https://pahammond.itch.io/berzerk

This is you, the last human on Earth. You are trapped in an electrified maze full of frenzied robots, armed only with your laser.

This is a robot. Robots are not smart, but they are persistent. They will shoot and destroy each other. But they will evolve …

Berzerk is a legendary arcade game from 1980; while not the first video game to contain digitized speech (that would be Stratovox) it’s the earliest one that remains a classic today. The simple but classic setup — rushing through a maze while blasting robots for points — makes for gameplay that remains engaging through many, many replays.

The story that two players died of excitement while playing Berzerk is almost certainly false, but it is true that they were standing at the cabinets when it happened. Berzerk may thus have been a partial inspiration for the urban legend that is Polybius.

This PICO-8 version adds more digitized speech (with a distinctly retro sound), as well as a variety of power-ups and extra lives, to appeal to a more modern gamer.

Windows/Mac/Linux/Raspberry Pi or play in browser.