When Behaviour Interactive heard that Devolver was on the lookout for a developer to make a brand new Critical Sam, we couldn’t have been extra excited and we jumped on the alternative. Many people on the workforce had fond reminiscences of enjoying Critical Sam: The First Encounter when it was launched within the early 2000s and remembered the wacky enjoyable the franchise is thought for. You recognize, it got here from an period when video video games have been unapologetically video games first, at all times pushing the boundaries of what the know-how might do. As huge followers of Croteam’s work, we merely couldn’t cross it up.
As discussions moved ahead, we knew we wished to make one thing totally different, one thing that may construct on the legacy of Critical Sam and honor what got here earlier than, whereas nonetheless standing by itself and shining a brand new mild on the franchise. We wished to create a recreation that longtime followers would instantly acknowledge, however {that a} youthful viewers with no historical past with Critical Sam might soar into simply as simply. And so, Shatterverse got here to be.
Our first activity was to recreate the texture of Critical Sam in Unreal Engine, the backpedaling, the gunplay, the traditional enemies, after which modernize and redesign these parts. We knew early on that The First Encounter and The Second Encounter can be our largest inspirations as a result of these are the video games we nonetheless replay to today. With the franchise’s 25th anniversary developing, we wished the brand new recreation to really feel like a celebration of the place all of it started. That meant preserving the high-octane motion, the massive enemy waves, and naturally, the bosses. Critical Sam has at all times been identified for enormous showdowns in opposition to spectacular baddies, so we wished each boss to really feel like a serious set piece and a real take a look at of the gamers’ would possibly.
At that stage, the sport felt good and positively appeared like Critical Sam, but it surely was nonetheless lacking one thing: its personal identification. We thought lengthy and laborious about why individuals missed the great previous days and what they felt when enjoying the unique video games. We wished to seek out that feeling once more with out merely copying what Croteam had already performed, and we finally zeroed in on two design objectives. The primary was that urge to replay the identical mission again and again, looking for each secret and chasing a better rating. The second was the sensation that something might occur and that typically the deck was stacked in opposition to you, (due to Croteam’s typically cheeky encounter design). As we talked by means of methods to deliver these emotions again, the FPS roguelike style shortly emerged as the right match.
That stated, roguelike FPS video games can nonetheless really feel fairly area of interest and laborious to get into, and we wished Shatterverse to be simple to select up and share with household and buddies, even when that they had by no means touched a Critical Sam recreation, an FPS, or a roguelike earlier than. Each system wanted to be simple to know whereas nonetheless providing sufficient depth to reward mastery. That accessibility additionally formed our strategy to multiplayer: we wished a recreation individuals might maintain enjoying collectively for years to return, not one that may disappear from the “digital cabinets” if it didn’t change into a large success.
To make that attainable, we selected peer-to-peer multiplayer as an alternative of counting on devoted servers and included an offline solo mode, guaranteeing the sport might nonetheless be performed 5, 10, and even 15 years from now. It was actually necessary to the workforce to create one thing that would final and by no means merely be shut down. We additionally wished Shatterverse to launch as a whole, appropriately priced standalone recreation, one which was value gamers’ cash from the get-go and didn’t want live-service releases to be enjoyable. On the identical time, we had so many concepts for locations to go to, previous and new enemies and weapons to create, and all of the loopy issues we might do with Shatterverse. So, we constructed the sport to help expansions, DLC, and new content material that would develop the bottom expertise if followers wished extra, with out ever cannibalizing the sport that they had already paid for.
The workforce has been extremely excited by the reception throughout our many beta playtests, and we’ve listened carefully to neighborhood suggestions as we’ve continued to tweak and polish the Shatterverse expertise. The Critical Sam neighborhood is a devoted one, and its help has helped us make the sport even higher by means of a number of rounds of testing. What makes us proudest is that our core viewers appeared to grasp instantly what we have been attempting to do: create a Critical Sam recreation they might simply share with others, spreading their love of the franchise and serving to it attain a brand new viewers. Finally, we hope Shatterverse not solely welcomes newcomers, but in addition conjures up them to select up the sooner video games and change into followers themselves.
We hope you’ll decide up Critical Sam: Shatterverse and assemble a squad to tackle Psychological’s hordes to avoid wasting the Samverse!
Critical Sam: Shatterverse
Devolver Digital
$19.99
$17.99
Critical Sam Stone is again, however this time he isn’t alone. Uber Psychological’s maniacal machinations have fractured the partitions between universes, and now Sam’s from a number of dimensions should be taught to work collectively to restore the Shatterverse.
As a part of the Critical Program, a multidimensional power opposing Uber Psychological, you may journey throughout shifting universes to complete battles different Sams could not. Psychological has been searching the hero throughout realities, and in lots of timelines, he is already gained. Now, it is your flip to push again. To advance, you should deliver down his 5 lieutenants, every a formidable boss searching for whole annihilation.
Wield a relentlessly harmful arsenal of devastating weapons, unlock highly effective boons, and experiment with run modifiers that reshape gameplay. In true roguelite trend, loss of life isn’t the tip, and every run opens the door to new methods and limitless prospects throughout the Shatterverse.
MULTIVERSE MAYHEM
Actuality cracked and now Critical Sams from a number of universes are combating the identical struggle. Workforce up throughout shifting worlds, collide with alternate variations of the legend, and produce guns-blazing chaos to timelines that have been by no means supposed to satisfy.
BIG GUNS, SERIOUS DAMAGE
Pack the classics, then crank it into the bizarre. Wield a mixture of iconic Critical Sam staples and brand-new toys, constructed for one function – clearing arenas when Psychological’s hordes determine a whole bunch is a warm-up. Explosive, loud, and very violent.
ESCALATING DESTRUCTION
A world filled with unstable anomalies, hidden portals, and high-risk alternatives that may supercharge a run, or finish it immediately. Push ahead larger rewards, unlock highly effective modifiers, and upgrades that completely broaden your prospects.
MENTAL’S HORDE, REMIXED
Acquainted foes are again, and so they introduced buddies. Face a choice of traditional Critical Sam enemies alongside recent monsters, all below Psychological’s management, all engineered to overwhelm you, and all begging to be changed into mush.
ARCADE-STYLE FPS ENERGY
Excessive-adrenaline, run-and-gun enviornment chaos, huge battlefields, nonstop strain, quite a lot of backpedaling, and perfectly-timed one-liners when every little thing’s on hearth. Shatterverse leans into the Critical Sam legacy and pushes it ahead with procedurally shifting runs throughout hand-crafted arenas set in beforehand unexplored worlds.
