Like a headless bomber screaming from an unseen bush, Serious Sam 2 was ambushed with an explosive new update 15 years after its initial release.

Serious Sam 2's free update 2.90, which comes as part of the series' 20th anniversary celebration, is truly a massive undertaking. The patch introduces a new beam gun (based on the concept of the original Serious Sam) and flamethrower, and adds 12 previously unreleased multiplayer arenas. All weapons can now be dual-wielded, and Sam can sprint and rocket jump through levels, guided by a new radar system.

The update was led by modder-turned-Croteam developer Nathan "DwK" Brown, who proposed the update when he had time during the development of Serious Sam 4.

"After 'Sam 4' was released, I had some downtime and was looking through the Steam forum posts for 'Serious Sam 2' and thought the game needed a little love," Brown wrote in a short Q&A. 'It's a great game. It's the game that turned me into a game developer. So I suggested a simple patch. I was told to add an option for my InSamnity!2 mod.

This is an overhaul that dramatically changes the fundamental way "Serious Sam 2" is played and should make the game well worth revisiting. Thankfully, it also includes quite a few bug fixes and changes to make the game more attractive in 2021, and the UI elements and fonts have been upscaled to be a little less choppy on modern displays.

Want to give it a try? Serious Sam 2 is currently 20% off on Steam as part of the series' 20th anniversary sale, and a fully remastered soundtrack is coming "soon" to Steam and streaming platforms.