Croteam's Serious Sam franchise is preparing for a mainstream comeback with Serious Sam 4, recently delayed until September 24. Those who want to experience the 2001 first-person shooter that started it all, or those who want to relive its crazy alien-killing antics before this new entry releases, can pick up Serious Sam: The First Encounter on GOG for free until August 26 at 6:00 a.m. PT.
The digital storefront GOG is integrated with the Epic Games Store, Steam, and multiple other distribution platforms, and much like those platforms it occasionally hosts massive sales for a variety of games. The free Serious Sam giveaway is part of GOG's Harvest Sale running through August 31, which includes deals on over 1,500 titles including indies like My Friend Pedro, blockbuster RPGs like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and more.
Serious Sam 4 was part of publisher Devolver Digital's showcase in July alongside titles like Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, Shadow Warrior 3, and Carrion. The anticipated continuation of this classic franchise is a prequel to 2011's Serious Sam 3: BFE, which itself was a prequel to Serious Sam: The First Encounter. It's hard to recommend the original as a way to prepare for Serious Sam 4 given these timeline shenanigans, but playing it may offer an interesting perspective on how things have evolved in 20 years.
GOG is not the only place where players can get their hands on Serious Sam's first few titles leading up to the release of Serious Sam 4 in September. This March, the Serious Sam Collection became available on Google Stadia, offering up access to HD versions of the first three games in the franchise.
Serious Sam: The First Encounter is available now on PC and Stadia.
Source: GOG, Harvest Sale