A Berserk board game is in the works

[Aazealh]

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

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):

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?

 

[Dark Knight]

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.

 

[Walter]

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.

 

[Aazealh]

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.

 

[TheItCrow]

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.

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.

 

[Aazealh]

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.

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.

 

[Vitris]

Not really a fan of board games, but if this turns out to be good, I might actually give it a try.

 

[knecht]

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]

This board game get released?

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.

 

[knecht]

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.

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.

 

[Walter]

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?​

Berserk - Monolith Board Games

Subscribe to the Monolith newsletter dedicated to Berserk and keep up to date with future releases.

monolithedition.com

 

[Aazealh]

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.

 

[hsvfan-jan]

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?

 

[Keratos]

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?

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.

 

[Wyld Dreams]

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?

If it takes you through the key moments of the manga then there is no way in the hell you can keep it not 18+ given key moments are as 18+ as they get.