Ever since NEXON revealed its Soulslike title, The First Berserker: Khazan, I was hooked. While I’m a fan of this genre (no surprise there), I was still caught off guard by this game. Not only is this NEXON’s first foray into the Soulslike genre, but it also hit the ground running. There was a lot of coverage, followed by a fantastic demo that left me wanting more. So, when the opportunity finally came for me to access the full game, well… you’ll find out how I felt about it in my The First Berserker: Khazan review.

Game Name: The First Berserker: Khazan
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed), PS5, Xbox Series X|S
Developer(s): Neople
Publisher(s): NEXON
Release Date: March 27, 2025
Price: $59.99 / $69.99

A Brutal Hardcore Action RPG with a Focus on Revenge

Khazan rose to become a Great General of the Pell Los Empire, earning the respect of those who served him. In a twist of fate, Khazan is unjustly accused of treason and is sentenced to be exiled. While being transported, an avalanche strikes the carriage, and Khazan survives – but how and why was he labeled a traitor in the first place?! As Khazan explores his confusion, we take control to help him uncover the truth and get revenge for what was done to him.

Playing as Khazan gave me serious Gladiator vibes, and with that being my favorite movie ever, I’ve got to hand it to the story for being easy to understand and giving me a reason to care. Sometimes I just want some of that good revenge!

Fans of Nioh Will Feel Right at Home

Nioh fans will notice that First Berserker: Khazan has some insanely direct similarities. From the level design and shortcuts to the enemy behaviors, as well as the story and characters’ connection between life and death, Khazan can easily be tagged as “Nioh-like,” maybe even more than “Souls-like.” Even the death screen will have you nostalgic, as it goes black and white with ambient music playing as you read the word “KHAZAN HAS FALLEN.”

Not to mention, the LOOT! LOTS AND LOTS OF LOOT. If you enjoyed crafting armor and “souls matching” gear in games like Nioh, you will be in love here as well.

Loot drops at a very steady rate, and most of the time, they drop the exact items needed and are unique to the level’s challenge. Is there a boss at the end of it that deals fire? Likely, you will be picking up loot along the way that is unique to fire resistance. This game really does its best in terms of keeping you prepared for the next challenge, much in the way that Nioh did.

Combat Styles That You Can Change at Anytime

Whether you stick to one weapon or dabble in them all, you can distribute skill points into your weapon skill trees and refund them at any time. Yep, that’s right. That means you can change your skills whenever you feel like it. There were times I struggled with a boss fight and then took the time to refund and reassign skill points that I felt would help against that specific boss, and let me tell you, that just keeps the game flowing even more. I never really felt “stuck” and could always make adjustments to my build.

That also includes adjusting my armor and gear. Whether I wanted to dismantle armor, extract armor and weapons to give me Lacrima (the game’s currency), or just simply pick and choose between the gear I have so the stats benefit me, there’s always a way to make your build better. And sure enough, after some mixing and matching, I was able to take down the bosses that were giving me trouble.

Quality of life is awesome in this game, and the proof is in the pudding. The more you play, the more you’ll see how fluid it is to tweak your build and combat style so that you find a way to beat these enemies, and I am confident you’ll feel the same.

Poised to Exhaust & Stagger Enemies

Poise is arguably the most important aspect of Khazan’s combat system, and it will be very familiar to gamers who enjoy games like Sekiro and Lies of P. As you attack and perfect guard (parry, deflect) enemies, their poise meter will lower until it’s completely gone, and they enter an exhausted state. That is when you strike the hardest and will be able to execute brutal attacks to damage them even further. On the flip side, Khazan will also lose poise if you take damage and miss deflections. So it becomes about balancing your attacks as well as stamina in order to stay aggressive toward enemies but also not overexert yourself to the point of exhaustion.

That fine balance dance is what kept me on my toes and working to get better in every enemy encounter. Managing stamina and landing perfect deflects is the goal of every fight, and when you do succeed, it’s extremely satisfying.

Familiar Souls-like Gameplay Loop & Progression

Like many other Souls-like games, we have the gameplay loop of working through enemy territory, accumulating Lacrima (“souls” currency), as well as collecting loot from fallen enemies to further help us in our progression. You will also find shortcuts that ultimately lead to the boss of that mission. There is fast travel that becomes available so that you spend more time fighting than traveling, and different NPCs and characters will make themselves available to lend a helping hand.

Whether it’s by accompanying you in a mission or becoming a store for you to buy items, characters reveal themselves as you progress through the story, and you can revisit them at the central hub, called the “Crevice.” This is where you can upgrade and make Khazan even stronger.

It’s all very familiar to the average Souls-like gamer, but also very welcoming and easy to understand for newcomers jumping into this type of game for the first time. In fact, there are more than a few systems in place to help newcomers, making this one of the most accessible Souls-likes to exist.

Challenging Difficulty But More Than Fair

First Berserker: Khazan is a challenging game, but it never feels unfair or had me thinking about quitting. In fact, Khazan is incredibly generous when it comes to skills, items, and systems in place to help gamers progress and find success. For example, during boss fights, when you die, you accumulate Lacrima with every death. The further you get in the fight, the more Lacrima you get, and not to mention, you build toward your skill points as well. This helps make your deaths feel empowering rather than defeating because every death will get you closer to leveling up your character and skills.

Also, NPC helpers are made available during boss fights that cost (1) Spirit of Advocacy, and these items can be found by defeating Revenants of Adversity, which are essentially NPC 1v1 battles. These are found throughout the journey and are easy to farm, so if you want to use an NPC to help you in the boss battles, there are plenty of opportunities.

Noob alert! There is an easy mode made available too. Yep, you read that right! So, anyone who is shy of the traditional “Souls-like” difficulty, rest assured that you will have plenty of ways to make the game easier. That doesn’t mean it will always be easy though, especially on Normal Difficulty (“Souls-like” fans, listen up!). Trust me, some of these enemies and bosses gave me a serious challenge, and it’s very much that adrenaline-pumping experience that got many of us to fall in love with this genre in the first place.

Boss Fights Will Get Your Heart Pumping!

Speaking of adrenaline-pumping, the boss fights that you encounter will get your heart beating! Believe me. I had more than a few boss encounters that had my hands shaking from adrenaline once I beat them, and that’s always a plus when it comes to Souls-like games. Boss difficulties range from easy to “It-Took-Me-3-Hours.” Farming and leveling up will, of course, help those hours get shorter, but sometimes I just wanted to test what I had, and whether it was easy or hard, I found every boss satisfying to fight.

Each boss has a different unique design, as well as unique movesets and patterns to learn, and they return in side missions, with differences as well. There are definitely “skill-check” bosses that will force you to get good with perfect guard and dodging and may have you thinking, “I can’t do this.” But with all the help the game presents to you, you’ll quickly realize you can… you can do this! And it feels amazing getting good.

Verdict

This information I’ve just presented to you scratches the surface. This game and its systems are DEEP, and you will find that out the more you play. The great thing about First Berserker: Khazan is that it manages to be deep in its combat, skill trees, and game loop systems, but it never feels convoluted or complicated to learn. It’s presented in such a user-friendly way, where quality of life shines, and I can’t praise that enough. It’s as if the developers took the best things Nioh had to offer and refined them to make sense in 2025. It’s great.

And because of that, First Berserker: Khazan will go down as one of the best Souls-like games, and even more so, a great Nioh-like game, which I imagine a lot of gamers are craving. Khazan is fun to learn, adrenaline-pumping, and above all, a great action RPG that will be long remembered in the Souls-like genre.

Review Disclosure Statement: A copy of The First Berserker: Khazan was provided to us by NEXON for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.

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