Summary
- Berserk Millennium Empire Arc is the best video game adaptation of the Berserk manga series, faithfully recreating Guts' brutal battles and emotional journey.
- The game's combat captures the fluidity and weightiness of Guts' attacks, allowing players to experience his intense rage-fueled brutality.
- While the original game had flaws in its repetitive mission structure and unsatisfying conclusion, a full-fledged remake could rectify these issues and cover the entire story arc, making it a must-play for Berserk fans.
Although Berserk is widely considered to be one of the greatest manga series of all time, its various adaptations have struggled to translate the series' emotional story and stunning art into other mediums. Even so, it's odd that Berserk has received so few video game adaptations, especially considering how the manga's bloody action, imaginatively nightmarish monsters, and iconic weaponry have inspired gaming classics like Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma, and Final Fantasy VII. While the few game adaptations Berserk has received are mostly lackluster, there is one exception that deserves a modern remake.
Berserk Millennium Empire Arc: Chapter of the Holy Demon War is a hack-and-slash game developed by Yuke's and released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2. The game serves as a direct sequel to the developer's other Berserk adaptation, 1999's Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage for the Dreamcast. Unfortunately, unlike its predecessor, Berserk Millennium Empire Arc never saw a release outside of Japan. Even so, its entertaining gameplay and surprisingly faithful retelling of the source material make it the series' best video game adaptation.
How Berserk Millennium Empire Arc Replicates the Manga's Brutal Battles
Berserk is synonymous with its lead protagonist, Guts—a loner swordsman whose inhuman strength allows him to wield an unbelievably massive broadsword known as the Dragonslayer. The weapon's immense size and weight allows Guts' powerful swings to crush and tear through his monstrous foes. Plenty of developers have tried to translate Guts' fast yet weighty movement into an action game, but most fail to replicate the manga's impactful choreography or simply feel too clunky to live up to players' expectations.
However, Berserk Millennium Empire Arc delivers an incredibly satisfying recreation of Guts' rage-fueled brutality through its Dynasty Warriors-inspired combat. Melee attacks with the Dragonslayer are slow and hefty, yet a single swing can cut through entire groups of foes. Even so, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the large hordes of enemies that constantly rush towards Guts. Fortunately, he can quickly evade or even counter their attacks with precise timing. He also boasts a small selection of projectile weapons including throwing knives, bombs, an automatic crossbow, and a devastating arm cannon. Killing foes will gradually fill Guts' rage meter, allowing him to temporarily enter a powered-up Berserker state wherein his attacks are significantly faster and stronger. Later in the game, Guts can also receive support from his allies, each of whom possesses a unique magic spell to aid him or wipe out enemies.
While it's far from deep, Berserk Millennium Empire Arc's fast-paced combat perfectly replicates the manga's visceral action. Guts' attacks strike a perfect balance between being fluid and weighty, allowing each swing to land with an immensely satisfying impact as it splits and dismembers enemies with ease. Adding to this is the game's impressive motion-captured animations, especially those that accompany Guts' vicious executions and flashy counterattacks in boss fights. The game also comes close to replicating Berserk's gritty art style through its atmospheric environments, captivating cutscenes, and impressive character models that put the 2016 anime to shame.
Most of all, Berserk Millennium Empire Arc captures the daunting challenge and insurmountable odds of Guts' struggles. Throughout the entire game, players are constantly battling against endless swarms of adversaries. While most threats can be taken out with a single swing from the Dragonslayer or a blast from the arm cannon, their intimidating numbers and unrelenting assault can create a formidable challenge. Because of this, Berserk Millennium Empire Arc often feels like it places players in a constant struggle to push forward rather than a traditionally mindless hack and slash. It strikes a careful balance between the power fantasy of wielding the Dragonslayer and the endless tribulations that define Guts' journey.
With its recreations of iconic battles from the original Berserk manga and exciting duels against the series' most iconic villains, Berserk Millennium Empire Arc is clearly made for diehard fans. However, its satisfying combat, impressive visuals, and faithful retelling of its source material make it a great title for series newcomers, as well. The game even features a brief but completely original story arc that delves deeper into Guts' trauma and grief from the events of the Eclipse. While Koei Tecmo's Berserk and the Band of the Hawk is a larger and admittedly more polished title, Berserk Millennium Empire Arc surpasses it as a true love letter to the series.
A Remake of Berserk Millennium Empire Arc Can Add Much More
Despite everything Berserk Millennium Empire Arc does right, it's hard to recommend the game due to its lack of availability outside Japan. The game has never received a direct port to modern consoles, either, and it's unlikely to ever get one due to its niche status and dated gameplay. However, a full-fledged remake will not only allow Western players to finally get their hands on the game, but it will also serve as an opportunity for Berserk Millennium Empire Arc to rectify its greatest problems and fulfill the original release's missed potential.
Along with updating the visuals and presentation, a remake of Berserk Millennium Empire Arc needs to address the original game's repetitive mission structure. Most levels involve traveling between different areas to fulfill various objectives while fending off endlessly spawning enemies. Unfortunately, the game often relies on filler tasks to drag out the length of most missions. These tedious quests usually involve tracking down specific NPCs (sometimes more than once for arbitrary story reasons) or killing a set number of enemies within a locked arena. These segments often overstay their welcome, which can cause Berserk Millennium Empire Arc's initially fun gameplay loop to quickly grow tedious.
Adding to this problem is the slow upgrade system, which allows players to unlock new attacks or strengthen Guts' various combat abilities by spending experience points earned from defeated enemies. Unfortunately, most upgrades are locked behind exorbitant prices, meaning players will have to waste time farming for experience points or spend most of Berserk Millennium Empire Arc without the majority of these unlocks. While the game can be easily completed without most of the upgrades, certain spells, and projectiles Isidro's support attack and the throwing knife are practically useless in their base forms. Additionally, not having access to the additional sword attacks can leave combat feeling limited and repetitive.
A remake of Berserk Millennium Empire Arc can fix these problems by tweaking the upgrade prices and adding a greater variety of mission objectives to each level (or simply making them shorter). However, most of the original game's issues may have been necessitated by its premise. As the game's title implies, it's a direct retelling of Berserk's Falcon of the Millennium Empire story arc—specifically, the events from volume 22 to volume 27. While this sounds like a lot, the game only covers the first half of the arc and condenses most of the story to focus on the series' action, resulting in a disappointingly short experience with an unsatisfying conclusion.
This problem concerning the story is the result of Berserk Millennium Empire Arc's early attempt at adapting the then-ongoing story arc. The Berserk manga didn't conclude its Falcon of the Millennium Empire arc until 2010, six years after the PS2 game's release. As such, the game's anti-climactic ending and need for filler were unavoidable. Fortunately, with the manga having greatly progressed since then, a remake would have no problem covering the entire story arc and even extending into Berserk's other major arcs such as the preceding Black Swordsman and Golden Age arcs or the more recent Fantasia arc.
Berserk Millennium Empire Arc may not be perfect, but it is undoubtedly the most faithful video game adaptation of the series and features the perfect foundation for a vastly improved remake. While its limited release and major flaws prevented the original game from reaching a wider audience, a modern remake would be a guaranteed success among fans of Berserk and the countless works it inspired. With the manga about to enter its next story arc, now is the perfect time for a new Berserk game to celebrate the series' history.