Serious Sam: Shatterverse appears to be the opposite of Stardew Valley. One is a relaxed farming game about routine, relationships and making time for yourself; the other is a cooperative shooter about absurd weapons, mutant hordes and spectacular explosions. For Nic Duchesne, however, the two games share several important design ideas.
Duchesne is a producer at Behaviour Interactive and has worked on Shatterverse for about three years. He has been with the studio for almost a decade, with previous credits including the mobile games Assassin’s Creed: Rebellion and Giblins: Fantasy Builder. He has also worked on three PC and console projects, including Shatterverse; the other two have not yet been announced.
A Christmas tradition built around Stardew Valley
Duchesne and his wife have a yearly Christmas ritual: they choose a game, put their phones away and spend a few days playing together. Around five years ago, they selected Stardew Valley after its console release, partly because its dream of country living, farm work and chickens appealed to them both.
That first choice became a three-year tradition. They repeatedly started new farms, while ongoing updates ensured that each return visit offered something different. Duchesne compares the ritual to rewatching a favourite film series such as The Mummy or The Lord of the Rings.
His wife took the farming responsibilities seriously, particularly the daily watering. Once those shared chores were finished, Duchesne preferred to fish and enjoy the game at his own pace. For him, the appeal was the fantasy of ordinary free time: begin the day together, complete a few responsibilities, then spend the rest of it however you like.
The couple also always marry each other in the game. Duchesne has not explored the other marriage options, and during their first farm he surprised his wife with the Mermaid Pendant because she did not realise marriage was possible.
From farming routines to furious firefights
Serious Sam: Shatterverse launched on 31 August as a cooperative roguelike shooter for one to five players. Each run contains three stages, with a major boss at the end of every level. Between those encounters, players face large waves of enemies in the exaggerated action style associated with Serious Sam.
The contrast with Stardew Valley is obvious: Shatterverse is built around shooting, violence and enemies that explode when hit. Yet Duchesne sees a connection in the way both games make their core interactions easy to understand.
“Your love language is violence. And shooting. And when you shoot, things go boom,” Duchesne says of Shatterverse.
He admires how Stardew Valley combines straightforward controls with a surprisingly deep sandbox. A pickaxe behaves as players expect, while the wider systems reveal themselves through interaction rather than demanding that every rule be explained in advance.
Duchesne says the approach reminded him of the earliest Zelda games, where players could move through a world with little instruction and discover both the environment and the game’s systems for themselves. In his view, simple inputs can support complex play when the interactions are clear.
Co-op without a long runway
Shared play is another major link between the two games. Duchesne grew up with LAN parties and games such as StarCraft and Diablo, and he values multiplayer experiences that are welcoming to people who have not spent hours learning them.
Stardew Valley supports solo and cooperative play from the beginning. Shatterverse includes a five- to 10-minute tutorial, but players can leave it and start cooperative play immediately if they prefer.
That quick start matters when friends have limited time. Duchesne describes the ideal experience as something players can pick up for an evening, share over a drink and enjoy without first completing a lengthy solo campaign. The game is designed to be approachable enough for friends who may not normally choose a shooter.
For more about shared and social arcade experiences, explore the RETROCADE arcade blog or browse the range of arcade machines built for group play.
Finding value even when a run goes badly
Duchesne also draws inspiration from the low-pressure structure of Stardew Valley. The community centre remains available regardless of how quickly the player progresses, while choosing Joja Mart provides an alternative route. There is no conventional failure state that makes time spent in the game meaningless.
Shatterverse is more demanding: players can die, and a run can end unsuccessfully. Even so, Duchesne wants every session to leave players with a sense of satisfaction. Progress should feel worthwhile whether or not the player reaches the final milestone.
That philosophy pushes back against games that require an enormous time investment before delivering a meaningful reward. Duchesne believes that anything a player does in a game should provide some value, rather than making an unfinished objective feel as though the entire session was wasted.
A possible farming and shooting crossover
Duchesne expects that he may play Shatterverse with his wife and friends during the next Christmas season instead of returning to Stardew Valley. He jokes that a crossover between the two games would be an entertaining possibility, in the same spirit as unlikely combinations such as Doom and Animal Crossing.
His imagined scenario places a farming mission inside the Serious Sam universe: players might be asked to water crops while waves of enemies attack the farm. The idea captures what he sees as the freedom of the setting—if it is part of the Sam-verse, almost anything can happen.
For arcade fans interested in accessible shooting games, RETROCADE also offers arcade light guns. Those planning a home setup can compare options with the arcade machine buying guide.
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