Games like Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
If Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter is your kind of game, the closest matches are Serious Sam 3: BFE, Serious Sam Classic: The First Encounter and Serious Sam Fusion 2017 (beta) — picked from the ranked list below. Reviewers single out its immersive level design, mow down waves and secrets to find. Each pick is ranked by what players of this game also play, shared genres and tags, and review-mined similarity — not a generic popularity list.
Get personalized picks →Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter is a 2009 action remake developed by Croteam and published by Devolver Digital. The game features wave-based combat where players face spawning hordes of enemies across designed levels that include traps and hidden secrets. Players can tackle the challenging campaign solo or with up to 16 players in online co-operative mode. Players describe the experience as intense and stressful, with reviewers highlighting the level design as a key feature and the weapon variety as well-balanced. The activity of mowing down waves and hunting for secrets emerges as particularly engaging according to player feedback. The title holds a 91% positive rating from 2,396 Steam reviews and is classified as playable on Steam Deck. The game offers a sit-down session of medium length.
About Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter: Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter is a visually upgraded and fully Steam supported remake version of the original high-adrenaline single-play and 16-player co-operative arcade-action FPS which was Gamespot's Game of the Year 2001 and which scored overall of 87% on Metacritic!
Players who liked Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter also play
Steam players who put hours into Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter also tend to own these titles — a signal called collaborative filtering. imho.run cross-references millions of library ownership patterns to surface games whose real audiences overlap, regardless of whether their genre tags match.
Serious Sam 3: BFE
WHY THIS
Shares wave based combat and a stressful mood with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Top pick for Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Serious Sam 3: BFE is a prequel to the original indie fast action FPS and Game of the Year sensation - Serious Sam: The First Encounter!
Serious Sam Classic: The First Encounter
WHY THIS
Shares secret hunting with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Second-strongest match for Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Serious Sam is a high-adrenaline single-play and 16-player co-operative arcade-action FPS and Gamespot's Game of the Year 2001!
Serious Sam Fusion 2017 (beta)
WHY THIS
Third-strongest match for Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Serious Sam Fusion is a central hub for several existing Serious Sam games developed by Croteam. Cool new features, engine upgrades, patches and updates will be released to existing owners for FREE!
Serious Sam Classic: The Second Encounter
WHY THIS
Shares wave based combat with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Ranked #4 for Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Serious Sam Classic: The Second Encounter is a high-adrenaline single-play and 16-player co-operative arcade-action FPS and Gamespot's Game of the Month February 2002!
Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter
WHY THIS
Ranked #5 for Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter is a visually upgraded and fully Steam supported remake of the original high-adrenaline single-play and 16-player co-operative arcade-action FPS and Gamespot's Game of the Month!
Dark Data
WHY THIS
Ranked #6 for Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
In a world driven by blackmail, time is not money...crime is. Do you have what it takes to uncover the truth while staring at the business end of a gun? Dark Data is a local multiplayer FPS based on the unreleased mid-nineties film of the same name.
Quake
WHY THIS
Shares secret hunting and an intense mood with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Ranked #7 for Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Developed by the award-winning id Software, Quake® is the ground-breaking, original dark fantasy first-person shooter that inspires today’s retro-style FPS games. With Quake (Enhanced), experience the authentic, updated, and visually enhanced version of the original.
Serious Sam II
WHY THIS
Shares secret hunting and a funny mood with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Ranked #8 for Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Serious Sam II is a shot of adrenaline to the hearts of first-person shooter fans across the world. This is serious!
Reviewers mention these as similar to Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
Surfaced from review text: when other players write 'if you liked X, try Y', we catch the name and resolve it back to a Steam game.
Painkiller: Black Edition
WHY THIS
Reviewers of Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Painkiller Black Edition includes the expansion pack Battle Out of Hell, featuring 10 additional single-player levels and many new villains.
Quake
WHY THIS
Shares secret hunting and an intense mood with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Reviewers of Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Developed by the award-winning id Software, Quake® is the ground-breaking, original dark fantasy first-person shooter that inspires today’s retro-style FPS games. With Quake (Enhanced), experience the authentic, updated, and visually enhanced version of the original.
Wolfenstein: The New Order
WHY THIS
Shares an intense mood with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Reviewers of Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Wolfenstein®: The New Order reignites the series that created the first-person shooter genre. Wolfenstein offers a deep game narrative packed with action, adventure and first-person combat.
DOOM
WHY THIS
Shares an intense mood with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Reviewers of Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Now includes all three premium DLC packs (Unto the Evil, Hell Followed, and Bloodfall), maps, modes, and weapons, as well as all feature updates including Arcade Mode, Photo Mode, and the latest Update 6.66, which brings further multiplayer improvements as well as revamps multiplayer progression.
Cheaper alternatives
Games in the same vein priced at least 40% below Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter at current Steam store prices.
Garry's Mod
WHY THIS
Priced ~67% under Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter on Steam right now. Shares Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Garry's Mod is a physics sandbox. There aren't any predefined aims or goals. We give you the tools and leave you to play.
Vampire Survivors
WHY THIS
Priced ~67% under Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter on Steam right now. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Mow down thousands of night creatures and survive until dawn! Vampire Survivors is a gothic horror casual game with rogue-lite elements, where your choices can allow you to quickly snowball against the hundreds of monsters that get thrown at you. Be the bullet hell!
R.E.P.O.
WHY THIS
Priced ~53% under Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter on Steam right now. Shares Action with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
An online co-op horror game with up to 6 players. Locate valuable, fully physics-based objects and handle them with care as you retrieve and extract to satisfy your creator's desires.
PEAK
WHY THIS
Priced ~47% under Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter on Steam right now. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
PEAK is a co-op climbing game where the slightest mistake can spell your doom. Either solo or as a group of lost nature scouts, your only hope of rescue from a mysterious island is to scale the mountain at its center. Do you have what it takes to reach the PEAK?
Titanfall® 2
WHY THIS
Priced ~70% under Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter on Steam right now. Shares Action with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Respawn Entertainment gives you the most advanced titan technology in its new, single player campaign & multiplayer experience. Combine & conquer with new titans & pilots, deadlier weapons, & customization and progression systems that help you and your titan flow as one unstoppable killing force.
Slay the Spire
WHY THIS
Priced ~58% under Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter on Steam right now. Shares Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
We fused card games and roguelikes together to make the best single player deckbuilder we could. Craft a unique deck, encounter bizarre creatures, discover relics of immense power, and Slay the Spire!
Inscryption
WHY THIS
Priced ~47% under Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter on Steam right now. Shares Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Inscryption is an inky black card-based odyssey that blends the deckbuilding roguelike, escape-room style puzzles, and psychological horror into a blood-laced smoothie. Darker still are the secrets inscrybed upon the cards...
Cookie Clicker
WHY THIS
Priced ~67% under Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter on Steam right now. Shares Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
An idle game about making cookies! Originally released in 2013 on the web, and actively developed since then. This is the official version for Steam.
Free alternatives
Free-to-play games that recommended players of this title also tend to enjoy.
Doki Doki Literature Club!
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
The Literature Club is full of cute girls! Will you write the way into their heart? This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.
Life is Strange - Episode 1
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Action with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Episode 1 now FREE! Life is Strange is an award-winning and critically acclaimed episodic adventure game that allows the player to rewind time and affect the past, present and future.
Ultimate Custom Night
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Welcome to the ultimate FNAF mashup, featuring 50 selectable characters and custom difficulties!
Bongo Cat
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Bongo cat needs your help. Bongo cat needz more hatz!!! Every time you press a key, Bongo cat will punch your taskbar. Type, click, play, work to collect more points. Which hats will you find?
ENA: Dream BBQ
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Experience surreal environments and inexplicable characters as ENA in a new wild world.
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Sonic the Hedgehog...was murdered!? Get to the bottom of the mystery in this brand-new adventure!
Indigo Park: Chapter 1
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Explore the abandoned childhood wonder of Indigo Park! Guided by Rambley the Raccoon, help restore power to the destroyed amusement park while you run from the reason it shut down.
Narrow it down
Head-to-head comparisons
More from Croteam
Other recommendable Steam games by Croteam, ranked by review count so the studio's hits land first.
The Talos Principle
WHY THIS
Another title from Croteam, the studio behind Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
The Talos Principle is a first-person puzzle game in the tradition of philosophical science fiction. Made by Croteam and written by Tom Jubert (FTL, The Swapper) and Jonas Kyratzes (The Sea Will Claim Everything).
Serious Sam 3: BFE
WHY THIS
Shares wave based combat and a stressful mood with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Another title from Croteam, the studio behind Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Serious Sam 3: BFE is a prequel to the original indie fast action FPS and Game of the Year sensation - Serious Sam: The First Encounter!
Serious Sam 4
WHY THIS
Another title from Croteam, the studio behind Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Serious Sam 4 reignites the classic FPS series in a high-powered prequel loaded with an explosive arsenal, intergalactic carnage, and perfectly timed one-liners.
The Talos Principle 2
WHY THIS
Another title from Croteam, the studio behind Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter. Shares Action with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
The Talos Principle 2 is a thought-provoking first-person puzzle experience that greatly expands on the first game's philosophical themes and stunning environments with increasingly mind-bending challenges.
Serious Sam II
WHY THIS
Shares secret hunting and a funny mood with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Another title from Croteam, the studio behind Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Serious Sam II is a shot of adrenaline to the hearts of first-person shooter fans across the world. This is serious!
Serious Sam Fusion 2017 (beta)
WHY THIS
Another title from Croteam, the studio behind Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Serious Sam Fusion is a central hub for several existing Serious Sam games developed by Croteam. Cool new features, engine upgrades, patches and updates will be released to existing owners for FREE!
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem
WHY THIS
Shares secret hunting with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Another title from Croteam, the studio behind Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter. Shares Action with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem is a new stand-alone expansion to the world of the classic FPS series. Join the fight against Notorious Mental on a journey through the wild lands of Russia, and find your way through this lost chapter of Sam Stone's adventures.
Serious Sam Classics: Revolution
WHY THIS
Shares an intense mood with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Another title from Croteam, the studio behind Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Serious Sam is a high-adrenaline arcade-action shooter heavily focused on frantic action. In a world where cyberpunk meets fantasy-fiction and advanced technology is mixed with black magic and psycho-powers, Sam travels through four beautiful worlds, confronting countless foes on his way to Mental's base.
Plays great on Steam Deck
Valve-Verified or Playable picks from the similar pool — ready to go on Deck out of the box.
Serious Sam Fusion 2017 (beta)
WHY THIS
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Serious Sam Fusion is a central hub for several existing Serious Sam games developed by Croteam. Cool new features, engine upgrades, patches and updates will be released to existing owners for FREE!
Quake
WHY THIS
Shares secret hunting and an intense mood with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Action with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Developed by the award-winning id Software, Quake® is the ground-breaking, original dark fantasy first-person shooter that inspires today’s retro-style FPS games. With Quake (Enhanced), experience the authentic, updated, and visually enhanced version of the original.
Serious Sam II
WHY THIS
Shares secret hunting and a funny mood with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Action and Indie with Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
Serious Sam II is a shot of adrenaline to the hearts of first-person shooter fans across the world. This is serious!
Frequently asked about Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
- Does Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter run on Steam Deck?
- Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter is rated Playable on Steam Deck — it runs, but expect some manual adjustments (control remapping, text size, or graphics settings) for the best experience.
- How much does Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter cost?
- Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter is listed on Steam at 14.99 USD (current store price; Steam sales may reduce this temporarily).
- Does Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter have multiplayer or co-op?
- Yes — Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter supports multi-player play according to its Steam store listing (Multi-player, Online PvP, Shared/Split Screen PvP).
- What games are most similar to Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter?
- Based on Steam play patterns and shared genres/tags, the games most often recommended alongside Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter are Serious Sam 3: BFE, Serious Sam Classic: The First Encounter, Serious Sam Fusion 2017 (beta).
- Who developed Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter?
- Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter was developed by Croteam and published by Devolver Digital.
imho.run ranks Steam game alternatives using a mix of collaborative filtering (ALS / iALS / EASE / LightGCN), content scoring over genres, categories, Steam tags, developers, and publishers, plus AI-extracted vibes mined from review text. The page above is generated in seed mode anchored on Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.
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