Berserk!

Berserk!
Beta Project
Developer	Kornel Kisielewicz
Theme	Fantasy
Influences	Berserk Manga
Released	2006 Oct 23
Updated	2007 Nov 18 (0.8.5)
Licensing	GNU GPL
P. Language	Free Pascal
Platforms	Windows, Linux
Interface	ASCII
Game Length	15 minutes
Official site of Berserk!

Berserk! is a coffeebreak roguelike

Berserk! is a roguelike of tactical bloodshed. All other actions than pure slaughter are taken away, what is left is a tactical game of survival. There is no win condition -- you just try to survive as long as possible.

Two play modes are available. Massacre gives more statistic points to distribute at the beginning and full ammunition. Features constant fodder supply through the game, level is not regenerated which makes cover much more valuable resource. Endless splits enemy horde into waves coming each night. At the end of each fight a named demon arrives at the battlefield, supposedly a commander. Some weapon supplies are restocked, character gains stats point to use or save.

Greatest feature still missing is campaign mode.

Combat in Berserk revolves about managing berserk meter and amount of pain. Berserking makes the character vastly more powerful but does not last long unless hit points are low. Pain makes everything harder - hitting, dodging, dealing damage. When a monster scores good blow it is important to fall back until pain disappears.

Weapons

• Crossbow: Fires three shots per volley but needs reload every twelve.
• Knife: Versatile but short ranged weapon.
• Bomb: Makes nice explosion. Bombs deal fire damage which harms treants and foresters more.
• Cannon: Has big recoil but hurts everything in line. Deals fire damage.

There is also fairydust. One use fully heals but also ends berserk state.

Abilities

Several combat abilities are available.

• Sweep - Atack three adjacent squares at once. Has lower damage and hit chance than regular attack.
• Impale - Execute charge for greater damage and knockback but it costs more time.
• Jumping - Attack a monster and jump over it in single move. Can get you from ambushes.
• Running - Improves running by making it faster and cost less stamina.

Monsters

Beast - Generic weak monster only threatening if you get yourself surrounded or are in pain.

Bulldemon - Tougher and can charge for good damage. Do not stand in straight lines with this one. If you have high strength or luck it may be knocked back which it will promptly use to execute charge. Melee it against an obstacle if you can.

Imp - Ranged, physically puny enemy. Ambush from behind obstacles or take with ranged options or it will be whittling at your hit points with impunity.

Phasehound - Agile and fast. Will teleport away to slowly heal. Focus on it when you have opportunity so it has less time to escape.

Scavenger - Appears instead of bulldemons in forests. Dexterous almost like a phasehound but with low strength it generally is no threat. However, it can eat corpses to heal itself. Fight it on place without corpse in order to minimize attrition.

Mandagore - Very tough but also slow. Usually can be dispatched with hit and run tactics but often it is wise to ignore them and thin numbers of more immediately dangerous foes.

Devourer - Nasty enemy shooting spores which can damage you or infest monsters. When infested monster ripens it will explode on death. You can deal with infested enemies by ranged options or try to knock them back with impale ability.

Forester - Forest only monster, who turns trees into treants. Take it soon after it appears or you will have army of living trees to fight.

Treant - Slower, tougher mandagore.

Wraith - The ultimate enemy, wraith will raise skeletons from corpses quickly commanding an army of disposable fodder. Most hated thing that can spawn on battlefield.

Skeleton - Weak as beast or even weaker but immune to crossbow bolts - most shoots hit the air between bones.

Links

• Berserk Forum -- dedicated sub forum at ChaosForge.
• SourceForge site