A Berserk board game is in the works

Aazealh

Aazealh

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Hakusensha has licensed the rights to a board game based on Berserk.

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It will be produced and sold by Monolith Board Games, a French company best known for a Batman board game called "Gotham City Chronicles" as well as a Conan game. The deal was negociated by Digital Catapult, a broker for overseas copyrights.

The game is scheduled to be released worldwide, starting with Europe and North America. There will be both a French version and an English one.

No release date has been set at this point, and future updates will be announced via Monolith Board Games' official newsletter.

Here is Monolith's announcement on Facebook (from June 20, flew under the radar it seems):

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1113444893542668 said:
In partnership with Hakusensha, we have the great honor of announcing that we are working on the development of Berserk, the miniature board game based on the works of Kentarō Miura!

This privilege pushes our team to offer you the best and most beautiful gaming experience possible. So we've decided to offer you a brand-new game system dedicated to this classic manga series--accessible, rich and intuitive! We can't wait to tell you more.

What would you like to see in this game?
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It seems like most, if not all, of their projects are fan-financed via Kickstarter. I'm a bit skeptical about how a TTRPG can be made using Berserk as a setting, but I'm interested.
 
Such board games are completely outside of my experience, so I can’t really say that I’m excited. I think it’s interesting historically that it’s a notable overseas usage of the Berserk license post-Miura. But I don’t see myself investing in paintable figures. Still, as anything with Berserk’s name on it officially, I wish it success.
 
What I'm most curious about is the game system they'll cook up for it, because Berserk generally doesn't lend itself well to games.
 
It seems like most, if not all, of their projects are fan-financed via Kickstarter. I'm a bit skeptical about how a TTRPG can be made using Berserk as a setting, but I'm interested.
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They did a very good job with the Dark Souls Board and card games, so I'm not too worried about it being theoretically possible to make an oustanding Berserk board game. I'm just worried that they can't pull it off.
 
TheItCrOw said:
They did a very good job with the Dark Souls Board and card games, so I'm not too worried about it being theoretically possible to make an oustanding Berserk board game. I'm just worried that they can't pull it off.
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Another company made the Dark Souls board game (Steamforged Games), and adapting a video game and a manga are very different things. Berserk is strongly character-driven and follows a complex interwoven narrative. That's why it's inherently hard to make into a game without taking too many liberties with the setting and characters.
 
This board game get released? I just started to look into the TCG cards and hard to find. Also, any suggestions or good places to find the original Japanese TCG cards?
 
Walter said:
Nope. No date was announced, and there’s been no update on their site. I’d expect it will get more news in a few months.
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Thank you for info!!! Been collecting berserk merch since 2009 and just now starting to like the cards.. and of course made years ago and super expensive now. Hahaha. Look forward to he updates!!! Thanks again.
 
Out of curiosity, I checked the landing page, and there's been a small update with more details about the upcoming game:

BERSERK© is a cooperative board game with miniatures for 1 to 5 players, where you take on the roles of iconic characters from the cult manga envisioned by Kentaro Miura.​

The game lets you relive key moments from the story as you journey through emblematic locations and face the sworn enemies of Guts and his companions, thanks to a simple and intuitive game system.

Each Hero has a unique deck of Action cards that can be played to move, attack, defend, and trigger powers. But the more cards a Hero plays in a single turn, the more fatigue takes its toll!

With BERSERK©, you immerse yourself in a dark, twisted world where hope is scarce, and death is sometimes welcome. Will you become just another sacrifice, or will you find the strength to rise against the fate that awaits you?​

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monolithedition.com

Berserk - Monolith Board Games

Subscribe to the Monolith newsletter dedicated to Berserk and keep up to date with future releases.
monolithedition.com monolithedition.com
 
Interestingly, above the text they provide these details: [18+] [2-5 players] [90 min]
Makes me wonder whether it's playable solo or not since they contradict themselves on the same webpage. :sweatdrop:
 
I wonder what the board game contains to be marked as 18+. Usually, board games' age rating only considers how mentally mature you have to be, e.g. when it's tactically a bit challenging it might be 12+ or 16+ but I don't remember seeing a board game with an 18+ rating. I mean even if you could behead some figurines or sth, it'd still be at the graphic level of beheading a lego figure. Is it just the source material?
 
hsvfan-jan said:
I wonder what the board game contains to be marked as 18+. Usually, board games' age rating only considers how mentally mature you have to be, e.g. when it's tactically a bit challenging it might be 12+ or 16+ but I don't remember seeing a board game with an 18+ rating. I mean even if you could behead some figurines or sth, it'd still be at the graphic level of beheading a lego figure. Is it just the source material?
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The description says that it takes you through key moments from the story. And the story of Berserk itself is 18+.
So I assume that's why.
 
An update on this board game, a prototype of which was demoed at the "Cannes International Games Festival" last week-end.

Their first campaign is based on the battle against the trolls at Enoch. You can play as Guts, Serpico, Schierke, Isidro and... Farnese? I'm guessing not everyone's going to be having the same amount of fun.

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Hordes of Guts, Schierke and their companions battled trolls and other threats to the villagers in this scenario designed specifically for demo play.
Feedback on the system was both very good and crucial in enabling us to confirm our balancing evolutions.

It should be noted that, although the material is prototype and the graphics are not up to date, the miniatures shown at Cannes are the final plastic versions that backers of the game will receive, since their molds have already been made.

As we've been saying for some time, our aim is to do more and more work upstream to guarantee deliveries without undue delays or unpleasant surprises.
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Based on their previous releases I expect the full version of the game, including miniatures, to cost between 250 and 350 euros.
 
What is it with Guts and his poses on figures? It's like they want to use poses he has never done once in the manga and the guy fought for 364 episodes nearly non-stop.

All in all, just judging from these images... Not that hyped, especially when I glance over at my Dark Souls board games of the same price class. Alas, it's a prototype.
 
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TheItCrow said:
What is it with Guts and his poses on figures? It's like they want to use poses he has never done once in the manga and the guy fought for 364 episodes nearly non-stop.

All in all, just judging from these images... Not that hyped, especially when I glance over at my Dark Souls board games of the same price class. Alas, it's a prototype.
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Yeah, not a fan of that Guts pose either. It's highly questionable if he can even physically lift the sword up that high. And as you said, there are plenty of awesome poses they could have lifted wholesale from the manga, but no, these guys decided to get creative. :schierke:

And knowing how nearly every physical figure of Guts ends up, they'll probably get his face wrong too.
 
Some more news from Monolith Board Games.

Berserk: The Board Game is a cooperative miniatures game for 1 to 5 players, set in the iconic universe of the legendary manga created by Kentaro Miura.

The campaign, centered around the Millenium Falcon Arc, lets you take on the roles of Guts and his companions though a simple and intuitive game system. Heroes and enemies are represented by stunning 35mm-scale miniatures, crafted from a mix of ABS and PVC, with intricately detailed bases.

Each Hero has a unique set of Action Cards, used to move, attack, defend, and trigger special abilities or game effects. But beware- the more Action Cards a Hero uses in a single turn, the more fatigue sets in!

Just like in the manga, you'll face hordes of enemies, outnumbered and outmatched in sheer strength. To survive, you'll need to fight side by side with your companions.

With Berserk, immerse yourself in a dark and brutal world, where hope is scarce, and death is sometimes a mercy.

Will you become just another sacrifice, or will you find the strength to defy your fate?
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Short presentation of the game mechanics and how the deal happened:


The link for their crowdfunding campaign is here: https://gamefound.com/fr/projects/monolith-board-games-sarl/berserk-the-board-game

It will begin in the fourth quarter of 2025.
 
Some big updates on the crowdfunding page, with more details on the miniatures that will be included among other things. They're also saying the pledges will be opened starting sometime in October.

Besides trolls and an ogre, there will be Slan, Zodd and Grunbeld (each available in two versions, human and transformed), plus the Kundalini and Ganishka.

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Looks like prototypes are being sent out to influencers. One of them has released an unboxing video showing off the assorted components.


Another, longer one in French.

 
Skimming the French one you can tell the guy knows very little about the manga and is going by whatever summaries he found online. Doesn't seem very informative overall. Will watch both videos when I have the time.
 
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