The only downside to this interesting update are the massively increased hardware requirements of the game, which are also discussed and analyzed in the video that is embedded under this article. Apart from that change, the update keeps Serious Sam's original art style intact, which means that it should still feel like the good old shooter from 2001.
It is available for free if Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter is already owned. In very dark catacombs, the new illumination seems so realistically pitch-dark that the developers of the fan update even decided to integrate a flashlight into the game, which leads to a rather different gaming experience. The Fusion DLC Pack allows the content and episodes from Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter to be played in Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter. Those effects, which are discussed in detail in the aforementioned video, turn the original Serious Sam into a much more beautiful game. In addition to sharper high-resolution textures, the update enables stunning ray traced, or path traced, illumination and lighting effects in the game.
The upgrade greatly enhances the graphics and visuals of Serious Sam, as a new video by Digital Foundry shows. The result of their work is a fan-made update, which is available as a free download on Github. Because the game's technical foundation has not aged particularly well in the past 20 years, a few hardworking fans have taken on the task of overhauling the graphic's engine of the iconic first-person shooter. The classic PC game Serious Sam - The First Encounter ( from US$5 on Amazon) from 2001 is still popular among a very dedicated group of fans.
