You’ve seen the Eclipse. You’ve felt that hollow pit in your stomach when Griffith makes his choice. If you’re a fan of Kentaro Miura’s legendary manga, you’re basically chasing a high that most media just can’t provide. That’s where Berserk and the Band of the Hawk comes in. Released by Omega Force and Koei Tecmo back in 2017, this game is a weird, brutal, and deeply flawed love letter to the Black Swordsman. It isn’t perfect. Far from it. But if you want to swing a slab of iron that’s "much too big to be called a sword" and watch a hundred apostles turn into red mist, this is still your best bet.
Most people call these "Musou" games mindless. They aren't entirely wrong. You press two buttons, you watch the body count hit four digits, and you move to the next glowing dot on the map. But applying that formula to Berserk was a stroke of genius. Guts isn't a finesse fighter. He’s a walking demolition crew.
What Berserk and the Band of the Hawk Gets Right (And Wrong)
The game covers a massive chunk of the story. We’re talking from the Golden Age arc all the way through the Millennium Falcon arc. That’s a lot of ground. You get the rise of the Hawks, the trauma of the Eclipse, and the eventual formation of Guts’ new "found family" with Schierke, Serpico, and Isidro. It’s a huge undertaking for a single game.
Honestly, the cutscenes are a bit of a mixed bag. The game uses actual footage from the Golden Age trilogy movies for the early parts, which looks fantastic. But once you move past that, the game switches to its own in-engine cinematics. The transition is jarring. One minute you’re watching high-budget theatrical animation, and the next, you’re looking at stiff 3D models that look like they’re from the early PS3 era. It’s weird. It breaks the immersion slightly, but the voice acting—featuring the original Japanese cast—usually saves it.
Gameplay is where things get controversial. If you’ve played Dynasty Warriors, you know the drill. You are an unstoppable force. But here, they added the "Frenzy" system. As you kill, your meter fills. When you pop it, Guts becomes faster and stronger. Fill it again, and you can unleash a "Death Blow." When Guts is in his Berserker Armor, the game shifts from a power fantasy into a full-blown horror movie for the enemies. It’s fast. It’s loud. It’s messy.
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The Problem With the "Musou" Formula
Let’s be real for a second. The repetition is the biggest hurdle. By the time you hit the hundredth mission, you might be feeling the fatigue. The mission objectives rarely evolve beyond "kill this specific guy" or "protect this gate." It’s the standard Omega Force blueprint. For some, the catharsis of the combat carries the experience. For others, it’s a slog.
The boss fights are where the game tries to break the mold. Fighting Zodd the Immortal or the Great Goat isn't like fighting a pack of nameless soldiers. These encounters feel more like traditional action games. You actually have to dodge. You have to time your sub-weapons—like the cannon arm or the repeating crossbow—to stun them. These moments are highlights, providing a necessary break from the "one-versus-one-thousand" loop.
The Berserker Armor and Gameplay Nuance
When Guts finally dons the Berserker Armor, the game changes. You stop feeling like a human and start feeling like a storm. The movements become jagged and feral. You’re not just swinging a sword anymore; you’re a whirlwind of jagged metal. It’s the best realization of that armor in any interactive medium to date.
But it’s not just about Guts. You can play as other characters, though the roster is surprisingly small compared to something like Hyrule Warriors. You’ve got:
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- Griffith: Fast, elegant, relies on rapiers and quick thrusts.
- Casca: A nimble brawler who feels distinct from the heavy hitters.
- Judeau: Uses throwing knives and speed.
- Zodd: You can actually play as the Apostle. It’s as broken and fun as it sounds.
- Schierke: Magic in a Musou game is always hit or miss, but her elemental summons provide a cool tactical change.
The inclusion of the "Endless Eclipse" mode is where the real challenge lives. It’s a survival mode. You go down layers, completing objectives and fighting increasingly difficult enemies. It’s where you’ll spend most of your time if you’re trying to unlock the best gear or the rarest character transformations. It’s grueling. It’s meant to be. It mimics the hopeless struggle Guts faces every single night.
Visuals and the "Gore" Factor
Berserk is famous for its hyper-violence. The game tries to honor that. There is a lot of blood. Limbs fly. Bodies are cleaved in half. However, it’s a "clean" kind of gore. It doesn’t have the gritty, textured filth of the manga. It feels a bit sterilized, likely to keep the age rating from being banned in certain territories. It’s "Berserk Lite" in terms of aesthetic, but it’s still more violent than your average Nintendo game.
The environments are probably the weakest part. The battlefields are mostly brown and grey. Forests look like clusters of repetitive assets. The plains of the Midland border feel empty. You aren’t here for the scenery, though. You’re here for the red circles on the mini-map.
Why We Haven't Seen a Sequel
It’s been years since Berserk and the Band of the Hawk dropped. Fans keep asking for more. With the manga continuing under Studio Gaga and Kouji Mori, there is plenty of new material to cover. We could see the Sea God arc, the journey to Elfhelm, and the recent tragic developments in the story.
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The reality is that Berserk is a niche property in the grand scheme of gaming. Musou games are cheap to produce, but licensing is a nightmare. Also, the passing of Kentaro Miura put a temporary freeze on a lot of brand expansions while the estate figured out the path forward. There’s a rumor every few months about a "Berserk Souls" game from FromSoftware, but until that happens, this 2017 title is the definitive way to play the story.
Technical Performance
If you're playing this on PC today, it runs like a dream. On the original PS4, it had some frame rate hiccups when the screen got too crowded. On a modern PS5 or a high-end PC, you can crank the settings and enjoy a stable 60 FPS experience. This is crucial. In a game about fast-paced slaughter, frame drops are the enemy.
The game also lacks a proper English dub. For many, this is a dealbreaker. Hearing the 90s anime cast or the "Memorial Edition" cast in English would have been amazing. Instead, you get subtitles. It’s fine for the story beats, but it’s hard to read dialogue in the bottom corner of the screen while you’re busy trying not to get skewered by an apostle.
Final Verdict: Is It Worth It?
If you can find it on sale, absolutely. It’s a must-play for the "Strugglers" out there. If you’re a newcomer to the series, this is actually a decent way to digest the story if you don't have the patience for the manga or the older anime. Just go in knowing what it is: a repetitive, violent, flawed, but passionate tribute to one of the greatest stories ever told.
Don't expect Elden Ring level of depth. Expect a stress-reliever. Expect a game where you can shut your brain off and be the monster that monsters fear.
How to get the most out of your playthrough:
- Prioritize the Endless Eclipse: Don't just rush the story. Spend time in the Eclipse mode early to unlock better equipment (Behelits). It makes the later story bosses much less frustrating.
- Focus on "Range" Stats: For Guts, anything that increases his attack range or "Frenzy" build-up is king. You want to stay in Frenzy mode as long as humanly possible.
- Upgrade Sub-Weapons: The cannon arm isn't just for show. It’s your best tool for breaking the guard of shielded enemies and bosses. Max it out first.
- Watch the Movies First: If the game’s story feels disjointed, watch the Berserk: The Golden Age Arc movie trilogy. The game assumes you have some familiarity with the emotional weight behind the betrayals.
- Check for Mods: If you are on PC, look into the community-made reshades. They can add a "sketch-like" filter to the game that makes it look much more like Miura’s original pen-and-ink artwork.