And when you reach a waypoint, a cutscene often triggers. Serious Sam 4 has a waypoint system, though. Just like in any game, some times you’ll take a look at your enemies and just not want to bother with them. And you really don’t want to leave them alive for any period of time, as they’ll make your life hell while fighting the hordes. Even without any skill upgrades, you can one-shot these suckers. The shield is fairly sturdy and regenerates but they can’t exactly hit you in the face when you get close to them. There’s a variety of reprogrammed soldier that hide behind a shield and shoot homing rockets at you. But there’s one enemy that’s almost always worth meleeing. They serve a purpose, but they also leave you super open and you’re almost always fighting a ton of enemies. I gotta admit, I don’t much care for the melee attacks introduced in the third game and continued in Serious Sam 4. The enemies are fast as hell, especially on higher difficulties. I know this seems obvious, but seriously, run whenever you can. There’s even a skill that lets you shoot and reload while running, making doing so even more efficient. Which can come in really handy for dodging enemies shooting you from behind. None of that fancy side or backward running for you. As great as it is to be able to move quickly, you can only run forward. Walking to a pyramid or Mayan temple or whatever took forever. I know some people weren’t happy about this but, c’mon, he was so friggin’ slow in the original games. Much like in the third game, Sam can sprint. You’ll find plenty as long as you look around. Act three hardly has any gadgets but has some of the toughest fights. It can definitely take a painful enemy wave and make things favorable for you right quick. Not only does it keep everything off your back for a minute, but it decimates anything in the sky. I think the black hole gadget is my favorite. If you went out of your way to do sidequests to accrue those sweet gadgets, they’re all going to be gone when the current act ends. You start each act with nothing but your knife and pistol. Who wants to cheese your way through fights in Serious Sam 4, after all? You’re tough and you’ve got stuff to blast to pieces, so you don’t need any help. I know, it can be tempting to just stockpile them. I mean, have you ever used two miniguns at the same time on hundreds of enemies in front of you? That’s what I thought.

That means no aiming and no lock-on with the sweet rocket launcher. Do keep in mind, however, that you lose a gun’s secondary ability while dual-wielding. Similarly, I can’t tell you how much I love unloading two super shotgun blasts simultaneously into a werebull’s face. Using two assault rifles is great for always having some more rounds ready to go while also doing some impressive damage. Reloading is back for certain weapons and carrying two of them can help mitigate this. As should be clear, using this allows you to double each weapon’s DPS while also doubling your ammo used. As you get more skill points, though, you’ll be able to mix and match the two. Dual-wielding initially only allows you to use two of the same gun. The enemies come at you so quickly and in such large numbers that it really feels necessary a lot of the time. Dual-wielding is an absolute lifesaver in this game.

Or you can make things as metal as possible and dual-wield everything always. Sure, you can focus on melee attacks if you want. Serious Sam 4 gives our hero a skill tree. To prepare you for those, we’ve put together some Serious Sam 4 tips to get you into the swing of things. It’s mostly business as usual but there are some wrinkles here and there.

It’s been a long time, but Serious Sam 4 is here with a familiar bag of tricks.

Serious sam 4 achievement guide