If you’ve ever spent an afternoon staring at the late Kentaro Miura’s intricate pen-and-ink work, you know the problem. Berserk is dense. It’s heavy. It’s a sensory overload of dark fantasy and cosmic horror that somehow makes you care deeply about a man carrying a slab of iron too big to be called a sword. Translating that to a video game has always been a bit of a nightmare. But then Omega Force stepped in. Honestly, Berserk and the Band of the Hawk on PS4 is kind of a miracle, even if it’s a bloody, messy one.
It isn't a perfect game. Let’s get that out of the way. If you’re looking for Dark Souls precision, you’re in the wrong place, despite how much Miyazaki owes to Miura. This is a Musou game. It’s "Dynasty Warriors" wearing a blood-soaked cloak. You press square and triangle. You watch hundreds of Apostles and Tudor soldiers fly into the air like ragdolls. It’s chaotic. It’s repetitive. And yet, for a Berserk fan, it feels exactly right.
The Brutal Reality of the PS4 Port
The PS4 version is where this game actually breathes. While it launched on Vita and PC, the PlayStation 4 build handles the sheer volume of enemies with the kind of stability you need when you’re trigger-happy with a Great Sword. It runs at a mostly consistent frame rate, which is vital because when Guts enters the Frenzy state, the screen becomes a literal blur of red pixels and severed limbs.
You’ve got the Golden Age arc, obviously. Every Berserk game starts there. But the PS4 version actually pushes further, covering the Black Swordsman, Conviction, and Falcon of the Millennium Empire arcs. Seeing the Berserker Armor animated in 1080p—watching Guts lose his humanity as the suit forcibly pins his bones back together—is a visceral experience that the 2016 anime failed to capture with its clunky CG. Here, the cel-shaded look actually works. It bridges the gap between the manga’s detail and the fluidity of an action game.
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Why the Musou Formula Actually Fits Guts
Most people complain that Musou games are "button mashers." They aren't wrong. However, consider the source material. Guts is famously the "Hundred Man Slayer." He doesn't engage in tactical, high-stakes duels for 90% of his life; he survives through sheer, exhausting attrition.
The game captures this through its scale. You aren't fighting three guys in a hallway. You are fighting an army. When you swing the Dragonslayer, the sound design is heavy. It clunks. It thuds. You feel the weight of the iron.
- Playable Characters: You aren't just stuck with Guts. You can play as Griffith, Casca, Judeau, and even Zodd.
- The Eclipse: This level is genuinely harrowing. It swaps the power fantasy for a survival horror vibe that stays true to the manga's most traumatic turning point.
- Endless Eclipse Mode: This is the meat of the endgame. It's a 100-layer dungeon that gets progressively more insane.
There is a specific kind of joy in playing as Schierke and summoning four elemental golems to wipe out a legion of trolls. It breaks up the monotony of Guts' hacking and slashing. The game understands that Berserk isn't just about a big sword; it's about a small, broken family trying to survive a literal hellscape.
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Dealing with the Censors and the Cutscenes
One thing that's kinda weird about Berserk and the Band of the Hawk is how it handles the story. It uses footage directly from the Golden Age Trilogy movies. It looks great. It’s high-quality animation. But once you get past the Golden Age, the game has to use in-engine cutscenes because there was no movie footage left to pull from.
The transition is jarring. You go from cinematic brilliance to "PS3-era" character models standing around talking. It’s a limitation of the budget, but for a fan, it’s still better than nothing. Also, let's talk about the gore. It’s there, but it’s "game gore." You’ll see bodies split in half, but it lacks the truly grotesque, haunting detail of Miura’s panels. It’s a "Teen" or "Mature" rating struggle. Koei Tecmo leaned into the violence, but they couldn't go full-Seinen without getting the game banned in half the world.
The Strategy for Endless Eclipse
If you’re trying to Platinum this thing on PS4, you need to respect the Endless Eclipse mode. It’s a grind. A massive, soul-crushing grind.
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- Focus on Guts first. Get him to level 99. His reach is your best friend when the bosses start grouping up.
- Femto is a beast. Once you unlock Griffith’s transformation, the game's difficulty basically evaporates. He’s broken in the best way possible.
- Upgrade your accessories. Don't ignore the shop. Boosting your "Deathblow" gauge fill rate is the difference between clearing a floor in five minutes or dying to a stray Apostle swipe.
Wyald is a playable character. That’s a deep cut. He was completely cut from the 1997 anime and the movies. Seeing him included here shows that the developers actually read the manga. They cared about the "Lost Chapters" feel.
Is it worth playing in 2026?
Honestly, yeah. Especially since Berserk (the manga) has continued under Studio Gaga and Kouji Mori. The legacy of the series is more alive now than it was when this game launched. On a PS4 Pro or a PS5 via backwards compatibility, the loading times are negligible. It’s the perfect "podcast game." You put on a 3-hour deep dive into Berserk lore and you smash some demons.
The game isn't trying to be Elden Ring. It’s trying to let you be the strongest, angriest man in the world for thirty minutes at a time. It succeeds at that. It’s a tribute to a world that shouldn’t exist, filled with characters who refuse to die.
Actionable Next Steps for New Players
If you’re picking this up today, don't just rush the story. The real depth is in the gear system.
- Check the second-hand market: Digital copies of this game sometimes vanish or stay at full price ($59.99). Physical PS4 copies are becoming collector's items, so grab one if you see it at a local shop for under $40.
- Manual Save often: The game auto-saves, but the Endless Eclipse mode can crash on rare occasions during long sessions. Don't lose 20 floors of progress.
- Experiment with Sub-weapons: Guts' hand cannon is cool, but his repeating crossbow is better for keeping combo counters alive between groups of enemies.
Stop worrying about the "repetitive" reviews. If you love the brand of the hawk, you already know that struggle is part of the experience. Put on the armor, swing the slab of iron, and enjoy the red. It's exactly what Guts would do.