In a sea of darkish fantasy or historic fantasy impressed troublesome motion RPGs impressed by FromSoftware’s Darkish Souls collection and its derivatives, it will possibly actually be troublesome to face out. Particularly given that only a few of those titles have really managed to stay as much as the legendary pioneering video games that impressed all of them – we’ve got the Nioh video games, we’ve got Lies of P, and extra not too long ago we’ve got Black Delusion: Wukong. And that’s just about it. Whereas all the opposite video games of this ilk have their very own deserves, all of them additionally include their very own units of caveats and jank that maintain them from reaching the form of greatness that the perfect examples of this recreation fashion can ship on.
So The First Berserker: Khazan admittedly did (and nonetheless does) have a little bit of an uphill climb. In any case, with so many video games like this being made and launched lately, what units this one aside?
That’s, in the end, a really superficial and floor degree evaluation of the sport, nonetheless. Nexon and Neople first formally unveiled The First Berserker: Khazan to the world at The Sport Awards in 2023, and proper off the bat, the motion RPG stood out. It actually hit all of the bullet level objects you’d anticipate finding on the again of the field of a recreation of this kind – Souls fashion fight, grueling problem, brutal motion, darkish fantasy setting.
However then there have been the issues about it that weren’t like different related video games, issues which have solely develop into extra clear with every subsequent displaying that the sport has had – its completely attractive artwork fashion, which makes it seem like a graphic novel in movement and makes it pop, and which immediately stood out And naturally, there may be the emphasis on storytelling, with the premise being a flashy, revenge stuffed story, which, when mixed with the brutality of the motion on show, nearly remembers the traditional God of Struggle titles, which have been equally brutal revenge plot pushed motion titles. The First Berserker: Khazan’s dedication to its robust storytelling is obvious within the extra cinematic bent the sport clearly appears to imbibe, and more and more, it looks like the story and storytelling facet of the sport could also be robust sufficient to be a promoting level all by itself.
However in the end what makes a recreation like this sink or swim would be the gameplay – the prettiest artwork fashion or biggest story on the earth will be unable to compensate for clumsy controls or poorly designed encounters, in any case. And on this entrance, too The First Berserker: Khazan has distinguished itself, increasingly with every displaying.
That first trailer confirmed off a whole lot of what you count on from a brand new darkish fantasy motion RPG – gigantic bosses, stamina administration in fight, and deliberate fight the place the animations and wind up all matter. It’s the showings since then which have actually fleshed issues out, although – notably when it has been clear precisely how very like Souls video games The First Berserker: Khazan will not be. Don’t misunderstand – you’ll nonetheless be saving and levelling up at bonfire fashion checkpoints, you’ll nonetheless be utilizing foreign money to degree up attributes, enemies will respawn each time you relaxation, in case you die, you’ll have to go and accumulate all of your misplaced expertise and foreign money, and enemies will hit arduous and can punish you for enjoying carelessly. That’s all very Souls.
However, for instance, you may have a complete ability tree. Truly, you may have a number of ability bushes, one to your character, after which one for every of the three weapon wields within the recreation, permitting a complete new dimension of construct variation and variety. However The First Berserker: Khazan doesn’t cease there both, because it layers one other development and customization system on prime, a gear based mostly one which, mixed with the attribute based mostly levelling up and the ability bushes, probably guarantees much more participant expression with its techniques and mechanics than even veterans of this style and recreation fashion may count on.
In and of itself, all of that is sufficient to put the sport on lots of people’s radars. What can actually promote everybody else on the sport, nonetheless, and convey them on board, is as soon as they get to play it and so they notice how a lot the sport appeals to them. Video games equivalent to Lies of P and Black Delusion: Wukong are titles the place the robust participant sentiment and phrase of mouth was actually essential in driving their success, not simply initially, however effectively after launch, when the video games nonetheless continued to carry out strongly and add to their gross sales totals.
The First Berserker: Khazan has given itself a leg up right here too. A demo for the sport was launched in January 2025, and it has develop into clear to anybody who has performed it that Neople and Nexon are on to one thing right here – the controls are extremely accountable and tight, and the fight has a stylistic and exaggerated aptitude (owing to the stylized aesthetic) that tremendously elevates the stream and pacing of encounters. The visible fashion actually does assist right here, intrinsically elevating the sport really feel due to the best way the animations make every motion stream into one another, from strolling, operating, leaping, lunging, slashing, dodging, rolling, and extra – and all whereas sustaining that particular stylistic aptitude we talked about earlier.
The demo has additionally made it clear that the narrative focus isn’t simply advertising – not less than based mostly on the demo, it’s one thing that the sport is taking severely, and hopefully we will get a satisfying story out of this recreation that may be understood with out having to search for on-line wikis and fan principle movies on YouTube. Even lore and their hunters could have loads to chew on, nonetheless, because the recreation is definitely set in Nexon’s DNF universe, so it theoretically has a whole lot of lore and narrative context to attract from and body itself in opposition to.
Because of promising pre-launch showings and powerful reception from those that have gotten a style of the sport courtesy of its demo launch in January, many have excessive expectations from the sport. And but regardless of that, it appears like The First Berserker: Khazan is curiously underneath the radar proper now. Whereas within the video games business you may by no means take a look at any recreation as an absolute positive wager, based mostly on all the things that we’ve seen of it up to now, it does seem like The First Berserker: Khazan is taking promising form, and should very effectively find yourself delivering a stable, core motion RPG expertise. Whether or not or not it will possibly stick the touchdown stays to be seen. Nexon, in any case, has not revealed a single participant recreation on this scale beforehand, so it might be comprehensible, if crushingly disappointing, in the event that they fumble the touchdown on some or lots of the checks they’re writing and the guarantees they’re making.
However not less than for now, they’ve our consideration. Let’s see if the ultimate recreation finally ends up substantiating it. On the threat of sounding like a damaged document, what we’ve got seen within the lead as much as the ultimate launch offers purpose to be optimistic, to say the very least.
Word: The views expressed on this article are these of the creator and don’t essentially symbolize the views of, and shouldn’t be attributed to, GamingBolt as a company.
