Serious Sam: The Third Encounter announced for PC

Croteam has announced Serious Sam: The Third Encounter, a new PC entry in the long-running arcade shooter series. The game is described as a direct continuation of Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, rather than another prequel or side story, and is currently in early development.¹

A direct continuation for Serious Sam

The announcement positions The Third Encounter as a return to the series’ classic run-and-gun formula. Croteam says players will fight through new alien worlds, face larger enemy hordes and use a mixture of familiar weapons and fresh firepower as Sam takes the battle to Mental’s forces.¹

The project is planned for PC, with solo play and co-op both listed on its Steam page. The store description promises a campaign built around escalating firefights, open environments and the sort of deliberately excessive action that has defined the series since The First Encounter.¹

The title’s place in the timeline is unusually specific. It follows the events of The Second Encounter, while Serious Sam 3: BFE and Serious Sam 4 served as prequels to earlier entries. That makes this new game a continuation of the older storyline rather than another attempt to fill in the gaps before it.

What we know about the PC release

The Steam listing confirms a Windows PC version, but it does not provide a release date. The game is marked as coming soon and remains in early development, so there is no launch window to report yet.¹

Croteam is listed as the developer and Devolver Digital as the publisher on the store page. The listing also identifies single-player, multiplayer and co-operative play, although the final feature set and campaign details could change during development.¹

The announcement arrives with an official teaser and gameplay imagery rather than a finished release schedule. That means the useful takeaway is the project’s existence and its direction: Croteam is making a new Serious Sam that deliberately reconnects with the continuity and chaotic first-person action of the earlier games.

Our opinion

This is a promising announcement because it understands what makes Serious Sam distinct. The series does not need to imitate every modern shooter; its appeal is the absurd scale of its encounters, the pleasure of mowing through impossible crowds and the simple rhythm of finding a bigger weapon for a bigger problem. A direct follow-up to The Second Encounter gives Croteam a clear creative lane, while co-op keeps the formula pointed at the social mayhem that suits it best.

The caveat is the same one attached to every early announcement: there is no release date and very little firm information about how the campaign will work. For now, The Third Encounter is a real PC project with an official Steam listing, not a game ready to play. The next meaningful update will be seeing how Croteam turns that promise of classic arcade FPS action into a full campaign.