Berserk Boy

Genre: Action-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Berserk Boy is an Action-Platformer released in 2024 on PC and Nintendo Switch. This game puts players into the role of Kei, a young man who finds himself in the middle of a conflict to control the world when he comes into possession of a Berserk Orb, an object of power coveted by a megalomaniacal villain who is attacking the peaceful people of Earth. Using the power of this orb, and collecting the other orbs being used by the villain’s minions, you’ll do the hero thing, save the world, and all that.

In a lot of ways, Berserk Boy is channeling the same sort of vibe as the Mega Man franchise, and the Mega Man X series in particular. The colorful futuristic Earth setting, the cartoony art style, the elemental-themed stage bosses with weapons you acquire after beating them… all of this is pretty standard for Mega Man.

That said, this is definitely not a Mega Man clone. The focus here is more on melee attacks, with your default weapon having a short-range lock-on projectile that you can use after bashing into enemies in a way that feels reminiscent of the Luminous Avenger iX games in the Gunvolt franchise.

However, I would argue that Berserk Boy gets a few things right in ways that can at times surpass the Luminous Avenger games. Berserk Boy does a great job of making the dash-‘n’-bash feel really visceral, making blasting from one enemy to the next a true joy. However, even more than that, your different abilities also enhance your movement in ways that can allow you to better navigate the game’s levels and find hidden secrets, and this really helps to differentiate the different weapons you get too – the fire drill you get as your first alternate sub-weapon, for example, gives you the ability to tunnel through dirt and pass under enemies and hazards by digging into the ground, but it’s nowhere near as good at mid-air movement.

Unlike the Mega Man games, there’s no way to select which enemies to take on in the order you like. While this removes some degree of freedom, I don’t think it’s inherently bad, as it ensures the game can have a more steady difficulty curve, and design later levels with the knowledge of what abilities you have at your disposal. The game also hides secrets in earlier levels you can return to and find later, as well as an upgrade system that can help you improve your stats and your move set.

The presentation, as I alluded to earlier, is clearly a love letter to those classic Mega Man adventures, and as such it features a really nice 2D pixel art style with a lot of color and personality. However, I think the real treat here is the synthesized soundtrack, with some really catchy tunes like “Welcome To New Hope City!” New Hope City Zone 1, “Thanks For Your Visit!” New Hope City Zone 3 (Hunter Bridges Arrangement), “Sector 7” Mission Select Theme, “Icy Echoes” Frozen Temple Zone 1, “Berserk & Chill” Frozen Temple Zone 3 (Andrew One Arrangement), “Synthetic Fauna” Abandoned Labyrinth Zone 2, and “The Resolve” Action Theme. Really, my only issue with the presentation is the sound mixing on the voice clips in the game is absolutely terrible – often you only just barely hear them over the music.

When it comes to complaints, a lot of the game’s mechanics require players to figure them out through trial and error, even some of the most basic stuff. It can be frustrating to not understand why an attack works sometimes but not others, and it takes time to get to the point where you catch on and stop making those mistakes.

However, overall Berserk Boy is a fantastic retro-style Action-Platformer that does an excellent job using elements from old-school Mega Man games while giving the genre its own spin on things. Players who enjoyed those classic games will definitely want to give this one a try.

tl;dr – Berserk Boy is an Action-Platformer clearly inspired by classic games like Mega Man X, but with its own melee-focused gameplay that makes for some really excellent visceral combat and gives you a good amount of variety between weapon types. Fans of the classics in this genre will absolutely want to give this game a try.

Grade: B+

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2024 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Action Game

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