In a sea of darkish fantasy or historic fantasy impressed troublesome motion RPGs impressed by FromSoftware’s Darkish Souls sequence and its derivatives, it will probably actually be troublesome to face out. Particularly given that only a few of those titles have truly managed to dwell as much as the legendary pioneering video games that impressed all of them – we’ve the Nioh video games, we’ve Lies of P, and extra just lately we’ve Black Fantasy: 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 preserve them from reaching the kind of greatness that the perfect examples of this sport fashion can ship on.
So The First Berserker: Khazan admittedly did (and nonetheless does) have a little bit of an uphill climb. In spite of everything, with so many video games like this being made and launched as of late, what units this one aside?
That’s, finally, 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 Recreation Awards in 2023, and proper off the bat, the motion RPG stood out. It actually hit all of the bullet level gadgets you’d anticipate finding on the again of the field of a sport of this type – Souls fashion fight, grueling issue, 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 change into extra clear with every subsequent exhibiting that the sport has had – its completely beautiful artwork fashion, which makes it appear to be 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 crammed story, which, when mixed with the brutality of the motion on show, virtually remembers the basic God of Warfare titles, which had been equally brutal revenge plot pushed motion titles. The First Berserker: Khazan’s dedication to its sturdy storytelling is evident within the extra cinematic bent the sport clearly appears to imbibe, and more and more, it looks as if the story and storytelling facet of the sport could also be sturdy sufficient to be a promoting level all by itself.
However finally what makes a sport like this sink or swim would be the gameplay – the prettiest artwork fashion or biggest story on the planet 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 more with every exhibiting.
That first trailer confirmed off plenty 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 – significantly 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, for those who die, you’ll have to go and gather all of your misplaced expertise and foreign money, and enemies will hit onerous and can punish you for enjoying carelessly. That’s all very Souls.
However, for instance, you might have a complete ability tree. Truly, you might have a number of ability bushes, one on your character, after which one for every of the three weapon wields within the sport, 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 high, a gear primarily based one which, mixed with the attribute primarily based levelling up and the ability bushes, probably guarantees much more participant expression with its techniques and mechanics than even veterans of this style and sport 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 comparable to Lies of P and Black Fantasy: Wukong are titles the place the sturdy participant sentiment and phrase of mouth was actually essential in driving their success, not simply initially, however properly 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 change 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 circulation and pacing of encounters. The visible fashion actually does assist right here, intrinsically elevating the sport really feel because of the way in which the animations make every motion circulation 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 – a minimum of primarily based on the demo, it’s one thing that the sport is taking severely, and hopefully we are able to get a satisfying story out of this sport that may be understood with out having to lookup on-line wikis and fan concept movies on YouTube. Even lore and their hunters could have quite a bit to chew on, nonetheless, for the reason that sport is definitely set in Nexon’s DNF universe, so it theoretically has plenty 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 despite that, it seems like The First Berserker: Khazan is curiously beneath the radar proper now. Whereas within the video games business you may by no means have a look at any sport as an absolute positive guess, primarily based on every part that we’ve seen of it up to now, it does appear to be The First Berserker: Khazan is taking promising form, and will very properly find yourself delivering a strong, core motion RPG expertise. Whether or not or not it will probably stick the touchdown stays to be seen. Nexon, in any case, has not revealed a single participant sport on this scale beforehand, so it will be comprehensible, if crushingly disappointing, in the event that they fumble the touchdown on some or most of the checks they’re writing and the guarantees they’re making.
However a minimum of for now, they’ve our consideration. Let’s see if the ultimate sport finally ends up substantiating it. On the threat of sounding like a damaged report, what we’ve 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 writer and don’t essentially symbolize the views of, and shouldn’t be attributed to, GamingBolt as a company.
