Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope Early Access Review – PC/VR

This is an Early Access Review and as such opinions and scores are based solely on the state of the game at the time of review and subject to change as development progresses leading up to final release.

Combining crazy humor and overwhelming odds when it comes to enemy numbers, Serious Sam has always been one of my favorite FPS games, and now Sam is invading the world of VR with Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope. Rather than the traditional FPS exploration shooter we’ve played in the past, The Last Hope is a stationary wave-based survival game; a genre increasingly common to VR, only this time we get all that classic Serious Sam flavor added to the mix.

The game is presented as a series of VR reenactments from the logs of Sam Stone, allowing you to experience those devastating battles just like Sam did. Starting off with only a pair of simple pistols you’ll earn credits during battle that can be spent to purchase new weapons – nearly a dozen including miniguns, shotguns, lasers, and of course a chainsaw. Between missions, or after each death, you’ll need to spend credits to refill your ammo and replenish your health, and figuring out the perfect mix of weapons for each upcoming level is just part of the challenge…and fun.

The game is overwhelming difficult, and it took me nearly a dozen attempts to finish the first mission. It’s all about prioritizing targets and killing as many enemies as possible before they get too close. It also helps to shoot those money bonuses so you have more spending cash between missions. Each level offers new environment with new monsters coming at you in impossible numbers.

You’ll get to jump around to various planets, each with a distinctive theme. Currently, the Early Access version offers two planets, each with four locations and more deadly arenas will be arriving in future updates. Some of the locations are callbacks to levels from the original series while others are entirely new and pretty awesome. All of the classic music and sound effects are back including those amazing screaming suicide bombers, but the big news is the return of John J. Dick reprising his role as Serious Sam complete with all the trademark one-liners and snappy retorts.

Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope currently supports the Vive and the Oculus Rift using the new Oculus Touch controllers. I tested the game with both and the game works flawlessly on both systems although I found the Oculus Touch lighter weight allowed me to play for longer sessions with less wrist strain. There is also room-scale support allowing you to play the game standing or seated…or lying on the ground when you pass out from complete exhaustion in a quivering meat sack of unbridled nerves.

The Steam version allows you to play the game on either VR system or Oculus owners can get the game directly on their own store. The game does support online co-op, allowing you to face these demonic hoards with a partner, so you might want to consider that when choosing which store/community to purchase your copy. And two new difficulty levels have been added for those who thought the original game was either too challenging or not challenging enough.

It’s definitely worth noting that this isn’t the only Serious Sam game available for VR. Croteam VR also released Serious Sam: The First Encounter in December; that game being a proper FPS rather than a stationary wave-based survival game. It also seems that game is getting more attention in the way of updates than The Last Hope, making me a bit uneasy to recommend this game as much as I would otherwise; especially at the salty price of $40, which is arguably high for a game that is so similar to many others on both VR formats.

There is plenty of fun to be had with Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope, but $40 is going to be a barrier of entry for most casual VR gamers. Almost nothing in the VR marketplace costs that much; especially in Early Access. For the time being I’m going to have to recommend a wait-and-see approach. If the game goes on a Steam sale then check it out, otherwise I’d probably wait until this game exits Early Access and see if it delivers on everything it promises.

We’ll continue to update our coverage and possibly our score for this game leading up to final release so stay tuned…

Screenshot Gallery




Author: Mark Smith
I've been an avid gamer since I stumbled upon ZORK running in my local Radio Shack in 1980. Ten years later I was working for Sierra Online. Since then I've owned nearly every game system and most of the games to go with them. Not sure if 40+ years of gaming qualifies me to write reviews, but I do it anyway.

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