I had a feeling The First Berserker: Khazan was going to be a special game, and I was right. But perhaps not quite in the way I was hoping. It got my attention when I learned it was a Souls-like that appeared to share some similarities to the Nioh series, which are among the best Souls-like games around, and it could be argued that Nioh refined the Souls-like formula in a way that made it superior to FromSoftware’s actual Souls games, at least in the fun and fast-paced gameplay department. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was also mentioned as a comparison to First Berserker’s gameplay, which got me slightly apprehensive since I was not a huge fan of that game due to its comparatively more sluggish gameplay and utterly cheap enemies. Thankfully, First Berserker’s influences seem to be based more on the Nioh side of the gameplay spectrum, and as a result, I’m quite enjoying this game…mostly.
You are Khazan, the great general of the kingdom of Pell Los who, with his good friend Ozma the mage, slew Hismar the Berserk Dragon and saved Pell Los from destruction. Khazan’s “reward” for his heroic deeds was to be branded a traitor by the jealous emperor, tortured to the point of having his tendons removed from his arms, and then banished, while Ozma was also tortured and executed. So far, so terrible, which is expected in a Souls-like, honestly. As fate would have it though, Khazan was not meant to be left helpless for long. A (too) well-timed avalanche destroys the caravan transporting him to the outskirts of the kingdom, and soon enough, he finds himself possessed by the Netherworld spirit known as Blade Phantom. With the ghost’s power now a part of him, Khazan’s mission for revenge against those who wronged him begins, though he must also honor his pact with Blade Phantom and help him restore balance to the Netherworld.
Story-wise, The First Berserker is pretty good, particularly for a Souls-like, which tend to have very average or “meh” stories simply for the purpose of leading you from one battle to the next. Khazan himself, while focused on his vengeance, doesn’t go the way of Kratos from the original God of War series and kill everyone and everything in sight because he feels like it. He is still an honorable man who values his allies and does what he can to help them. And he does form alliances with different characters as his journey goes on, but most of them don’t really add much to the game’s narrative and just hang out in the hub area known as the Crevice and occasionally offer a few side missions to go on (though a couple do offer very useful options for upgrading Khazan).
As previously mentioned, this game takes a lot of inspiration from Nioh. Combat is similarly fast-paced and impactful, enemies and (especially) bosses offer a challenge that will test even experienced Souls-like players (and they drop loot upon being defeated), and the mission structure is also very similar, with each main region having several main and side missions to undertake. Even the collectibles in each mission known as Jarlings are almost identical to the Kodama from Nioh. The side missions are worth doing since many of them grant access to important gameplay elements, namely the option to craft and upgrade armor, weapons, and items; it should also be mentioned that these options aren’t added in until several missions into the game, which was a bit late, in my opinion.
The blacksmith lets you craft gear for any sets you manage to find scrolls for in missions, and the alchemist lets you upgrade the level and stats of your gear. Kudos to the developers for making the crafting option easy to use and understand, unlike the utterly baffling crafting in the Nioh games, which I could never figure out. At the Crevice, you can purchase and store items and gear, and a training area lets you practice combat against enemies, with a number of modifiers available for enemies and locations (and as of the writing of this review, a boss rush/challenge mode will be available in an update).
Okay, now for the important stuff: the combat. Simply put, it’s excellent. Khazan’s attacks and movements are buttery smooth and precise, and he does what I tell him to do. He can use three weapon types: dual wield sword and axe, greatsword, and spear, and each weapon offers its own unique advantages and disadvantages (I alternated between the greatsword and dual wield). Each weapon type also comes with a skill tree full of special combos, techniques, and abilities that really help to make Khazan feel like a warrior of legend, and some of these skills are particularly useful against certain enemy types. However, I will add that gaining the skill points needed to acquire and upgrade these skills can be time-consuming (an update has helped to mitigate the issue of skill points taking too long to obtain, but it still takes a bit).
The ability to parry (brink guard) and dodge attacks are both equally viable techniques for defeating enemies (unlike in Sekiro where parrying ad nauseum is required for victory), but the timing is very precise and could take even Souls-like veterans a while to get used to. There’s also a separate “reflection” ability where you time a weapon strike with an enemy’s to knock them off-balance, but I largely avoided using it since it requires such precise timing that I personally don’t feel the risk is worth the reward. Khazan also gains access to a Phantom Form (also relatively late in the game), where he dons the armor of the Blade Phantom and has temporary access to its full power, functioning as a sort of “rage mode”. I haven’t fully upgraded it yet, but so far, it’s proving more useful as a way to tank through enemy attacks without losing health, but as far as dishing out damage to enemies goes, it’s rather paltry, which is a bit disappointing. Even the similar Living Weapon and Yokai Shift abilities in the respective Nioh and Nioh 2 games, despite their own flaws, were more useful in dishing out damage to enemies. But, again, this might change after I’m able to upgrade the Phantom Form more.
Enemy variety in The First Berserker is respectable, possibly even greater than the Nioh games. You’ll be battling all types of human and monster enemies: bandits, soldiers, mages, bears, undead, large spiders, dragonkin (humanoid dragons), demons, spirits, and more. The enemies are not pushovers and will end you if you’re not careful and at the top of your game. Honestly, I find battling enemies in this game to be very enjoyable and satisfying overall. But now we come to the bosses. Good lord, these bosses are something else. The majority of bosses in this game (particularly in the main missions) pushed me like very few bosses have done in other games. For perspective, it took me generally anywhere between five to ten tries to beat most bosses in the Nioh games. And yet a small handful of others took me north of 20 or 30 tries; a fair few I was able to beat in two tries or even on my first try. The majority of bosses and mini-bosses in Sekiro typically took me multiple attempts to beat, with several going well into double digits and very, very few taking me only one try (probably a grand total of three or four).
I’m a little over halfway through The First Berserker, and so far, I’ve only defeated three bosses in one attempt, and all were reskins of main bosses (or enemies) in previous main missions. Aside from two other bosses that I defeated in a handful of attempts, it has taken me north of 20 or even 30 tries to defeat all other bosses I’ve faced. That’s a lot of retries. A lot of frustration. A lot of cursing. Seriously, the difference in difficulty between regular enemies and bosses in this game is vast, so much so that the bosses feel rather unbalanced. Some have immense amounts of health, some have these attack combos that are delayed (that’s definitely some crap pulled straight from the FromSoftware book of frustrating gaming) and/or difficult to figure out how to counter, and pretty much all of them dish out a f*%k-ton of damage with each hit. The majority of bosses possess all three of these irritating qualities in tandem (and human/humanoid bosses are somehow able to regain stamina even if you land hits on them…ridiculous). And to make matters worse, I’ve only acquired a maximum of six health charges, even though I’m halfway through this game already. More are needed by this point in the game. To be victorious over these bosses, it’s almost necessary to take zero damage until you’ve dropped a boss’s health to half since the attacks and abilities they throw at you in their second phases will almost certainly force you to use up all your health charges.
Thankfully, there’s always a Blade Nexus (bonfire) save point located right outside the boss arenas, so no irritating runbacks to return to bosses after you’ve died. Even better, if you wish to return to the Crevice hub area during a mission to stock up on stuff like elemental buffs or even upgrade armor and weapons, you can do so, and you can then return to the same Blade Nexus you last used in your current mission and continue from where you left off instead of having to restart the mission from the beginning. Furthermore, if you happened to miss a collectible or chest in a previous mission, you can go back to any Blade Nexus in that mission to get what you need and then exit the mission without having to replay the whole thing. This merciful gameplay feature is as appreciated as it is surprising. And, with each attempt against a boss, you earn a little extra Lacrima (XP), and after enough attempts, you’ll eventually be able to use your accumulated XP to upgrade one of Khazan’s main stats (vitality, strength, willpower, etc.), which could help slightly with your next attempt.
Despite the BRUTAL bosses that are thrown at you, The First Berserker: Khazan is, overall, a joy to play. Khazan himself controls like a dream, the levels are well detailed, and the characters and enemies look great with the use of 3D cel-shading. I have yet to experience a single glitch, and the game runs very well with no frame rate issues to speak of (except when I try moving the camera while Khazan is interacting with an NPC). If this game is your first journey into the realm of Souls-likes, then I advise caution. The bosses alone could make or break this game for you. Even those who are no strangers to Souls-likes (myself included) will have at least some difficulty. Oh, hell, pretty much everyone is going to get their asses handed to them in this game, so if you are prepared for that, then you could end up loving this game. I don’t love this game…but I am liking it, and I’ve become rather desensitized to dying a couple dozen times to most bosses at this point. The excellent and fun combat really helps to keep me interested in continuing and eventually finishing Khazan’s journey. I only hope I don’t end up becoming the next berserker in the process.
Developer: Neople
Publisher: Nexon
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Release Date: 27th March 2025
