Berserk Boy is A vibrantly fun game with Metroidvania elements.
Developed by BerserkBoy Games and published by Big Sugar, Berserk Boy is a high-speed, action-packed platformer with stylish and vibrant pixel art featuring Metroidvania elements. Having players go berserk in different forms, using the elements of Lightning, Fire, Ice, Air, and Earth to save the planet on which this takes place.
Starting Berserk Boy, you are given two settings to start the game with, Retro and Modern, which offer players Infinite retries and provide the players with an easier time with enemies. In contrast, the Retro option follows the rules of much older games, giving the players a set amount of lives and increasing the difficulty of enemies.
Once you have selected one of the two options in Berserk Boy, you are shown two of the story’s main characters: a girl with green hair frantically working on a laptop searching for energy readings while her companion and the game’s main heroine sleep beside her. Excited, she startled the sleeping boy beside her, claiming to have found a massive energy reading on the level of a Berserk orb.
During this cutscene, we learn both characters’ names: the boy is named Kei, and the girl is named Dizzie. Excitedly, Dizzie explains how there could be a Berserk orb nearby; with some doubt, the boy describes how the orbs have not been seen in decades. However, asking ever so nicely, Dizzie asks to check and follow the signal. Panning into the next cutscene, you are shown the resistance and given the name of the city in which this takes place, New Hope City, a city hinted to be crawling with dark energy.
Given the first missions, the duo hides as the resistance is tasked with teleporting the civilians from the city to the nearest safe zone. Once the cutscene is over, you will have to chase after Dizzie to find the source of energy she is obsessed with finding. At first, you will have to do a sequence of jumps and climbs through certain parts of the city.
There isn’t a tutorial at first; instead, Berserk Boy requires players to learn on the fly or to draw on the knowledge of other platformer games when it comes to jumping. Climbing can also be done by jumping against walls to get back up to platforms if you should miss a jump by jumping up against walls and dropping to lower levels from solid platforms.
Making your way to the source of the readings, you will come to a bridge where the next cutscene will take place. Being hit with missiles, your character and Dizzy are thrown from the bridge, separating them in the process. Landing ever so gracefully on his head, the hero realizes he has landed in the middle of nowhere.
This is where you meet a funky-looking bird on fire, urging Kei to hurry and leave the area; Kei refuses and explains that he will not leave before finding his friend Dizzie. After agreeing, the funky bird named Fiore agrees to help find Dizzie as long as the boy gets moving.
After this interaction, the real premise of the game starts with the game telling the player to go berserk; going on the move, you will be led to Area 1 and the first of four areas in the mission. Receiving the first hits at a tutorial, you are shown the combo of buttons required for Fiore to carry Kei over obstacles.
In the next phase, you are shown how to break obstacles that block your path, using Fiore to swiftly fly around you, making contact with the wall and breaking it. This mechanic also takes down any enemies in your path while still in normal form. Coming across your first civilian, you have a conversation with them, finding out about the random NPC just before teleporting them from the city to home base.
Berserk Boy’s next mechanic to learn will be the ground slam, which will break the blocks blocking your way to the lower levels; once you have made your way down, getting to more civilians and teleporting them out, you come across a warp point which is explained to be able to take you all over the already explored area which has others like it around, making getting around a lot easier. Aside from traveling around, the warp points also act as your checkpoints, which will restore health and energy to Kei when you come into contact with them.
Much like in games such as Oblivion Override, Berserk Boy runs off of the exact mechanics of getting around, such as warp points, jumping against walls to get up to higher places, or jetting in direction, except with most of the mechanics now falling onto the funky fiery bird, Fiore.
Once you have made it through the game’s first stage, you will be shown another interaction between Fiore and Kei. During this interaction, you meet another character named Dr. Genos, a Berserk orb-obsessed scientist who started turning corrupt with the possibilities of what power could grant him.
Jumping in to save a random stranger, Fiore gets injured in the process, not letting it stand; Kei leaps in to save the funky bird, only to be fused with the legendary Berserk orb. This is where the next phase of the game comes into play and introduces the player to a new aspect of combat. Learning how this new power is triggered, Kei uses the trigger words and takes on the orb’s electrical ability as his own, giving him new combat abilities. Being in this new form, you will learn what the gauge on your left-hand side of the screen is for.
The red gauge will indicate how much health Kei has during his run. Collecting red orbs during your run will restore health to Kei’s health bar, and the blue gauge is where you will have to keep track of your energy levels. However, even though this will slowly regenerate over time, you can speed things up by collecting blue orbs, which can be located around the different areas of the different stages.
Aside from health and energy in Berserk Boy, the third gauge will indicate your Berserk meter, which can be used for super special attacks. Players will be required to defeat enemies and collect yellow orbs to fill the yellow bar, as Berserk energy does not automatically refill over time.
With the new ability of the orb, new battle mechanics will become useable such as Dashing into enemies and tagging them with a tether of electricity, once tagged, Kei can unleash a powerful strike of lightning almost obliterating the enemies.
However, this skill will only completely destroy lesser and weak enemies, as opposed to big bosses, which will be a lot tougher and won’t just go down due to a shot of lighting but will require a more tactical approach and use of the newfound abilities such as using the berserk energy to perform special attacks.
Although powerful amounts of damage can be executed with the new abilities, bosses are super tanky and are quite the challenge but not unfairly powered, so all it takes is some creative combat to completely destroy them. As you progress, more abilities and orbs will be made available, giving the game a diverse amount of elements to work with, however mechanics and new elements are only revealed and obtained as the story of Berserks Boy progresses.
Berserks Boys’ graphics are a mix of colorfully vibrant and retro pixel art styles, with the layout of stages reminiscent of old and new platformers with the mechanics of jumping, dashing, and shredding it up on rails, it gives a nostalgic feel to Berserk Boy, similar to games such as the Mario games of old.
Berserk Boy’s music is fun and exciting, making the game feel like an old arcade game brought to PC. Although the game’s music fits the theme of the Retro game, playing the same tune on a loop can get a bit repetitive, which can get a bit annoying while playing the game.
Ultimately, Berserk Boy is a fun retro platformer with fast-paced action, epic abilities, and nostalgic vibes. Each character is memorable and funny, equipped with fantastic looks and personalities; Berserk Boy is well worth giving a shot. Even though the music can get a bit repetitive, the game is still a blast to play and allows for creative combat by switching elements around.
