Holy crap, they're making Serious Sam: The Third Encounter

It took almost 25 years to happen, but Serious Sam: The Third Encounter is finally, actually happening. Croteam and Devolver Digital revealed today that a proper new game in the Serious Sam series is now in the early stages of development.

Serious Sam: The Third Encounter will actually be the seventh mainline game in the series, thanks to its oddball naming scheme and twisted timeline. Here's how the whole thing breaks down:

I won't pretend to understand this messy continuity, except that each game is sort of a chapter in the story of Serious Sam, which honestly isn't so much a 'story' as it is an excuse to shoot friggin' huge numbers of guys and make the occasional phone call to an all-conquering intergalactic menace named Mental.

That said, Croteam wants everyone to know that The Third Encounter picks up where The Second Encounter left off, so I hope you were paying attention to how it wrapped up 24 years …