Berserk or Die
Last updated: 2025-06-10
- Addictive gameplay loop with satisfying combat.
- Appealing visuals and music enhance experience.
- Satisfying sense of progression keeps players engaged.
- Unresponsive controls limit player actions.
- Lacks depth and long-term replayability.
- Performance issues and crashes are present.
Verdict
Mixed
Summary
Positive 65% · Negative 35%. Score: 35 / 100
Positives:
- The game is praised for its addictive and enjoyable gameplay loop, often compared to Vampire Survivors and One Finger Death Punch. Players find it fun, satisfying, and easy to pick up, with a simple yet engaging core mechanic that keeps them coming back for more.
- The game's presentation is well-received, with reviewers highlighting the appealing visuals, excellent music, and overall aesthetic. The pixel art style is particularly praised for its clarity and style.
- The combat is described as satisfying and impactful, with a focus on mowing down hordes of enemies. The sound design and visual feedback contribute to the overall enjoyment and chaotic fun.
- Players appreciate the sense of progression through unlocks, character upgrades, and a variety of content including bosses, environments, and weapons. This keeps the game fresh and provides a reason to continue playing.
- The game offers flexible control options, with players finding success using mouse, keyboard, and controller. Mouse controls are noted for their precision, while controllers offer a more stress-free experience. The game also provides custom control schemes.
Negatives:
- Many reviewers find the controls unresponsive and limiting, regardless of input method. Blocking is ineffective, mouse controls restrict attack range, and controller use is considered a handicap. The game's stamina system further restricts player control and timing.
- Multiple reviewers express disappointment with the game's depth and replayability, finding it boring and lacking in variety. Some felt the game was not fun despite its unique concept. One reviewer stated they only experienced about 10 seconds of fun.
- Players report experiencing random FPS drops and significant lag, especially in later stages of the game. Some also encountered issues with the game unexpectedly opening other programs and crashing. These technical issues detract from the overall experience.
- Accidental key presses can trigger unwanted attacks, and right-side key inputs only trigger light attacks. The attack system can feel inconsistent, and attacks may cause the character to jump an undisclosed distance, leading to unpredictable movement.
- The process of opening chests one by one is tedious, especially after obtaining a large number of them. Players suggest a feature to open multiple chests at once to alleviate this issue and reduce the slog of unlocking loot.
Gameplay:
- The game's controls are a core element of the gameplay experience, with reviews highlighting a focus on specific inputs, timing, and even 'keyboard whacking'. Some find the controls unique but intuitive, while others criticize the reliance on key mashing. This point is important due to its focus on a core mechanic and the mixed player reception.
- The game features progression systems such as unlockable levels, characters, weapons, and power-ups, similar to Vampire Survivors. Players can farm in-game currency and experience to unlock evolutions and level up stats. This point is important because it describes the game's progression mechanics.
- The game emphasizes distance management and combo execution. Additionally, players can block projectiles by attacking. This point is important because it highlights key aspects of the combat system.
- The core gameplay loop involves defending against waves of enemies to earn currency for upgrades. Success requires skill and reacting to enemies approaching from both sides. This point is important because it describes the fundamental gameplay loop.
- The game is a hack-and-slash title. This point is a basic categorization of the game's genre.
Performance:
- The game's mechanics, particularly attack distances, are significantly hampered by keyboard limitations like ghosting and rollover issues, especially on cheaper keyboards. This issue is less pronounced, but still present, when using a controller, limiting player potential.
- Players have reported hard freezes when mashing buttons on a controller. Additionally, some controllers, like the PS5 controller, may not be compatible with the game, creating accessibility issues.
- The game suffers from poor optimization, leading to significant lag when a large number of monsters are present on the screen. This negatively impacts the player experience during intense moments.
Recommendations:
- The game's controls, especially on keyboard, are a significant point of contention. Many recommend using a mouse or controller for a better experience, and some suggest remapping keys. Some reviewers are even willing to damage their keyboard due to enjoyment, but hope for improvements to allow using only one input method.
- Many reviewers find the game enjoyable and well worth its low price. Some even feel the game offers more value than the cost suggests. However, there is one negative review in this cluster, indicating mixed opinions.
- Several reviewers compare the game to Vampire Survivors, with some recommending it to fans of that game and others finding it less addictive or preferring other similar games like One Finger Death Punch. This suggests the game's appeal is heavily tied to the existing genre.
- Some reviewers feel the game is unfinished and suggest waiting for patches or updates before playing. Others recommend playing for an hour to see if the game 'sinks in' before requesting a refund. This indicates concerns about the game's current state and potential for improvement.
- The reviewer states that a fun gimmick does not make a fun game. This indicates that while the game may have an interesting concept, it ultimately fails to deliver a satisfying gameplay experience.
Miscellaneous:
- The game was published by Poncle, which helped Nao Games. The reviewer also supports the vampire game author. This point is about supporting the developer, but lacks specific feedback on the game itself.
- The game's graphic style is considered visually appealing by at least one reviewer. While subjective, positive feedback on aesthetics can contribute to a game's overall reception and player enjoyment.
- The reviewer mentions 'wandering in the cosmic void after opening a black hole while punching the keyboard' and anticipates muscle soreness in their fingers. This feedback is not constructive and lacks specific details, so the importance score is reduced.
