Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, known in Japan as Berserk Musou (ベルセルク無双 Beruseruku Musō?, lit. "Berserk Unrivaled") is a hack-and-slash game developed by Template:W and published by Template:W for Template:W, Template:W, Template:W, and Template:W. It is a collaboration between Koei Tecmo's Template:W video game series and Kentaro Miura's Berserk manga series.
Berserk Musō was released in Japan on October 27, 2016 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. In Western territories, the game will release under the name Berserk and the Band of the Hawk on February 21, 2017 for North America, and on February 24, 2017 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Microsoft Windows.
Plot
The game follows the story of the manga series, starting in the Golden Age Arc and ending in the Falcon of the Millennium Empire Arc.
Gameplay
Berserk Musou is a 3D tactical-action/hack-and-slash game, set in large arenas based on various locations in the Berserk universe. Players may pick a single character to control in a large environment, where they will face hordes of demons and other monsters to slay in battle. Playable characters can fill a Frenzy Mode gauge by battling, entering a period of time upon activation where they take no damage (but still receive knockback) and can do much more damage, performing bloody Obliterations. Obliterations will fill a second meter that, when full, allows characters to perform their unique Deathblow, a single large attack that deals immense damage and will refill some of its own gauge.
In addition, certain characters have a special Transformation ability that allows them to change forms and become increasingly stronger, destroying enemies in a single blow. For example, Guts' Transformation Move has him don the infamous Berserker Armor, Zodd can morph into his apostle form and Griffith can smite foes as the God Hand Femto.
Features
Players can battle on multiple stages, and experience a story mode where they will progress through the story of Berserk from the Golden Age Arc through the Falcon of the Millennium Empire Arc. In this mode, players can interact with characters, partake in monstrous boss battles from the series and relive the tragic tale of Guts, cleaving through multiple apostles at a time. Some story areas will have cutscenes directly ripped from the series' animation counterpart.
In addition, players can test the highest limits of their survival in "Endless Eclipse", where they encounter endless waves of enemies until their character is overwhelmed. In this mode, any playable character can be chosen and an AI-controlled partner is available to provide assistance.
Playable characters can level up by fighting in battles, thus growing stronger and gaining access to new moves and combos. Characters can also collect accessories by defeating enemies and bosses, or by buying them from the shop. Equipping these accessories provide various stat boosts such as slightly higher health or faster cooldown times for Kill-Crush moves. Endless Eclipse provides the opportunity to gain character-exclusive accessories with better stats as well.
Development
Berserk Musō was first revealed in a short promotion video by Koei Tecmo on June 12, 2016, prior to E3 2016. Koinuma Hisashi spearheaded the game's development after discussing his love of the story with the other staff members. He was pleased with the overall response of the teaser video, but feared that the erotic content may hamper overseas localization. A week later, on June 20, a flyer was sent out in Japan, which confirmed a September 21 release in the country.
In an interview, producer Hisashi Koinuma confirmed that the development team is aiming to release the game as a CERO D title similar to their Template:W series. Although labeled a collaboration, Berserk Musou remains distinct from the 2016 anime series while containing approximately 120 minutes of footage from the Golden Age film trilogy. On July 15, 2016, Koei Tecmo revealed that the Western version of the game was planned to release in Fall 2016. However, on September 14, 2016, Koei Tecmo pushed the expected release date back to February 2017 for the Western and European releases.
In Japan, first-print copies of the game included a "wet-outfit costume" DLC code for Casca.
Playable Characters
- Guts (Black Swordsman) (CV: Hiroaki Iwanaga)
Other Characters
Characters that only exist in menus, special abilities, or the story mode as AI-controlled characters.
- Snake Baron (CV: Hiroo Sasaki) (Boss)
- The Count (CV: Kouzou Douzaka) (Boss)
Stages
Stages are designed as large, dynamic 3D environments of varying altitudes. All modeled after key locations in Berserk, playable characters can run through the stages which are complex and feature a degree of varying twists, turns and large battle zones for combat.
- Burning Hamlet
- Sanctum of the Count
Gallery
Title Logos
Promotional Art
DLC Costumes
Screenshots
Trailers
Trivia
- This is the first Berserk video game to be developed since the 2004 PS2 game.
- This is also the first Berserk video game since the 1999 Dreamcast game to be released outside of Japan.
- All characters are voiced by their respective seiyuus from the 2016 anime and movie trilogy.
- The game will feature very little censorship pertaining to events from the manga, as the developers want to bring the full experience of Berserk to life. However, Koinuma Hisashi believes that in order to localize the game overseas, some of the more sexual content might have to be changed to meet requirements.
- On a more positive note, the Western version of Berserk Musou has "things" that were held back from the Japanese version, most likely referring to aspects of the game's violent and gory content. One example is human versus monster dismemberment, with the former being censored in Japan and reapplied in the west.
External Links
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