First Berserker Kazan

The First Berserker: Khazan is the first of possibly many soulslikes to be released this year. The game is a spin-off based within the Dungeon Fighter Online universe, a 2D beat ‘em up similar to games like Golden Axe, thus making this the first 3D game in the series. The game was first announced in 2018 called simply Project BBQ, though it didn’t start gaining major notoriety until 2023, where it received a gameplay trailer at The Game Awards, where it finally received its final name. The First Berserker: Khazan was developed by Neople, published by Nexon and released on 27^th March 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Windows. 

Story

The game takes place in the 89^th year of the Pell Los Empire, hundreds of years before the events of Dungeon Fighter Online. You take on the role of Khazan, a once famed general of the empire who had been falsely accused of treason and exiled with the tendons of his arm severed. After the crew transporting him to god knows where is hit by an avalanche, causing Khazan’s prison wagon to be hurled from a cliff, he is possessed by a being known as the Blade Phantom, who heals Khazan’s body, including his broken arms, tries to take control of him with their attempts being thwarted. Khazan traverses through the mountains for a way to escape, and eventually confronts the Blade Phantom who tries to take over his body by force. After the battle, the berserker makes an offer to the Phantom to help each other with their own quests, to restore balance to the netherworld, and to get Khazan his revenge. With that an alliance is born, and the two venture onwards to find that the empire is not the one that the famed general remembers.

I thought that this story is, honestly, kind of forgettable. The lore is interesting and I did like hearing about the feats of Khazan and his friend Ozma, and how they rose to prominence, and I do appreciate the fact that you don’t need any prior knowledge of Dungeon Fighter Online in order to be able to enjoy this, but the ongoing story is ultimately unremarkable. A big part of that is probably because it does a similar style of storytelling is other soulslikes do, having the story mostly take place in the background as opposed to having it told front and centre. This has worked for more story centric soulslikes, such as Lies of P or Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, but it doesn’t really work for this one as well, leaving me with a story that I’m forgetting even as I write these words. 

Presentation

The First Berserker: Khazan has a very distinctive look compared to other games in the genre. While it’s not the first to go for an anime-esque art style, it is very heavily cel-shaded, almost comic-book like I would argue. Personally I think it really works, it adds a unique flair and detail to character and enemy design – which by the way is excellent – and makes the game standout compared to the more dreary looking entries in the genre. 

Environments look good as well. They really give off the vibe of a kingdom in ruins, and I like that the world becomes more and more corrupted the further into the game you get. Though that being said, the levels do tend to blend into one another after a while. There are some distinct traits and colours, but most levels are some variant of swamp, ruined town or castle. There aren’t any that are particularly memorable or really stand out from one another, making the world itself feel fairly bland and uninteresting. 

Performance-wise, on PC I found that the game ran at a consistent 60fps without any noticeable frame dips or lag. However, on a few occasions during battle, the game did end up freezing on me, music still playing but sound effects and movement ceased all activity, forcing me to restart my game from the steam menu. It was infrequent but still annoying when it did happen. 

The soundtrack, the boss themes especially, sound like something ripped straight out of Elden Ring or Bloodborne. The songs are intense, each one signifying the grandeur and the threat of the encounters, with the choir amplifying and increasing the tension of the battle. It’s not all violins and choirs however, a few songs include electric guitars, which only adds to the ferocity of the track, and makes the songs stand out even more. This soundtrack is simply epic and for me, stands out of one of the greats of the genre. 

Level Design

The First Berserker: Khazan has a mission based structure. There are a number of locations, each of which is accessed via the corresponding portal, that will have a main mission and possibly a few side missions for you to access. Levels are quite linear, though there are some pathways that branch off and will lead to extra encounters and more goodies for you to collect, and despite that getting lost is not very easy. Kind of like the aesthetics of each level, there’s nothing that really makes any of them standout. The level design is kind of basic and, while some do have some kind of unique trait or obstacle, there’s not really that much to differentiate them from one another, aside from the bosses at least. One thing that I do really like actually is that missions are infinitely replayable, obviously one of a kind items will not respawn, but everything else can be run through a second time, yes you can even have a rematch against the bosses. 

Throughout these levels you will find checkpoints called a Blade Nexus that look a lot like a fusion of Soulcalibur and Soul Edge – specifically the ones from Soulcalibur IV. Here you can do a few upgrades, look back through Khazan’s memories to get a reminder on the events that have transpired and return to the Crevice, which is essentially your safe space. The number of Blade Nexus’ you can find will often depend on the level itself, sometimes the mission will be filled with them, often times mere minutes away from one another, while others will only contain a couple, though in those ones you’ll find copious shortcuts that will lead you back to them, so you won’t have to worry about losing progress. And this leads me into one of my main problems with this game, there’s no way to warp to a Blade Nexus within the level. If you want to go from one checkpoint to another you have to leave the level completely and teleport from the spectral portal, which just adds extra steps to what should be solved via a menu option. But even worse, there’s no item that will teleport you to the last Blade Nexus you rested at, which is baffling to me, as you have to make the trek back to you last checkpoint if you just went exploring for a certain item or to pick up the souls you lost at death, and if you get lost and have no idea where to go or how to get back, or just fall off a platform and land far away from your last Blade Nexus, you are just screwed with your only options being to either die or to quit to the title screen and lose all your progress (should have mentioned before, but the game only saves when you rest at the Blade Nexus). In my opinion, this type of item is essential to any soulslike, the fact that this game doesn’t have one is incredibly disappointing. 

Combat 

Let’s start off with something that some soulslike veterans may be disappointed with, The First Berserker: Khazan only has three weapon types, dual-wielding a sword and axe, a two-handed greatsword and a spear. While this may sound like a negative, it’s actually the exact opposite. Yes there is a very limited weapon pool, however the game makes up for this by having a skill tree for each of them, giving you access to new attacks and abilities. It adds that extra layer of depth to the combat that you don’t see very often in soulslikes. It does mean that you will end up using one weapon type exclusively throughout the game, but I feel like you’ll find yourself favouring one of the three very early on. Plus if you get tired of one weapon or start to lean more towards another one, you can always reset your upgrades in one of the skill trees and use those points on another. Personally, I found myself favouring the spear, not only was it the fastest of the three weapons, but it also has an ability called the moon stance, which temporarily summons an afterimage of you, letting you deal a little extra damage to an enemy. 

To make up for the very limited types of weapons, the game constantly gives you an overabundance of the things. They are found in almost every corner of the maps and dropped consistently by enemies; you likely won’t leave a mission without acquiring at least a dozen new swords or spears. The main difference with these will obviously be the amount of damage that weapon can dish out, but there is an extra factor that you have to throw in. On top of weapons you also have armour sets, and these have added benefits other than defence. If all the pieces you’re equipped with, armour, weapons and sometimes accessories, are all of the same set, you will get a number of extra buffs added to your repertoire, such as an increase to your stamina recovery, an increase to your brutal attack’s damage, to even new skills exclusive to that set. This is one of my favourite additions to this game, I’m someone who will happily go for a matching set over overall defence, so the fact that I’m getting rewarded for that is simply amazing.

Like a lot of modern soulslikes, the game is very parry centric. You know the drill by now, press the guard button just as the enemy’s attack is about to collide with you and you parry. The main benefit you get from parrying is the fact that it doesn’t use up any stamina, meaning that you can keep conserving it for any required dodges or attacks. On top of that, it will also do a bit of damage to your opponents stamina, which once depleted will let you perform a brutal attack to deal a chunk of damage. Aside from that though, this is probably the most unrewarding parry I’ve ever experienced in a soulslike. It feels like they added it in because other games in the genre did, without considering how to incentivise the player to use it more. Yes parrying does damage the opponents stamina, but honestly, you do more damage to it using your basic attacks. Yes it does negate all damage an attack can deal you, but so does guarding normally, the only caveat is that guarding uses up stamina. Though the real stab in the back, the main issue that if anything discourages you from parrying, is the fact that it doesn’t prevent the build up of status ailments, why is this a problem? We’ll get to that later. Overall, while I did still use the parrying as my main source of defence, it didn’t feel nearly as satisfying to pull off as it does in other games, and led to more frustration than I’d like to admit. 

One of the resources that you have access to is your Spirit. Spirit is what’s required for you to pull off some of your more powerful attacks and is also needed for the usage of certain items. For example, Khazan can summon javelins that can be thrown as his ranged attacks, each one thrown costs 1 spirit. On top of that, your weapon has a selection of special attacks that can be unlocked and equipped from the weapon’s skill tree, the power of which will determine how much spirit it takes up. It is very easily replenished, either through combat or consumables, so you don’t have to be too conservative with it. It may sound like there is a lot of stuff that this mechanic is linked to, but personally I actually like that, it forces me to consider what I should be using the spirit on and will punish me if I get too greedy. 

Your final ability is Phantom Form, a form that temporarily merges you with the Blade Phantom and gives you access to a new moveset. You not only gain this new form, but you can also learn a number of new skills and abilities exclusive to when you’re in this state. Probably the best part of the Blade Form is that you don’t take any damage when it’s active, instead when you get hit you lose a bit of your Phantom Form gauge, reducing the ability’s duration. Despite that though, I’m a little mixed on it. I find that I don’t get any major advantage in this form, nor do I really deal any more damage than I normally do. I found myself only really using it to prevent myself from losing health, or when a boss only has a slither of health left and I start getting slightly worried. 

Enemy and Boss Design

While some enemies do appear similar, and there are numerous repeats between levels, there is a decent amount of variety between them. There are of course your generic knights and dogs, but there are a significant number that are exclusive to this game, like one eyed bats that inflict status ailments, giant worms that will disguise themselves as items in obvious places, and more spider variants than can be found in your average Australian attic. In a few levels, there are unique enemy types called Elite Enemies, a version of a common enemy with more health and that deals more damage, unlike other enemies though these ones disappear for good when killed, acting a bit like a mini-boss more than anything. 

Finally we have the bosses, the true spectacle of any soulslike and these guys are no different. To start off with something I love, when you die in battle not only does your Lacrima (this game’s version of souls) drop outside of the boss arena, you’ll also gain a small portion of Lacrima depending on how well you did in the fight, the more damage you did, the more Lacrima you receive as a reward. Not only does this encourage you to keep fighting, it also removes the need to move somewhere else and grind for a bit, instead letting you continue to battle the boss and get better at it while being rewarded for your efforts. 

The bosses were very enjoyable, it was incredibly satisfying to learn their combos, perfectly parrying each of their attacks once I did, and progressively do better after each death before finally slaying them… at first. Unfortunately, the further into the game I got, the more issues I started having with the bosses, not that they were getting harder, rather that they were getting more unfair. For starters, this game has one of the issues that I had with Lies of P when I reviewed it; they have way too much health. Now, since going back to Lies of P as practice for an upcoming livestream that me and Calvin have planned (please watch it we’re desperate), the problems I had with boss health weren’t nearly as bad as I thought they were, but these bosses are on another level. The amount of health they have is ludicrous, to the point where even the brutal attacks do so little damage it doesn’t even feel worth it. Especially when compared to the amount of damage they do to you, I feel like I’m at a serious disadvantage, and not the kind that feels satisfying to overcome. This makes the difficulty feel artificial and makes defeating the boss feel less like conquering a massive hurdle and instead just has me thinking “Thank God it’s finally over”. 

Then there’s the difference with human and monster bosses, or to be more exact their stamina. Monster stamina works exactly how you’d expect, you deal damage or parry the attack, they lose a small chunk. Humans on the other hand lose stamina not only when you do these things, but also when they perform some attack themselves, however their stamina will also recharge overtime, meaning that you’ll have to be more aggressive with them. A fun idea in theory, though I found myself hating this later on, entirely because of the rate the boss regains stamina. Not only does it start recharging pretty much half a second after you stop hitting them, their stamina can be practically zero and it’ll be fully restored in a couple of seconds. It makes all my efforts feel wasted by no fault of my own, once again, making the damage dealt by the brutal attack feel even more worthless. 

The final issue I have is probably the biggest gripe I have with this entire game, that being…

Over Reliance On Status Ailments

Yes, this is such a big problem to me that I put it into its own segment. Now, status ailments are expected not just in any soulslike, but in any RPG, and this game does some interesting things with them. It has one that only affects your stamina, one that decreases your max health temporarily, even one that reverses your controls. My problem isn’t their existence, but how much the game uses them, especially in the later game. In the second half, I swear every level has some way in inflicting you, from rocks or trees that will build up the ailment by you just being near it, to enemies who’s weapons or spells are coated with the stuff, even if it conflicts with the setting of the level. Later on, all the elite enemies will have their weapons build up the ailment when you get hit by them, and, I’m not kidding, almost every boss uses status ailments in some way. Hence why not being able to prevent the build up by parrying is such a massive problem for me. When almost every attack can inflict you with some plague, and even guarding the attack perfectly won’t stop it, not only does it discourage you from parrying, it feels like the game is punishing you for it, like it doesn’t want you to use this method to defend yourself, despite the fact that the game feels very reliant on this mechanic. Yes, a lot of soulslikes, even the ones made by FromSoftware, have bosses and areas that rely heavily on inflicting the player with something (Miyazaki having a thing for poison swamps is one of the souls communities favourite jokes for a reason), but even then it’s very occasional and in the case of bosses it’s only with one or two attacks. This game relying on it so heavily killed a lot of my enjoyment of it, and very heavily impacted my feelings on it as a whole.

Conclusion

If I had to be honest, my opinions on this game lessened more and more as I kept playing. At first I was really enjoying it, the combat was super fun and I liked Khazan as a character. But the more I played the more I started to get annoyed and the game felt more and more unfair. I’ll be frank, I didn’t finish this game, I have three bosses left and yet I’ve lost all motivation for it. Is this game fun? Yes. Do I recommend it to souls fans? Also yes. There’s a lot to enjoy about this game, and I’m certain those better than me will enjoy it all the more. But this game has a number of problems and unfair factors that are just keeping me away from beating it. Overall, it’s a good game, except for when it’s not. 

7.4/10