When Lords of the Fallen got here out in 2014, it was attention-grabbing to see one other developer daring to imitate From Software program’s Souls formulation. However now that it’s a complete style, seeing one other big-budget soulslike simply doesn’t really feel particular anymore – even Star Wars has had a crack at it. So what’s The First Berserker: Khazan bringing to the desk? What recent twist or novel setting makes this soulslike stand out? To be frank, I can not see one. If I had been to be as reductive as doable, I might say it merely takes some core concepts from Nioh, and slaps Sekiro’s parry on high.
A few of you may learn that and suppose this anime-eyed motion RPG sounds by-product. Others will in all probability salivate with glee. Properly, each reactions make sense. There’s completely nothing authentic about The First Berserker: Khazan. It may also be probably the most enjoyable I’ve had enjoying a soulslike in years.
You might be Normal Khazan, a once-celebrated veteran who has been framed for treason by a cowardly emperor. After the tendons in your arms are severed, you unwillingly make a pact with a giant bloke known as the Blade Phantom who grants you the facility to cheat dying. From right here you set out on a quest to punish those that framed you and restore your title.
Yeah, it’s hardly Macbeth. The story is likely one of the sport’s weakest parts, a by-the-numbers story of revenge that sees you tear via a bunch of forgettable one-note villains and expendable allies. Worse nonetheless, nearly all of the plot is divulged via narrated slideshows. To provide the writers some credit score, they appear hamstrung by the truth that it is a prequel (of kinds) to Dungeon Fighter On-line, a free-to-play beat ’em up by the identical builders. However I can’t think about even diehard followers of that may discover themselves invested.
The primary story missions are easy sufficient. Battle via some enemies and mini-bosses, mild some bonfires and unlock shortcuts alongside the best way, then beat the snot out of the boss on the finish. That journey is, sadly, one other of Khazan’s shortcomings – all the things up till these boss fights appears like a formality. They attempt to combine it up often by introducing puzzles, however largely you’re simply going from level A to level B and killing all the things alongside the best way.
There is a sense of sameiness to enemies that will get worse the longer you go on. Combating a bunch of lizardmen was enjoyable the primary time, however by the point they featured as the first antagonists of a fourth important mission, I used to be really bored of dispatching them. It’s not simply the kinds of foes that get tiring both, the best way during which they’re organized all through ranges makes the entire affair really feel tedious. I misplaced depend of the variety of occasions the sport threw a cumbersome mini-boss at me, positioned a bunch of archers behind it, and known as it a day.
Even if you attempt to milk a bit additional selection from aspect missions, these largely simply really feel recycled from the primary story. A few of the maps are repurposed in attention-grabbing methods, by including puzzles or opening up new routes that had been beforehand inaccessible. However, once more, only a few of those missions add distinctive enemies, and each one I performed simply had a reskinned model of a important story boss at its finish. One aspect quest went out of its solution to justify this by insisting the boss was the dual brother of the final man I fought. You’re not being slick, Khazan – I do know you simply put a helmet on the final boss mannequin and dusted your palms.
However whereas bosses can reappear greater than you want, they do make up for it in a single important means: they’re absolute menaces. On high of the same old unblockable blows, there are combo strings which can be ten assaults lengthy, grabs which can be solely signified by audio cues, assaults that construct a unfavorable standing impact even if you block them, area-of-effect swipes that just about fill your complete area. Khazan’s icicle yetis and hammer heaving demons throw all the things at you. Hardcore followers of the style may suppose I’m burying the lede right here, however this genuinely may be one of many hardest soulslikes I’ve performed, solely as a result of boss fights.
Finally, nonetheless, they’re nonetheless truthful. Khazan balances its aggressive nonsense by providing you with an enormous bag of defensive instruments. Granted, there are solely three weapons – the Twin Wield, the Greatsword, and the Spear – which in comparison with Elden Ring may sound like an enormous limitation. However this extra intently resembles the concepts of Nioh. Each weapon sort has its personal talent tree, unlocking distinctive particular assaults, motion choices, and buffs. All three weapons really feel distinct from each other, and because of the talent tree’s regular development I by no means felt burnt out when merely sticking to the Twin Wield for almost all of my playthrough.
The cleverness is available in how you employ these blades. There are 4 other ways you may counter enemies: you may dodge, you may guard, you may parry, and you should utilize the counterattack talent to deflect unblockable assaults. However by timing a dodge or guard completely, you should utilize their “brink” variants. These will enable you to regenerate stamina or replicate injury again at your foe.
This leads to massive battles which can be satisfying in a means that no different boss fights have felt to me since Sekiro. There may be nice satisfaction in completely reflecting a beast’s 30-second-long combo. Or parrying a hulking monstrosity and shaving off half of its stagger bar. There are not any tacky methods or exploits to be discovered, you merely should lock in and play an ideal sport each single time. It’s daunting, however there may be an unmatched feeling of getting to surpass a superbly timed and intensely deadly sport of Dance Dance Revolution.
As somebody who loves the style, I can forgive so lots of Khazan’s defects due to this fierceness. However I can’t deny that the sport has loads of weaknesses exterior of these pitched battles. If it was a extra concise journey (a full playthrough will set you again round 80 hours), lots of the problems I’ve talked about may not seem to be such a giant deal. As a substitute, it leaves me feeling conflicted. I am caught between lamenting its laborious (and sometimes rehashed) marketing campaign, whereas really celebrating its gratifying, in-depth fight. There are some bruising boss struggle treasures buried in Khazan for any tough-knuckled soulslike followers, it’s only a disgrace it’s a must to dig via mounds of uninteresting ranges and scores of samey enemies to achieve them.
This evaluate is predicated on a evaluate construct supplied by the writer.
