Serious Sam goes to the Vatican and jacks the Popemobile in a new trailer

One of the things I've always enjoyed about the Serious Sam games is how fantastically deranged the whole thing is. Case in point, the new Serious Sam 4 trailer revealed during today's Future Games Show. 

Sam, for some reason, needs to get to the Vatican, so after slaughtering hordes of Mental's forces he asks a local woman on a balcony for directions. In response, she directs him toward the famous Popemobile, because it'll get him where he wants to go more quickly.

Sam is doubtful, but the woman is not. "Silly boy. It is the new Popemobile."

The new Popemobile, it turns out, is a massive combat mech, standing maybe ten meters high and armed with dual chain guns and rocket launchers. It even has a suitably Papal bootup message: "All systems ready. Let God sort them out."

This may be my favorite screen shot of all time.  (Image credit: Croteam)

It proceeds about as you'd expect from there, although I have to admit that I didn't see the Cthulhu-esque horror coming, I'm pretty sure that's new. The underlying gameplay clearly is not, but that's what we're paying for anyway, and for me the real joy here is the sheer ridiculousness of the whole thing. Croteam's embrace of the absurd has turned Serious Sam into the Duke Nukem we should've got: Gruff, macho, not too bright, but handy in certain, very specific ways. I am 100 percent here for that.

Serious Sam 4 comes out on September 24. You can find out more (although what more do you need, really?) on Steam or at croteam.com.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.