning he fires five times as many shots/grenades) and likes to go kamikaze-mode if he gets low on health. The Beheaded Waporwave is odd, he fires a tight spread of shots in a full circle, even angling his attack to aim upwards or downwards if needed. There are new Bio-Mechanoids, but as they're some of the cooler additions I'll leave it as a surprise what tricks they have in store. There's also a bigger Scorpion gunner, new elemental golems (the Storm golem is immune to bullets, but otherwise they're mostly palette swaps of the Lava golem) and a familiar four-armed badass may make a pint-sized appearance.

Overall Bright Island felt like a slog. Worse than that, it felt like a rushed slog. It's clearly in need of some spit-and-polish in some of the maps. In playing order only the fourth and fifth map felt really fun, and the mid-section of the final map as well. On the other hand I hated the third map (Sunken Pyramid) as it's nothing but back-to-back arena fights. Finally the secrets are an absolute pain to find... or to be more precise, they're easy to find, but take way too much effort to actually unlock. Getting the "secret end level boss stash" one is the worst kind of busybody work imaginable, and there's a secret involving a bell that I just scratch my head over how people figured out. But at least Bright Island is better than the other SSam DLCs (and it's free!) so there's nothing here to stop a co-op round with good mates.

One final note: Revolutions is currently updated at a montly basis, but due to engine limitations it invalidates all currently existing savegames every time it updates. Check the Steam Discussions for more info.

EDIT: Updated post based on new information.

 

[JDR13]

I enjoyed Serious Sam FE and SE, but I've never played any of the remasters or SS3. I played a little of SS2 but quit after a few levels.