When Serious Sam 3: BFE developer Croteam revealed recently that its long-awaited shooter would be released this summer, an official announcement was promised "soon." That arrived today, along with new screenshots and a fresh round of details.

Though its depiction of run-down, 22nd century Egypt is stylistically closer to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare than the colourful previous games in the series, fear not, as Serious Sam 3 is described as "a glorious throwback to the golden age of first-person shooters where men were men, cover was for amateurs and pulling the trigger made things go boom." Besides, Modern Warfare doesn't have hulking, great, cartoony monsters striding through its cities.

16-player co-op and the usual hordes of bizarre and horrible monsters for Sam to mow down are promised, along with new enemies and melee moves.

"Serious Sam 3 is about pure fun and unfiltered action," Croteam chief creative officer Davor Hunski said in the announcement. "We wanted to expand on everything gamers love about the series while adding some genuinely unique new features to really enhance the mayhem Serious Sam is known for."

Serious Sam 3: BFE is scheduled to launch on PC and unspecified consoles this summer, published by Devolver Digital.

Here's the feature list from today's announcement:

• Frantic Arcade-Style Action - The calling card of the Serious Sam series, hold down the trigger and lay waste to a never-ending onslaught of attackers or face being overrun by Mental's savage beasts. No cover systems, no camping - it's just you and them. All of them.

• Mental's Fearsome Legions - A new battalion of unforgettable minions including the rumbling Scrapjack and towering Khnum join the legendary Headless Kamikaze, Gnaar and Sirian Werebull. Your days of mowing down zombie Nazi space pirates are over.

• Serious Melee Attacks - When an enemy slips by your wall of lead and pain, use one of the all-new innovative melee moves to drop an enemy right where they stand in the most violent way possible.

• Pure Multiplayer Mayhem - Play through the full campaign mode with up to 16 players or drop the gauntlet and let the heavy ordinance fly in versus modes like Deathmatch and Beast Hunt. This is the next level of Serious Sam multiplayer and all hell is about to break loose.

Not mentioned was what the "BFE" subtitle acronym stands for. Answers on a postcard, please.