Serious Sam's Bogus Detour is a 2017 twin-stick shooter game developed by Crackshell and published by Devolver Digital. One to four players traverse levels set in Egypt, Greece, and on the Moon, collecting weapons to be used against waves of enemies placed throughout the open areas. Character upgrades can be purchased using stars, which can be found within levels or obtained through experience points gained by killing enemies. Deathmatch and survival modes can be played with up to twelve players.
Revealed in December 2014, Bogus Detour was developed by Crackshell after designer Jochum Skoglund added an Easter egg of an enemy from Serious Sam to the studio's previous game, Hammerwatch. Through communication with Roman Ribarić of Serious Sam franchise owner Croteam, Crackshell was allowed the use of Serious Sam assets and later the rights to develop a full game in Serious Sam series. Crackshell initially intended to self-publish Bogus Detour but later partnered with Devolver Digital. The game was formally announced in April 2017 and released in June for Linux and Windows.
Bogus Detour received positive reviews, with critics praising the translation of the Serious Sam series to the twin-stick shooter genre, the graphics, and the music. The progression system received mixed responses, while criticism was given to some minor design elements. The game sold poorly and failed to recoup its development costs by December 2017. Crackshell, in conjunction with the cracker Voksi, subsequently created a free version of the game in March 2018 to be pirated to entice those players to purchase the original.
Gameplay
Serious Sam's Bogus Detour is a twin-stick shooter. The player controls Sam "Serious" Stone through ten open levels, distributed among three thematic places: Egypt, Greece, and the Moon. Enemies of various types are placed around each level and mostly attack in waves, sometimes alongside bosses. The player character can use weapons, by default brandishing two pistols with unlimited ammunition. Further weapons and their required ammunition are scattered throughout each level. There are a total of eight weapon types, each with multiple variations, that can be selected from a weapon wheel.
The player can obtain stars by gathering experience points through killing enemies. These stars can be used to purchase character upgrades, such as an improvement movement speed or increased rate of fire. Stars are also hidden within levels, alongside other secrets. Some areas can only be accessed by obtaining keycards or breaking destructible walls. Enemies and hazards, such as toxic waste, inflict damage on the character. Depleting the character's health causes them to lose a life, of which they initially have three. After losing all lives, gameplay stops and the player's progress within the active level is reset.
Bogus Detour has multiple difficulty settings, as well as "switches" that allow altering specific gameplay elements, such as granting the character unlimited ammunition or disabling the heads-up display. The game can be played cooperatively with up to four players, either online or locally in split-screen. Up to twelve online players can compete in head-to-head deathmatch gameplay or a cooperative survival mode. Additional levels can be created using the built-in level editor and shared via the Steam Workshop.
Development and release
Serious Sam's Bogus Detour was developed by Crackshell, a Swedish indie game studio founded by former Overkill Software developers. It was the studio's second game, after Hammerwatch. Crackshell's designer, Jochum "Hipshot" Skoglund, enjoyed referencing old media he liked in his games. The team added the Beheaded Kamikaze, an enemy from the Serious Sam series, as an Easter egg to Temple of the Sun, a 2014 expansion for Hammerwatch. Considering to turn the Easter egg official, Skoglund got in contact with Roman Ribarić, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Serious Sam franchise owner Croteam, through friends at the studios Skoglund had previously worked for. Ribarić had played and enjoyed Hammerwatch, and gave Crackshell free rein to use Serious Sam multimedia assets for their endeavour. He was also fond of the resulting crossover, and while talking about it, Skoglund asked whether he could pitch a game idea to Croteam. Subsequently, he and an artist at Crackshell created a tech demo titled "2D, Seriously?, featuring Sam seen from a top-down view with rough environment details. Other working titles included "Serious Top-Down" and "Serious Sam 2D. Skoglund sent a screenshot of the in-development demo to Ribarić, who was fond of it and provided Crackshell with a contract to develop a full game based on it.