It is loud. It is messy. It is unapologetically violent. Honestly, Berserk and the Band of the Hawk is probably the closest we will ever get to feeling the sheer, exhausting weight of the Dragonslayer sword in a digital medium. While most fans of Kentaro Miura’s legendary manga were busy debating the merits of the 2016 anime’s questionable CGI, Omega Force was quietly working on a "Musou" game that actually understood the assignment.
You know the formula. Thousands of enemies. One guy. A whole lot of button mashing. But here, it feels earned.
The game doesn't just give you a sword; it gives you a hunk of iron that cleaves through horse flesh and apostle bone with a sickening thwack. If you have ever wanted to see Guts literally paint a battlefield red, this is the place to do it. It is not a perfect game—far from it—but for a specific kind of fan, it is a holy relic of the Golden Age and beyond.
The Problem With Most Berserk Games
Making a game about Berserk is notoriously difficult. How do you capture the nihilism? How do you balance the quiet, tender moments of the campfire with the literal hellscape of the Eclipse? Most developers fail because they lean too hard into the "edgy" stuff or get bogged down in technical RPG mechanics that don't match Guts' raw power.
Omega Force took a different path. They used the Dynasty Warriors engine.
Some people hated that. They wanted a Dark Souls clone. But if you look at the source material, Guts doesn't "dodge-roll" away from every skeleton. He stands his ground and swings a six-foot blade through ten guys at once. The Musou genre fits the power fantasy of the Black Swordsman better than a high-difficulty stamina-management simulator ever could.
The Golden Age and the Weight of History
The story mode in Berserk and the Band of the Hawk is surprisingly robust. It covers the entirety of the Golden Age arc, the Black Swordsman arc, and pushes all the way through the Millennium Falcon arc. That is a massive amount of ground. You get the high-octane sieges of the Hundred Year War, the psychological trauma of the Eclipse, and the later, more "fantasy-heavy" battles involving Schierke and Isidro.
What’s cool is how they used footage from the Golden Age movie trilogy. Seeing the high-budget cinematic scenes transition into gameplay is seamless. It makes you feel like you're playing through the anime.
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However, there is a catch.
Because the game covers so much, it loses some of the nuance. The relationship between Guts and Casca is there, but the quiet, introspective moments are often replaced by another mission where you have to kill 1,000 trolls. It’s a trade-off. You get the scale, but you lose some of the soul. Still, seeing the Battle for Doldrey rendered in a way where you can actually see the scale of the armies? That’s something special.
Playing as the Monster
One thing this game gets absolutely right is the roster. While Guts is obviously the star, playing as Griffith is a totally different experience. He’s fast. He’s elegant. He’s terrifyingly efficient. Then you have Zodd. Playing as Nosferatu Zodd is basically a cheat code for dopamine. You feel like a literal god among insects.
Characters like Wyald—who was notoriously cut from the 1997 anime—actually show up here. That is a deep cut for manga purists. Seeing Wyald in a modern game was a shock to many, mostly because he is such a grotesque, problematic character. But it shows the developers weren't afraid to dive into the darker corners of the manga.
Mechanics of the Slaughter
The gameplay loop is simple. You have your light attacks, your heavy attacks, and your "Frenzy" meter. Fill it up, pop it, and you enter a state where your damage skyrockets and the blood effects go into overdrive.
If you fill the "Death Blow" meter while in Frenzy, you can unleash a massive cinematic attack. For Guts, this usually involves a whirlwind of steel that clears the entire screen. It never gets old. Seriously. I have played this for fifty hours and the sound of the Dragonslayer hitting a group of enemies still makes me grin like a maniac.
The "Endless Eclipse" mode is where the real challenge lies. It’s basically a survival mode where you descend through layers of the Abyss. It gets hard. Fast. You have to manage your items and your health across multiple floors. It forces you to actually learn the mechanics rather than just mashing the square button. If you want to unlock the best gear and the Berserker Armor for Guts, you’re going to spend a lot of time in the Eclipse.
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The Berserker Armor Factor
We need to talk about the Berserker Armor. In the game, it’s not just a cosmetic change. When Guts activates the armor, his entire move set changes. He becomes a blur of feral violence. His attacks become faster, he takes less knockback, and he genuinely feels like a man possessed.
It is the peak of the game’s design.
There is a specific feeling when the music swells and you’re tearing through apostles as the Black Swordsman. It captures the desperation of the manga. You’re not just winning; you’re surviving.
Is It Factually Better Than the PS2 Version?
Retro gamers often point to the 2004 PS2 game, Berserk: Millennium Falcon Arc ~Seima Senki no Sho~, as the gold standard. To be fair, that game had a unique combat system and a soundtrack by Susumu Hirasawa himself.
But Berserk and the Band of the Hawk wins on scale.
The PS2 game felt claustrophobic. This game feels like a war. You aren't fighting five guys in a hallway; you are fighting an entire legion on a plain. Also, the 2017 release (and subsequent PC ports) makes it much more accessible. You don't need a fan-translation patch or a Japanese console to play it.
Technical Hiccups and the "Musou Tax"
Look, I’m being honest with you: the game has flaws.
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The environments can be a bit bland. You’ll see the same brown fields and grey castles more times than you’d like. The enemy AI is basically non-existent on lower difficulties; they just stand there waiting to be turned into a red mist. This is the "Musou Tax"—you trade complex AI for sheer volume.
Also, if you are playing on PC, the port can be a bit finicky with controllers. You might need to mess with Steam’s input settings to get it to recognize a PS5 or Xbox controller properly. It’s a minor hurdle, but worth mentioning so you don't spend your first hour in the menu.
Why You Should Care Now
With the passing of Kentaro Miura, the Berserk community has become more protective and more appreciative of any media that treats the source material with respect. This game, despite its repetitive nature, is a love letter. It’s a way to inhabit that world.
It covers arcs that haven't been animated well (or at all) in decades. For a lot of fans, seeing the later chapters of the manga rendered in 3D is a bittersweet but necessary experience.
Real Insights for New Players
If you’re jumping in for the first time, don't just stick to the story mode.
- Focus on the Sub-Weapons: Guts has a repeating crossbow and a cannon arm. Use them. They aren't just for show; they are essential for breaking the guard of bosses like Femto or the Great Goat Head.
- Upgrade Your Accessories: The crafting system is deeper than it looks. You can fuse items to give yourself massive buffs to attack speed and defense.
- Don't Rush the Eclipse: It’s tempting to try and dive to floor 100 immediately. You will die. Spend time leveling up in the Free Mode first.
Actionable Next Steps for the Aspiring Black Swordsman
If you are ready to dive into the carnage, here is how to get the most out of your time with the Band of the Hawk:
- Check the Platform: While it’s on PS4 and Vita, the PC version (Steam) is the best way to play in 2026. It handles the high enemy count much better than the aging consoles.
- Mod the Music: While the game’s OST is decent, many fans use simple mods to inject Susumu Hirasawa’s tracks from the 1997 anime into the game files. It changes the atmosphere completely.
- Prioritize Guts' "Black Swordsman" Costume: The game starts you in the Golden Age, but the real fun begins once you unlock the post-Eclipse gear. The move set expands and the game gets significantly more "Berserk."
- Play the Berserker Armor Missions: Once you unlock the armor, go back and replay some of the early Golden Age missions. There is something deeply cathartic about taking the fully-powered Berserker Guts back to the Siege of Doldrey and absolutely obliterating the Tudor army.
This game is a grind. It’s repetitive. It’s bloody. But for anyone who has ever stared at a panel of Miura’s art and wondered what it would feel like to swing that sword, Berserk and the Band of the Hawk is the answer. It’s not a masterpiece of game design, but it is a masterpiece of fan service. Grab the Dragonslayer, turn up the volume, and start swinging.