Go berserk!

One of my favourite hidden gems for the Dreamcast is Sword of the Berserk, an hack 'n' slash action game (probably one of my favourite genres) based on the manga Berserk. Unfortunately my copy of the game was in bad condition and it would always freeze near the end and I sort of just forgot about the game. Until recently, that is, when Father K enthusiastically wrote about it over at the DCJY, giving me just what I needed to track down a working copy and finally finish the game. Unfortunately the game is aimed primarily at fans of the manga, and while it's still enjoyable just by itself, you're missing a whole lot if you don't know the setting and the characters.


The creators of the game were kindly enough to give you a sort of in-game encyclopaedia about the background of the series, but it's still not enough. You know nothing about Guts' past, how he lost his left arm and his right eye, why he travels around with Caska and what the fuck happened to that girl to make her loose her mind. That's why I just recently started watching the anime, although I will eventually have to read the manga too since the anime doesn't cover the whole story. Anyway, for all the fans of the game (or just anime in general) this is a must see. It's action-packed, full of violence and it tells Guts' story in great detail, and it's indeed a story worth telling. Also, this might come as a shock to all those who've only played the Dreamcast game, but Caska originally was a fierce warrior just a little weaker than Guts himself and she hated him so much... What the fuck happened to her since that and how the two got together I still don't know, but that's enough to make me want to watch the anime to the end and read the manga after that.


Here's the first episode for your viewing pleasure. Shitty quality, but enough to get an idea.

So, fans of Sword of the Berserk, watch the anime (just entitled Berserk), because the game is only half as fun when you don't know the story behind it. Also, there's a rather obscure PS2 Berserk game that supposedly is even better than the Dreamcast one. Got to check that one out in the future...