Serious Sam: The First Encounter in VR: Dual-Wielding Hordes in Ancient Egypt

Serious Sam: The First Encounter is one of those games that feels almost inevitable in VR. An old-school horde shooter built around massive open arenas, hundreds of enemies charging at you from every direction, and an arsenal of satisfying weapons — that formula translates naturally to standing in the middle of the chaos with guns in both hands. Croteam clearly agreed, because they built the VR version themselves. This is not a fan mod or a third-party port. It is an official, developer-made VR adaptation sold as its own product on Steam, and it shows.

What This VR Option Actually Is

Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter is an official standalone VR version of the HD remaster of the original 2001 game. It was developed by Croteam VR and published by Devolver Digital and Croteam, releasing as a full product after an Early Access period. It runs on Serious Engine 2017 and requires a VR headset — the Steam page categorizes it as “VR Only.”

This is not a mod slapped onto the flat game. Croteam rebuilt key systems for VR: motion controls with dual-wielding, a multi-option locomotion system they call Serious Warp, and VR-specific UI and weapon handling. The entire single-player campaign and all multiplayer modes are present and functional.

Key details:

• Route type: Official standalone VR version — built and maintained by the original developer
• What it provides: Full single-player campaign (15 levels), co-op for up to 16 players, versus multiplayer modes, dual-wielding, multiple locomotion options, Steam Workshop support
• What it doesn’t provide: This is the HD remaster adapted for VR, not the original 2001 engine; there is no flat-to-VR toggle within this product
• Who maintains it: Croteam VR, though updates have slowed significantly since the initial release
• Support status: Stable but quiet — the game works reliably but has not received meaningful content updates in some time

How It Plays

Controls

The standout feature. Serious Sam VR supports full motion controls with tracked controllers. Each hand holds a weapon independently — you can dual-wield the same weapon or mix and match, and the game was clearly designed around this. Aiming a shotgun in your left hand while firing rockets from your right feels exactly as absurd and satisfying as it sounds. Weapon switching is handled through a radial menu, and once you learn the gesture, it becomes second nature.

The tracked controller support is genuine — not a gamepad emulator wearing motion control clothing. You aim, you shoot, you reload, and you dual-wield with real hand presence. This is one of the strongest aspects of the port.

Comfort

Comfort is where Serious Sam VR gets complicated. The game offers multiple locomotion options:

• Trackpad/stick movement for those comfortable with smooth locomotion
• Teleportation via Sam’s in-universe translocator device
• Serious Warp — Croteam’s proprietary system that blends several movement approaches and allows fine-tuning of comfort settings

The options are comprehensive and the Serious Warp system is well-thought-out. The problem is the game itself. Serious Sam is fast. Enemies charge at you from every direction. Werebulls rush straight at your face. Kamikazes scream toward you in swarms. The boss fights involve dodging massive projectiles while circling a towering enemy. No amount of comfort settings can fully mitigate the intensity of standing in the middle of a Serious Sam arena with enemies coming from all sides.

This is rated Moderate Intensity because the comfort tools are genuinely good, but the core gameplay demands rapid physical movement and constant spatial awareness. Experienced VR users will adapt. Newcomers may find it overwhelming.

Performance

Serious Engine 2017 is not cutting-edge, which works in the game’s favor on the performance front. The original HD remaster was designed to run well on mid-range hardware, and the VR version benefits from that foundation. It runs smoothly on mid-range PCVR hardware and can even push high visual settings without much strain. The large open environments with hundreds of enemies on screen are the main stress test, and the engine handles them competently.

Stability

Reliable. The game has been out of Early Access for years, crashes are rare, and the core campaign is playable from start to finish without major technical issues. Save/load works. Multiplayer functions. This is a finished, stable product — not an experiment in progress.

What Works Well

Dual-wielding is the real deal. This is not a gimmick bolted onto a flat game. The weapon handling feels natural, and dual-wielding different weapons simultaneously creates combat options that do not exist in the flat version. It transforms the gameplay loop in a meaningful way.

The locomotion system is thorough. Croteam did not just add teleportation and call it done. The Serious Warp system gives players granular control over movement comfort, and the translocator device is integrated into the game’s fiction rather than feeling like an accessibility afterthought.

Full multiplayer support. Co-op campaign, deathmatch, survival, capture the flag — the multiplayer suite is comprehensive, and cross-platform play with the flat version via Serious Sam Fusion 2017 is a genuinely smart feature.

Arena combat translates naturally. Serious Sam’s design — wide open spaces, enemies approaching from predictable directions in large numbers — works better in VR than many more modern FPS designs. The spatial awareness VR provides makes horde management more intuitive, not less.

Steam Workshop. Custom content extends the game’s life and shows Croteam built this with the community in mind.

What Doesn’t Work

The game shows its age. This is the HD remaster of a 2001 shooter, and it looks and feels like one. The level design is straightforward — corridors connecting open arenas, key-locked doors, secrets hidden behind obvious walls. The encounter design is “walk into arena, enemies spawn, kill them all, door opens.” This was the entire point of Serious Sam in 2001, but in VR the simplicity becomes harder to ignore.

Comfort ceiling. No matter how good the locomotion options are, some encounters are fundamentally uncomfortable in VR. Being rushed by multiple Werebulls, surrounded by Kleer skeletons, and dodging Ugh-Zan’s attacks simultaneously is intense in flat — in VR it can be genuinely disorienting for anyone not already accustomed to fast VR movement.

The multiplayer community is thin. The cross-play feature with the flat version is smart in theory, but the player population for versus modes is small. Co-op with friends is viable; finding random matches for competitive modes is unreliable.

No significant ongoing development. The game is stable and complete, but Croteam has moved on. Do not expect new features, balance passes, or engine improvements. What exists is what you get.

The price is steep for what it is. At full price, paying for a VR version of a game that is often available for a few dollars in its flat HD form is a hard ask. The VR adaptation is good, but the underlying game is short and old.

Platform Differences

Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter is PCVR-only. It supports both SteamVR (HTC Vive, Index, etc.) and Oculus PC (Rift, Quest via Link). The Linux version supports HTC Vive via SteamVR. There is no native Quest or PSVR version — this requires a PC.

Performance is comparable across headsets since the engine is not demanding. The game benefits from higher resolution displays for picking out distant enemies, but even on lower-end headsets the visuals are clear enough for gameplay.

The cross-play with the flat version via Serious Sam Fusion 2017 works across PC platforms regardless of VR headset brand.

Who This Is For

Good for:

• Fans of old-school FPS games who want to experience Serious Sam’s horde combat from the inside
• VR players looking for a genuine dual-wielding shooter with satisfying weapon feel
• Co-op groups who want a chaotic, high-energy VR shooter night
• Anyone who enjoys arcade-style FPS gameplay and does not mind simple level design

Not for:

• VR newcomers or those sensitive to motion — the intensity ceiling is high even with comfort tools
• Players who want a modern, narrative-driven FPS experience
• Anyone expecting active community multiplayer beyond co-op with friends
• People who already own the flat HD remaster and are on the fence about paying full price again for VR

The Verdict

Tier: B

Game Quality: B Serious Sam: The First Encounter is a fun, influential old-school shooter with legendary horde combat and satisfying weapons. The level design is simple, the campaign is short, and the encounter formula is repetitive — but the core loop of “enter arena, survive chaos, move on” still works. It is good, not great, and its age shows.

VR Implementation Quality: A Croteam built a genuine VR adaptation, not a token port. Full motion controls with real dual-wielding, comprehensive locomotion options, cross-play multiplayer, Steam Workshop support, and stable performance. The VR version adds meaningful gameplay through dual-wielding that the flat version cannot replicate. Some encounters push past what comfort settings can fully mitigate, which keeps this just short of essential.

Overall Tier: B A strong official VR port that earns its recommendation despite the underlying game’s age. The VR implementation is serious work from a developer who clearly understood what VR demanded, and dual-wielding two weapons while backpedaling from a screaming horde of Headless Kamikazes is an experience flat Serious Sam simply cannot match. But the game underneath is a 2001 shooter — straightforward, repetitive, and showing its years. Worth playing for VR shooter fans who want visceral horde action. Not worth paying full price if you already own the flat version and only have casual curiosity.