Evil Otto Invites You to a Maze of Madness — Berzerk: Recharged Gets a Release Date
On November 9th, Evil Otto once again invites you to his maze of maniacal chaos in the newly reimagined Berzerk: Recharged. The latest entry in Atari’s acclaimed Recharged series, Berzerk: Recharged will have you ~almost~ begging for mercy as you face off against Otto’s droves of robotic menaces, all while the grinning incarnation of evil draws ever nearer.
Considered one of the crown jewels of the 80’s gaming golden era, the original Berzerk was a top-down multidirectional shooter that saw players fighting hordes of armed robots through an endless, electrified maze. The highlight of Bezerk is Evil Otto, who manifests as a bouncing smiley face that mercilessly hunts down players. Unlike his contemporaries Inky, Blinky, and Clyde, Evil Otto is indestructible; he will not run away, and he can shift through walls. Now, Otto is back, bringing with him updated graphics, deft twin-stick controls, and a new soundtrack by the acclaimed Megan McDuffee.
Watch the latest Berzerk: Recharged trailer:
YouTube | Download
In Berzerk: Recharged, players will fight through a deadly maze filled with menacing, vocal robots that have one thing on their processor-driven minds: your doom. Fans remember the original Berzerk as one of the first arcade games to use speech synthesis, and Berzerk: Recharged keeps the dialog going. The robots chasing you have a sinister, snarky monologue running through their OS, so you will have to endure “kill the humanoid” and the taunting barb, “Chicken, fight like a robot!” as you fight to survive.
Key Features of Berzerk: Recharged Include:
- Challenge Accepted: Survive an endless maze of random rooms that get progressively harder the further you get. As intensity ramps up, the increasing difficulty is reflected in the robots’ changing color schemes.
- A-Maze-ing Levels to Tackle: Shoot through 20 hand-crafted mazes that deliver unique gameplay challenges, each with different layouts to test your mettle.
- Pumped Power-Ups: Pick up weapon modifiers, including a spread-shot, big shot, or a series-staple railgun. There are also player modifiers for speeding up, shield, and placeable mines to use against your rude and relentless enemies!
- Co-Op and Leaderboards: Like previous Recharged iterations, players can recruit a trusty player two to double the firepower and aid in the onslaught if things get too dicey. Then, track your progress on the public leaderboard!
If that wasn’t enough Evil Otto for you, Atari invites you to throw it back old school with Berzerk Enhanced Edition, a 2600 cartridge version of the classic, fully updated with diagonal firing and robot voice sampling. The cartridge launches on November 17, 2023, alongside the new Atari 2600+, a faithful recreation of the first commercially successful home video game console.
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Berzerk: Recharged was developed by Sneakybox and published by Atari. The game launches on Windows PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Atari VCS on November 9, 2023. To learn more, visit the official website.
