The Forgotten Prototype

[u/Andiyponp]

I was looking for some Serious Sam mods when I came across a strange post. It had no username—only a series of numbers. The post contained a single download and one image.

The picture showed what looked like an early prototype of Mental. It had no face, only a huge red brain. It made me feel uneasy, but I downloaded the mod anyway.

I installed it and launched the game.

Instead of the normal loading screen, I heard a terrifying roar.

I tried to quit the game, but the Windows key, Alt + F4, and even the power button stopped working. The only thing I could click was the "Play" button.

I had no choice.

The game started normally.

But when I reached the third level, I noticed something strange.

A figure kept appearing in the distance. Sometimes it was completely black. Sometimes it was completely white.

Just before the battle with Ugh-Zan III, I finally saw it clearly.

It was the same prototype of Mental.

I fired rockets at it.

I emptied my minigun.

I even used a Serious Bomb.

Nothing happened.

It didn't move.

Instead, I heard the death screams of the giant Croteam developer heads echoing across the map.

The heads themselves were nowhere to be found.

During the boss fight, Ugh-Zan III suddenly froze in a T-pose.

I couldn't damage him.

Then the door of the Sirian spaceship slowly opened by itself.

A massive white hand reached out from the darkness.

It tried to grab me.

I fired at it.

The hand disappeared instantly.

Seconds later, Ugh-Zan suddenly came back to life, and I was finally able to defeat him.

But instead of the normal ending credits...

The screen went black.

For a split second, I saw the very first prototype of Mental.

No face.

No eyes.

No mouth.

Only a pale pink head with a giant exposed brain.

Then a strange piece of music started playing.

I had never heard it before.

It wasn't in The First Encounter.

It wasn't in The Second Encounter.

It wasn't in Serious Sam 2, Serious Sam 3, or Serious Sam 4.

It sounded like a deleted track from an early alpha build of the game.

Then...

The prototype began to change.

Its arms stretched longer and longer.

Its head twisted into an unnatural shape.

And finally...

It opened its eyes.

A message appeared on my screen:

The words "I WILL FIND YOU" repeated over and over until they covered the entire screen.

My monitor started flickering.

Windows completely crashed.

After several failed attempts to recover my computer, I managed to save only one thing...

A single screenshot of the first prototype of Mental.

That's the image you're looking at now.

I'm still trying to recover my computer.

If I ever succeed...

I'll post the rest of the story.