Berzerk: Recharged devs discuss how the reimagining came to be

Just this week, Evil Otto once again invited 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. You can learn more about how this reimagining of the classic Atari title came to be in the video above, which features a discussion between devs Mike Mika (Digital Eclipse) and Dennis Debro (Developer Extraordinaire).

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.

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.