Croteam has released a monumental update to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Serious Sam 2, bringing a wealth of content, fixes, and modern enhancements to the beloved classic. The 20th Anniversary Update revitalizes the 2005 shooter with HD visuals, improved gameplay systems, enhanced UI elements, and a variety of community-created additions now officially integrated into the game.
The update introduces the Renovation Mod as an official feature, offering redesigned visuals, refined animations, improved effects, and reworked weapons. Alongside these, the game now includes a new collection of Steam community items such as trading cards, animated avatars, and profile backgrounds. The update also modernizes Serious Sam 2 for current systems with UI upgrades, gameplay balancing, improved controls, and performance optimizations.
Full Patch Notes
Community Items
- 14 Trading Cards
- 10 Emoticons
- 6 Profile Backgrounds
- 3 Animated Profile Backgrounds
- 1 Mini Profile Background
- 3 Avatar Frames (2 animated)
- 3 Animated Avatars
UI and Visual Updates
- HUD and menu icons redrawn in HD, preserving the 2005 aesthetic.
- Updated fonts for clarity and proper scaling on all resolutions.
- Menu entries aligned for consistency.
- Increased multiplayer player list font size.
- Added “Show Radar” option and updated radar profile settings.
- Added on-screen messages for sprint toggle.
- Adjusted weapon positioning and updated materials for multiple weapons.
- Fixed animation issues for Beam Gun and Colt reloads.
- Updated Rocket Launcher, Grenade Launcher, and Beam Gun screens.
- Fixed sync issues with sprinting and combo weapon options.
- Added new Advanced Controls link in the Options menu.
- Improved controller textures and default resolution (1280×720).
- Movies now play in full screen with an updated boot-up video.
Audio
- Added “Menu Music” toggle.
- Fixed multiple menu music playback issues.
- Restored original menu sound effects.
Gameplay Adjustments
- Added single-player settings for sprinting and combo weapons.
- Enemies no longer purge unless they’ve targeted a foe once.
- Rebalanced difficulty: Serious mode enemy health multiplier reduced to 1.0.
- Fixed weapon effects for Serious Damage power-up.
- Adjusted fire rate and damage for Uzi and Minigun; reverted Deathmatch stats.
- Beam Gun now appears only in secret locations and has rebalanced stats.
- Adjusted third-person camera pitch and fixed Witch melee damage bug.
Level Updates
- Jungle: Improved secret cave visibility.
- Riverdance: Secret raft now moves correctly.
- M’Keke Village: Reduced bloom brightness.
- Road to Ursul: Fixed broken rolling ball trap.
- Giant Junkyard: Increased dynamite timer from 180s to 1800s.
- Hong-Pong: Fixed ammo multiplier issue.
- Chanolin Temple: Fixed Rhino spawner issues.
- Cockaleeki (DM): Fixed force field connections and missing collisions.
Controls and Input
- Fully separated controller bindings from keyboard and mouse.
- Added new controller textures and button presets.
- Re-implemented “Enter Name” gadget for controllers.
- Fixed dead zone, sprint toggle, and button mapping bugs.
- Added mouse smoothing option and improved D-Pad texture updates.
Multiplayer Improvements
- Default max player count changed from 4 to 2.
- Enhanced network settings with custom options and improved defaults.
- Network settings now apply correctly and sync with profile preferences.
Other Fixes
- Corrected sounds for multiple characters and enemies.
- Fixed collisions, animations, and profile corruption issues.
- Added aspect ratio auto-detection and improved save compatibility.
Renovation Mod (Now Official)
- Version 1.0 integrated as an official part of Serious Sam 2.
- Overhauled interface inspired by Serious Sam Xbox.
- Reworked weapon visuals, animations, and effects.
- Enhanced gore, bullet holes, and NPC animations.
- Updated music by Damjan Mravunac added to several levels and boss fights.
- Redrawn HUD icons and improved models for Machine Gun and Plasma Gun turrets.
- Optimized loading times and removed redundant episodes.
- Numerous visual and cosmetic updates across weapons, enemies, and environments.
InSamnity! 2 Fixes
- Fixed Give All cheat not granting ammo.
- Corrected network menu and profile naming issues.
- Fixed crashes on Dunes and The Alley of the Sphinxes.
- Fixed missing animations and controller texture issues.
- Improved stability and fixed integer mismatch errors.
Serious Sam 2 is a first-person shooter developed by Croteam and originally released in 2005 for Windows and Xbox. As the sequel to The Second Encounter, it follows Sam “Serious” Stone in his battle against the alien overlord Mental, featuring large-scale battles, colorful worlds, and the signature humor of the series. The game runs on the proprietary Serious Engine 2 and remains available on Steam, now enhanced with this comprehensive anniversary update.
Have you noticed these changes? Share your thoughts in the comments!
