Where did civilization go?

[MentalParadox]

So Sam trots through various places in ancient history - Egypt, Mexico, Babylonia and medieval Poland. But... where is everybody? Are we supposed to believe Mental somehow got there first and wiped them all out? Where are the bodies, blood, signs of his invasion? It's like the locals just vanished without a trace.

And if Mental "knew" Sam was coming and invaded Earth in ancient history to stop him, wouldn't Sam already have failed his mission? I'm pretty sure that the premature extinction of several of the most important ancient cultures will dramatically change the history of mankind, wiping out whatever future Sam came from...

[Discy]

The Serious Sam universe isn't built on the multiverse theory of time travel where there are infinite universes, but there is one timeline. In Sam's "current" time humanity was about to be wiped out when the Time Lock was discovered and activated. The plan was for Sam to assassinate Mental thousands of years before it became aware of humanity, but Mental did somehow realize Sam was coming in the past and started wiping out Earth then. So at the end of The Second Encounter, in Sam's real time period humanity had ceased to exist because the past was altered, but maybe Sam didn't "stop existing" because he's already in the past and somehow an oddity. A glitch in the Matrix. So if Sam is able to assassinate Mental in the past he may stop humanity from dying in his time, but he has effectively already killed humanity thousands of years before, making the point moot.

I'm curious how Croteam are going to write themselves out of that one.

[Solais]

Easy: Humans weren't exterminated, because Mental wasn't invading Earth. He was only chasing one lone humanoid-looking creature that suddenly appeared from a device generating weird temporal energy, alongside a bunch of weapons of unknown origins, having no trouble taking out his minions.

I mean, just think about it. If TSE is anything remotely canon, if Mental wiped out humanity when Sam appeared in Ancient Egypt, then how could history progress to "Medieval" ages in Europe with no humanity left?

I say, humanity wasn't killed off, they just fled, were hiding, mostly so they don't get in the way of gameplay.

[DrTr1gger]

It's possible that in TFE Mental wiped out just Egyptians

It seems like his minions arrive on earth right before Sam shows up and most of the time even after him. Theoretically if egyptians were slayed Europeans could still progress to medieveal times... until Sam shows up followed by Mental. In pursue of Sam he murders everyone around.

If people just fled and tried to hide eventually they had to come out again, let's say that player missed picking up some ammo and weapons. Humans would surely investigate these things and eventually become very technologically advanced very early in history.



Theroetically

[MentalParadox]

Even if Mental "only" wipes out Thebes, Teotihuacan and Persepolis, the largest and most important cities of their times, it's pretty safe to assume the timeline will have changed in *some* way. My point is, the humanity Sam left in BFE may no longer exist. No more Hellfire, Rodriguez, and other people who lived then.

Anyway, I find it fun to think about these things, even if it's obvious the devs don't! =D