Kentaro Miura’s Berserk has touched all corners of the entertainment industry. Popularizing huge swords, ominous brands, and characters going by “the Black Swordsman,” the 32-year old manga series has served as a cultural touchstone, and will continue to do so after its creator’s recent death. Inspiring the tone of Drakengard, the aesthetic of Dragon’s Dogma, and much of what Dark Souls is, as well as laying the foundation for characters like Mikasa in Attack on Titan and even Navi in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Berserk can be found everywhere. It’s not a stretch to say that admirers have adapted it countless times.
Unfortunately, Berserk’s own official adaptations haven’t had quite as much luck. While the old anime adapting the first large arc is well-liked, the few other games, movies, and show adaptations that have been made are often considered middling at best, and the recent CGI anime is reviled by fans and newcomers alike. On the game front, in particular, a total of three video games have been produced. While none of them are standout, they do have interesting points to them and the original Dreamcast game has a small following due to how well it works as a side story to Berserk. While it’s hard to find the two older games, they’re definitely as much a part of Berserk’s history as any other adaptation.
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The first Berserk game is a bit of an oddity, even amongst its manga-adaptation peers. Sword of the Berserk, or Berserk Millennium Falcon Arc: Chapter of the Flowers of Oblivion as it’s known in Japan, is a hack-and-slash game released exclusively for the Dreamcast in 1999 (2000 for regions other than Japan). It’s one of the first games to contain quick-time events, which will moderately affect gameplay depending on how they are performed. It tells a new story for Berserk set in between volumes 22 and 23 of the manga. The story is a surprisingly competent tale involving Guts, Puck, and Casca wandering into a castle town dealing with a supernatural threat in a nearby forest. Complications arise, and the whole thing escalates to a point that will pleasantly surprise long-time fans.
But getting that far is quite the task. Sword of the Berserk is known for one other thing: being monstrously difficult. This is Guts at the height of his power, and it feels like it; he moves incredibly slowly, and every attack must be deliberate, putting it at odds with many of the games it shares its genre with. Still, the compelling plot, Berserk-faithful art, and generally competent gameplay make this game a cult classic.
In 2004, a second Berserk game was released in Japan and Korea, this one was also made by developer Yuke’s. Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Sho's story covers part of the Millennium Empire Arc from manga volumes 22 to 27. Guts’ traveling companions Farnese, Serpico, and Isidro, who were not with Guts in the first game, are actually playable in this one. Combined with the larger maps, this gave the game a sort of Dynasty Warriors-like feeling. Not much else is known about this title in the west, but it may be of interest to hardcore fans.
Speaking of Dynasty Warriors, the final Berserk game made to date is a Warriors game made by Koei Tecmo. Known in Japan as Berserk Musou and elsewhere as Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, this late 2016 game was released in time to get on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, as well as on PlayStation 3 and PC. While it’s considered a fairly standard modern Musou, it does give players the chance to fight as and against series antagonist Femto, among the other pre-and-post-time skip characters. Even if Guts never officially gets another rematch against Griffith, at least players can bring their struggle to an end here.