The First Berserker: Khazan Review – Revenge Never Felt This Good

The Soulslike genre is one that’s grown exponentially in the past few years, with many successes such as Black Myth Wukong, Lies of P, Sekiro, and most notably – Elden Ring. Each game brings something new to the table, and The First Berserker: Khazan is no different. Khazan stays true to the genre while being more accessible and forgiving than its predecessors.

The story kicks off with Khazan imprisoned and on his way to his exile when suddenly an avalanche wipes out the men transporting him. A phantom notices his power and exploits his weakened state to try and take over his body. Khazan overcomes the phantom and the two strike a deal to help one another on their respective quests.

Khazan wants revenge against those who framed him as a traitor, while the Blade Phantom wants to bring balance to the Netherworld in begrudging service to Lord Charon. Given this pact, Khazan can use Netherworld Energy to bring more power to his weapons, heal himself, and much more.

Overall, I found the story to be fine, but nothing exceptionally memorable. That may have come as a side effect of how long there would be between moments of exposition. By the time something new would come up, it was easy to have forgotten what led to that point in the first place. Much of the interesting part of the story seems to happen before the game takes place, so you’re left to piece things together while seeking revenge.

While the story may be slightly lacking, the art style is on the opposite end of the spectrum. It brings an anime-esque vibe to a genre that generally focuses on realism, while not coming off as a traditional anime. Every movement feels gritty and dark, and the animations all feel weighty and intentional.

Any interaction with Netherworld energy shows in a deep, red glow, surging through and around Khazan as he slashes and slams his foes. Accordingly, it makes a sound like a sort of wet crunch that feels hefty, showcasing the sheer power of the character as he manages to use this otherworldly force in his quest. Every aspect of the game’s visuals feels thought out and purposeful.

The environments are dark and brutal and serve as an interesting factor in the game. You’re able to interact with certain items to affect the overall gameplay in a way that feels tangible. You can use some in-game objects like hanging crates against enemies, or you can shift the landscape to create a shortcut back to your spawn point – the Blade Nexus.

For all the complexity that The First Berserker has, it runs exceptionally well on PC. On an old Intel Core i5 and GTX 1650 Super, I had reservations about the way the game would run. Upon loading in, I was pleasantly surprised with the performance of the custom settings. The game automatically sets your graphics based on your machine so you don’t have to worry about sacrificing smoothness for visuals. With the game running at mostly medium settings, I’ve only ever seen stuttering in the occasional animation or cutscene. The game will also be releasing on consoles, but I can’t speak to the game’s performance on these platforms.

One thing to keep in mind throughout The First Berserker is the genre. This truly feels like a Soulslike every step of the way. The Blade Nexus you use to heal and level up rarely pops up in levels, meaning you have to plan for any contingency around any corner. Even enemies that might be considered “easy” can still deplete your health if they catch you off-guard, meaning you can never afford to let your guard down. Also, watch out for chests. Sometimes, they hurt.

You can build Khazan however you want by choosing your stats based on how you prefer to play. It felt natural to build him focused around Strength and Vitality, fully embodying the tank that he’s presented to be. Every motion Khazan makes feels heavy. Every swing of the Greatsword thunders down to the ground, making for a visceral and satisfying experience. If you’d rather a more agile build though, you won’t feel like you’re missing out because the weapon choice is the same no matter your stats.

Every time you kill an enemy, you gain Lacrima, which is used to level Khazan further. As with other games in the genre, when you die, you’ll lose all that Lacrima and you’ll have to go back to the spot where you died to regain what you lost. It gets frustrating when you’re far from the next Blade Nexus checkpoint, but that repetition helps you improve.

While you gain Lacrima for every enemy you kill, skill points are harder to earn. As you land successful strikes and perform perfect brink guards, your mastery level increases; as that increases, you’ll earn skill points. The skill tree system makes The First Berserker more accessible than other Soulslikes, given the ability to swap out your skills at any time without penalty. Say you’re facing down a boss and can’t get the best of it, you can unlearn your skills in one area and reassign them to another to try a different approach.

There are four skill trees that all take from the same pool of skill points. There’s a tree for each weapon, along with a “common” skill tree that applies to all three. Given how rarely you earn skill points, it’s not worth leaving skills sitting in a weapon you aren’t using. This lets you try out different builds at any time without consequence to tailor the game to your playstyle. Not every enemy is the same and there are better approaches depending on what you’re fighting at the time.

Once you’ve got the hang of the timing for weapons and you’ve got a build that works for you, the missions may start to feel deceptively easy. They’ll implement new challenges like an entire area’s floor being poisonous, so the variety is more in the level design than the enemies themselves. These variations force you to use some of the consumables you’ve picked up along the way, and you’ll have to tailor your quick slots to the items most helpful for the area you’re in.

Individual missions would get tedious at times, mainly due to the enemies that you face. There may be five or so different enemy types throughout, with one or two different rangers and the rest being some assortment of about three or four other melee opponents. Visually, they’re all interesting, but by the end of a level, you may find yourself excited for the boss just to face something different.

Speaking of bosses, Khazan’s fit the genre perfectly, between their size, speed, and overall character design. They punish you for missing guards or dodges by a split second, and if you find yourself in a bad spot at the end of one of their combos, they can drain your health bar in a matter of seconds. There were countless times I’d die with two or three charges of Netherworld Energy still unspent because I missed the timing on a single guard or dodge.

The time it takes to learn the patterns and moves of each boss varies, with each one having different combos for different phases of the fight. A boss could have a three-attack combo at the start of the fight, but once you drop them to half health, that same combo may get an extra one or two attacks added to it. These variations can make it challenging to make the most of your opportunities but feel exceptionally rewarding once you’ve figured them out.

As punishing as they are, Khazan’s boss fights are another area where its accessibility shines compared to games like Elden Ring or Dark Souls. Every time you face a boss, even if you don’t beat it, you earn Lacrima proportional to how much damage you dealt. You can retrieve your lost Lacrima from outside the entrance to the fight and it’ll be added to whatever you earned from the previous attempt. You can then return to the nearest Blade Nexus once you’ve got enough to level up again and tweak your skills, armor, and weapons as you learn the boss’ tactics.

Structuring your armor is also incredibly valuable to success. While it’s not a bad idea to have the highest defense armor you can from a mishmash of different pieces of armor, equipping a complete set can bring massive benefits to your overall experience. They’ll provide buffs like stamina regeneration, damage boosts, and more, so dressing for the occasion is something I found myself focusing on more than usual.

One thing to be aware of is that The First Berserker is not an open-world game. There’s no map to access, so you may get lost as you explore the levels. Luckily, they’re mostly linear with the occasional branches that have enemies or loot. Having that linear structure means that your mastery level will generally align with the recommended levels for each area. Compare that to playing Elden Ring, where it felt like I’d have to go back and forth around the map to grind smaller enemies before taking on a boss, Khazan keeps you right around the level that you need to be for any given mission.

Even though the game isn’t open-world, you can still travel back and forth between locations if you need to level up faster. This comes in handy when dealing with difficult bosses because you can go back to a location you’ve already cleared and grind through some enemies to level up more. This isn’t necessary for progressing through the game, but having the option helps to not feel trapped by a boss that just keeps wiping the floor with you.

The difficulty in Khazan is something I certainly wasn’t fully prepared for. The game lulls you into a false sense of security with the first couple of bosses being approachable. As someone notoriously bad at Soulslikes, I was able to beat them within a few (dozen) attempts. However, the game certainly gets to a point that’s nothing short of humbling, leaving me with a few moments of genuine frustration where I had to step away and take a walk.

Difficulty in a Soulslike isn’t something to fault the game for, especially for someone who doesn’t generally play them. In my experience with Khazan, there were certainly times when I’d press a button and the game simply wouldn’t register it or the input would feel inconsistent. However, there was never a point where the game felt unfair. Rather, I’d be left to wallow in my ineptitude for a few hours at a time until I eventually did have to lower the difficulty (a decision that can not be reversed).

There were a few bosses that I found tedious just given how much health they had, where the fight would take nearly 10 minutes before I eventually missed an input and had to start over again. Learning the different combos death by death quickly became draining, especially when some of them are quite a trek to get from the Blade Nexus to the entrance of the fight.

Luckily, even if you get stuck in a boss fight, The First Berserker’s musical score motivates you to keep at it. It’s loud, it’s dramatic and it fits the game’s theme perfectly. On top of that, the overall sound design is phenomenal. Every swing of a blade feels heavy, you can hear enemies exactly where they are and every level’s ambiance fits perfectly with the visuals.

While it may not be a masterclass of the genre, The First Berserker: Khazan is a thrill that improves the more you play. It has unique mechanics that differentiate it from other soulslikes, while never losing sight of what it sets out to be. While the story may not be the most entrancing, there’s certainly enough there to compel players to get to the end, no matter how many controllers or keyboards lost their lives in the process.