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If you put a gun to my head and asked me about my favorite work of fiction, I would probably say that it would be the excellent manga from the late and great Kentaro Miura; Beresrk.
I learned about Beserk from several references in my favorite games about manga, so come along with me as we explore the possible studios that can make this amazing work of art come to life in the form of a video game.
Drawing Comparisons
As is no surprise to the people reading this article, Berserk has had a few game adaptions, all of which were passable as games but did not live up to the greatness of the source material. These games were released in 1999, 2004, and 2016, all to middling reviews.
The Requirements
Different people love different things about Berserk. For some, the action is what really draws them in. For others, it might be the world-building and atmosphere.
Ultimately, a lot goes into making something as good as Berserk. Our theoretical Berserk game will fall flat without a single ingredient in the formula.
The areas that require detail and care are the storytelling, the atmosphere, and the gameplay, and neither one can be compromised for the other.
Bearer Of The Burden
In the following sections, let us examine the possible studios that can take on this monumental task while maintaining the same high quality as the source material.
From Software
From Software might be the easiest studio to point to for creating a game adaptation of Berserk. Their games are clearly heavily inspired by the franchise, from Dark Souls to Bloodborne to Sekiro to Elden Ring.
There is no doubt in our mind that From Software would cover the gameplay aspects and the atmosphere completely. Even if you place Guts in one of their existing worlds, it would not feel the slightest bit out of place.
Guts’ combat style could blend elements from previous games: the greatsword as a strength weapon from Dark Souls, dashing like Bloodborne’s protagonist, Sekiro’s parry system for finesse, and Elden Ring’s flair to complete the package.
The only aspect of this approach that is slightly concerning is the storytelling. The protagonist of Berserk is in no way the silent type like the ones we’ve had in From’s games.
To be honest, we’re sure that From Software would be up to the task with all the source material helping them, and they’re no stranger to having excellent dialogue in their games, albeit usually from NPCs.
Santa Monica Studio
Though it pains me to take the pleasure of making this game away from its country of origin, Santa Monica Studios might be one of the best candidates to breathe life into the video game adaptation of Berserk.
For the uninitiated, Santa Monica Studio is the development studio responsible for the God of War games, from the original PS2 game to the latest God of War Ragnarok.
Santa Monica’s latest games explore a world that is very similar to Berserk’s world. Though this might seem like a surface-level statement, it is more true than false when you think about it. Mystical worlds filled with cruel Gods are on the chopping block for our broken protagonist.
Few Western studios have managed to tell a more compelling saga than Kratos’s. In the later games, they do a great job of selling his regret, and his stern yet kind nature when he becomes a dad is very similar to what Guts symbolizes.
Finally, the gameplay is sure to be excellent as well. God Of War’s hand-to-hand combat has this grittiness that would translate excellently to Berserk, and all the different weapons over the years show that this team is more than capable of bringing Guts to your controllers.
Our Pick
Even though we absolutely adore From Software games here at Tech4Gamers, we think the slightly more cinematic experience of the Studio that made God Of War would do a better job of translating a series like Berserk into a video game.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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