Platforming, beating up bosses, and obtaining their powers is an easy formula for a good time. Take notes: few things make a player feel more powerful than unlocking a whole new set of possibilities using the essence of a fallen foe. Berserk Boy aims to please by promising not just additional ways of attack upon doing so, but also new platforming techniques on top, leading to an ambitious, but, unfortunately, disappointing release.
There are a lot of ideas floating around in Berserk Boy, but to me, the two that lie at its core are fast platforming and secret collectibles. Most of the level design splits between these two, and it is there that the main issue lies as well: speed and exploration are inherently opposite to each other. This is not to say that the two cannot coexist, but with Berserk Boy it never feels like there is any effort to morph them into a cohesive whole.
Marketed as part-Metroidvania, Berserk Boy hides passageways along the main route, which consists of a pretty straightforward path with enemies and obstacles that require a specific power-up to clear. Secrets are typically obscured by placing a ladder in the corner of a screen, a patch of gray dirt along a gray floor or just obscuring the path altogether through other means. The problem is that discovering something only to find that it requires an ability you do not yet have access to is quite discouraging.
Very rarely do you need the ability to discover a secret path. At best, this means that your first run will be focused on enjoying the pace of the level, ignoring all but the most obvious signs of a collectible. At worst, it will lead to several disappointing discoveries that you know you will have to come back for later. In both instances, returning to a level is just never satisfying. Going through the motions to get back to something you already found—only to complete a little section inside that is just less enjoyable than the main path—does not feel great considering the levels are largely built around the first playthrough only.
Possibly another replay will be needed on top of that. To get an S rank, a certain amount of points are required. There is no one universal threshold that needs to be passed, at least as far as I could tell, but typically it requires racking up a good combo by hitting enemies and not dying once throughout a level. Going through while collecting everything can lead to some extra damage or an unexpected death. One of those reasons may be the unforgivable visual inconsistency when it comes to damage.
Sometimes spikes damage you on touch, other times they instantly kill you. Sometimes there is a skull symbol next to a bottomless pit so that you know not to jump in there, but sometimes when there is not, it indicates a secret; alternatively, it can just be an unmarked pit that leads to death. Sometimes a ladder reaching the top of the screen means you can transition to a different one, sometimes it does not. All of this becomes worse when playing on retro mode with limited lives.
The inconsistencies do not end there. Everything in Berserk Boy is inconsistent. The pacing, the visuals, the music. As a whole, the game lacks form. Looking at some of the character designs, you can go from these wonderful animations on the main character to an NPC whose proportions are all wrong, or a soldier whose chest looks to be split in two by a black hole that expands while they’re breathing.
Level, enemy, and background art are not great either. The colors are so muted that it is often very difficult to quickly spot an important element on a screen. The ground that our protagonist can drill through is the same gray color as the palette of the set of levels that introduces said mechanic. Some enemies end up feeling similar: floating, weird shapes that blend into all the other effects the game throws at you, such as the trail left behind by the protagonist.
Tee Lopes (lead composer for the likes of Sonic Mania and TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge) composed the music here, but even it has a few quirks. The hub theme ends up feeling intense, while several level themes are rather underwhelming and disappear under all the sound effects. It is an overall solid soundtrack that just does not always fit the game it is a part of. It also detracts pretty heavily from the few spoken lines of dialogue that the characters have, the mixing here is terrible and the music often completely overpowers the voices to the point where they are barely audible.
Among all of this, the most confusing aspect of Berserk Boy, however, is the addition of a morphing ability that allows you to fly. It can be obtained about halfway through this seven-hour experience, and completely clashes with the design of so many screens, especially when revisiting earlier stages. It is not the first game to introduce a skill like this, but here it has no drawbacks. Even some of the later stages have entire areas that do not work when you can just float through them.
A runner-up for the “Most Confusing” award is the overreliance on combat, which is just not very good. Even with all the different attacks that each form has, none of them make hitting things during combat arenas or bosses any more exciting. Most enemies can be destroyed before they can even react, and bosses never get to hit their groove before they are defeated either.
Berserk Boy is at its best when you are in the zone, flying from screen to screen, ability to ability. The EX levels unlocked by completing the regular ones do just that, though only in short bursts. Unfortunately, for the most part, the game is just overall confusing. Can I go there? Should I do this? Is it worth doing this? Why does this look like that? Should I use this? Is this fun? And of course, the ultimate question: should I play more of this?
I think the few speedster segments here are enjoyable, but even they do not remain fresh for long. As confusing as it can get, even the best parts of Berserk Boy end up being recycled. It becomes hard to call any one stage in this game enjoyable, because soon after the ideas from it appear again, destroying their charm. Without much of a story to follow on top of everything else, finding the motivation to replay levels is quite difficult.
Not one aspect of Berserk Boy seems to work with another. They stumble and downplay each other to the point that it becomes hard to grasp at what it is trying to be, or where to derive enjoyment at any given time. It is the sort of experience that seems to never truly find its footing before the player puts the controller down for good.
Mateusz played Berserk Boy on PC with a review code.
