If you're a fan of Berserk, all you need to know is that the game takes place between volumes 22 and 23 of the manga, and that its events are a What-If scenario rather than explicitly canon. The game sequel-baited with a non-canon ending, but no such sequel came, allowing it to be enjoyed as a standalone adventure. For those who don't know anything about Berserk, you can play this game and nothing will be spoiled, outside of the existence of a few characters. Sword of the Berserk doesn't go out of its way to explain anything, so while the setting and characters may not be familiar to those who don't know anything about Berserk, you don't need to know about the quite frankly abysmal things that have already happened by the time this game takes place in order to enjoy it.

Much alike its contemporary Shenmue, Guts' Rage pioneered the QTE (Quick-Time-Event) feature that poisoned video games during the late 2000s. It is based around hack-and-slash style gameplay along with exploration, though the in-game areas are fairly small and the game progresses linearly. I would compare this to games like Dynamite Cop or Zombie's Revenge, which were fairly similar from a gameplay perspective, but with story-focused lengthy cutscenes along the lines of Metal Gear Solid or Shenmue. It combines the best of third-person combat with a strong, well-paced narrative. While a fairly short game, two and a half hours, it packs in a great story with some top-quality voice-over for the time.

Players assume the role of Guts himself, as he and his former lover Casca, and his friend Puck (a small flying elf) are travelling to a placed named Elfheim. During their journey, they save Rita, a travelling performer (who bares a striking resemblance to Jessica from Dragon Quest VIII, a good five years before that game released). Rita joins the group, and they come across a small town to rest. Here they discover that the town's populace has been driven mad by a flower, the Mandragora, which has begun to grow there. In the hopes that finding and destroying the flower may lead to cure for his former lover's madness, Guts agrees to help the king of the town, Balzac (crude jokes to a minimum, please) and ventures into the twisted remains of the town. At some point, Casca also gets kidnapped, which forces Guts hand. The Japanese title for the game better represents the story of the game, being titled "Chapter of the Flowers of Oblivion", though the word "flower" might not have been manly enough for a Berserk game released in the West.

The game's score is comprised of compositions by Susumu Hirasawa (Paprika, Paranoia Agent) and work from Yukes' in-house musicians. The result is a chilling soundtrack that supports the game particularly well. The theme song is particularly '90s, but contains the chilling vocals of Hirasawa making it fit nicely with the vibe of the game itself.

The game is broken down into three general types of play; 1) the 1-on-1 spectacle fights, 2) exploration segments with many enemies to cut down, and 3) QTE segments that often consist of running from someone or something. Each segment is punctuated bylong cutscenes that might bore action-obsessed quick gratification gamers, but tell a gripping story that is impossible to put down. You might find the amount of cutscenes to be too much, but the game is very proud of them, boasting over one hour of engrossing cinematic movie sequences utilizing enhanced in-game models according to the box. It certainly makes great use of the Dreamcast's "Gigabyte Disc" GD-ROM format and its over 900MB of storage. I couldn't imagine this game without these directed real-time cutscenes, it elevates the game to far higher than it would be if it were still images or blocks of text.

I really should get these green spots checked out.

While washed out by today's standards, Guts' Rage has fairly well detailed environments for when the game released. The areas of the game are often quite tight and packed, allowing a certain degree of realism through inventive use of textures, lighting and shadow. The lighting is generated by the game but the shadows appear to be baked into the textures, which allows the whole thing to run at a gloriously steady framerate.

Guts has access to a slew of weaponry, namely his big sword which is cumbersome and almost unusable in tight spaces. For some reason, the developers decided that Guts sword should clang off of walls, which makes the tight corridors very difficult to fight in. The game encourages you to use your fists or crossbow, or your limited-use items, to turn the tides of combat. Many enemies use ranged weapons which can whittle down your health pretty quickly, which often had me cursing. It's the core component of the game, and unfortunately, it's not all that amazing. However, you can stumble through on your first play of the game on Easy difficulty, learn how the game works, and improve over time. Dare I make a comparison to the From Software SOULS games? I think I will. In many ways, Guts' Rage difficulty and "considered-combat" are much akin to what we see today in Sekiro or Bloodborne. A precursor to this genre? Perhaps. I might even go out on a limb and say "yes". I think anybody who enjoyed those games and their bull manure difficulty would certainly get a kick out of this game.

More often than not, enemies can 'stunlock' you, leaving you open to attack after attack with no way to defend. As you watch your health plummet to zero, you might even be tempted to quit. But the satisfaction upon completing a difficult section is truly immeasurable. It would be best to describe Guts' Rage as a commitment rather than simply a game, as it can be a true test of patience.

Completing Guts' Rage on each difficulty unlocks rewards from the 'Prize Box' including mini-games. The rewards barely make up for the insane amount of effort required to beat the game, but as I said, the satisfaction of the credits rolling after beating that grotesque abomination of a final boss, is a reward in and of itself.