Berserk Producer On Staying True To Its Brutal Source Material

Koei Tecmo’s upcoming Omega Force-developed Berserk game takes on the dark themes and brutal storyline of Kentaro Miura’s manga series. With a planned release in North America, as well as Japan and Europe, producer Hisashi Koinuma shares with Siliconera how the team is working to deliver a Warriors-style game that remains faithful to its source material.

How did the idea for Berserk Musou start?

Hisashi Koinuma, Producer: It started with an offer from the anime production committee asking if we could work together on Berserk since they were launching a new anime season. I personally have been a longtime reader of the Berserk manga, and there are readers of the manga among the game directors at Koei Tecmo, so having a degree of personal interest among the key staff led to the decision to give it a go.

In an earlier interview with Gamer.ne.jp, it was mentioned that Koei Tecmo will not release a CERO Z rated game so Berserk would have to be CERO D. Given how graphic Berserk is when it comes to violence and subject material, how do you play to keep the game true to fans? What boundaries are you planning to push to make this the “most brutal Musou in history?”

I believe we do not necessarily need to force ourselves to make a CERO Z rated title in order to stay true to the source material of Berserk. Similar to Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage, we are finding ways to exercise constraints in order to maintain a CERO D rating while still pushing boundaries. Japan is strict on blood and gore effects while North America is strict on sexual themes, so ratings and regulations differ depending on the region, and we know that adjustments need to be made due to these regional circumstances.

Is there any content in particular you are concerned about that might make the game difficult to release in the West?

We have some concerns because certain content is crucial in order to fully represent the original story, so we are trying our best to implement that content in a way that doesn’t cross any lines.

How does the Berserk game tie into the series? Will there be tie-ins or characters from the new anime series?

The game itself covers the original story of the Golden Age Arc through the Falcon of the Millenium Empire Arc. We don’t have any plans on tie-ins, but since the game covers a broad scope of the original narrative, there might be characters included in future anime versions if the anime series continues.