It’s no secret that many aspects of FromSoftware’s Soulsborne game are inspired by Kentaro Miura’s popular manga Berserk. Actually, Elden Ring shelves already in many ways, all the way down to Half Wolf Blaidd‘s eerie resemblance to Berserk main character Guts. Now, Elden Ring‘s cycle of manga refs has come full circle with Guts himself by being isekai’d into Lands Between via a new mod.
Call of the Abyss, from COTA Studios modder Papa Appa, aims to let you play as the dark swordsman himself as you make your way through the Middle Ages. The mod is under strong development, but is currently available for download COTA Studios’ Patreon. You can see it in action through its latest development log video:
Current or planned features include a realistic Guts character model, his jagged armor, a re-creation of his famous hand-mounted cannon and a “berserk” mode when Guts loses control and gives in to his rage, and a summoned / boss version of Guts, which has a more acrobatic movement set loosely based on Blaidds.
Papa Appa has also joined forces The Garden of the Eyesthe mother and the YouTuber behind “Let Me Solo Her” spirit summon modto create the video series Elden Ring Multiverse, where they modify their favorite anime characters into the game as bosses. In the new section 2, the couple presents Guts as a boss fight in the late Mohgwyn Palace zone.
“Berserk was an easy first choice as [Souls-series game designer Hidetaka] Miyazaki has stated Berserk manga was a huge inspiration for himself Souls series seen in many bosses and characters, “said Papa Appa Kotaku.
Have of Eyes told Kotaku the idea to Elden Ring Multiverse came about a year before Elden Ring‘s release.
“[Berserk] has a special place in the hearts of many and deserves proper courage, ”continued Garden of Eyes. “So of course we found it quite appropriate to do this as our introduction to the multiverse.… I’m also a big Marvel Cinematic Universe fan, so it also played a big role in that I wanted this idea to happen.”
Papa Appa, who became friends with the Garden of Eyes through their shared love of Soulsborne games, said he worked on the modding side of Elden Ring Multiverse while the Garden of Eyes crafted its narrative.
As soon as the boss fight starts in Elden Ring Multiverse episode, “Guts” throws himself feverishly from side to side and knocks down his opponent before starving them to death, just as he does when overcome by bloodlust in the manga. This exact attention to detail is thanks to Papa Appa’s great efforts, which put a lot of love and care into the lore-specific details of his Call of the Abyss mod.
“I have tried to bring you the absolute best Guts armor and Guts courage in all Elden Ring modding, ”said Papa Appa in his latest YouTube CotA demo video.
Although the current state of Elden Ring modding is limited to importing custom animations from other games, Garden Of Eyes said Kotaku that Papa Appa was able to derive Guts’ moveset from Blaidd the Half-Wolf’s attacking patterns.
“Blaidd was the perfect choice for this as a base,” said Garden of Eyes. “With proper edits of his model, moves and visuals, a proper berserker Guts was born.”
Call of the Abyss is not your typical modeling job. Papa Appa said it took him about a week to create a lot of special features that hardcore fans would appreciate. For example, when playing as Guts’, his “berserker” feature is triggered when you drop below 50% HP and have four progressive modes, signaled by the red eyes staring out of his beast of darkness helmet and a red-black smokescreen that follows in the wake of him
“For you big Berserk fans out there, as you know, the beast of darkness is not an actual being, but a fusion and build-up of all Guts’ traumas, fears and worries he had as a child, “Papa Appa said in the CotA update video.” I really wanted to materialize it via black fog because I think it matches [armor] set very well. “
Read more: 7 Possible Berserk References in Elden Ring
The berserk state provides a 15% increase in endurance and damage recovery, but the longer you are in berserk mode, the more your health will drain, which is pretty accurate compared to how Guts’ crushing sadness scales with his overpowering in the manga.
My only criticism of Papa Appa’s against so far is that Guts is going down way too easy in Garden of Eyes’ video. This may be because a majority of Guts’ manga-specific moves are still missing in the mod. Had Guts’ cannon arm, throwing knives, crossbow and bombs been inside, I imagine the boss fight would have been more of a knock-down, extended fight.
Papa Appa told Kotaku that though Elden Ring still has a limited modding scene, he plans to add Crane Knight as well as new features such as the aforementioned handgun, which you can see a preview of here.
“This is still the tip of the iceberg for projects related to Berserk and other things in the multiverse, whether it’s new bosses, weapons, armor and more, ”said Garden of Eyes Kotaku. “We have a huge passion for the game and we aim to have the best mods for Elden Ring. “
As a longtime Berserk fan, I would love to see mods where Guts is model-swapped with Blaidd and the productive POS Griffith replaces Maleniabecause I have to have my proper Berserk ends somehow.