The First Berserker: Khazan Reviews
The First Berserker: Khazan is a highly engaging and highly polished Soulslike experience that will keep you hooked for hours. The engaging, aggressive combat system, along with deep customization and upgrade options, offer many ways to experience the game and tailor it to your own strategy and playstyle
Review in Persian | Read full review
Those willing to truly master The First Berserker: Khazan will be treated to a world that is equal parts brutal and rewarding.
Everything about The First Berserker: Khazan is entirely competent. It's a fun and well put-together Soulslike that would serve well as someone's first dip into the genre, especially if the stereotype of high difficulty usually frightens them off. At the same time, Khazan doesn't do anything particularly new that makes it stand out from the crowd. This isn't necessarily a problem, especially if you're a fan of the DFO universe, but it means you need to be in the right mood and mindset to play Khazan.
The First Berserker: Khazan is yet another great action RPG that, although it uses concepts from the soulslike formula, is still able to deliver intense and satisfying combat to make it unique. Some decisions in the art direction make its visuals a little repetitive in the final stretch of the campaign, but overall it is a game easily recommended for fans of the genre.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Heavily inspired by Demon's Souls and Nioh, The First Berserker: Khazan may lack depth in its narrative and feel somewhat uninspired in terms of level design, but it still leaves a mark thanks to its great combat system and some fantastic boss fights. Despite a few excessive difficulty spikes, it remains enjoyable for the most part.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The First Berserker: Khazam and its brutal action combat will be a real challenge for you, and manages to deliver a very enjoyable gameplay experience. Although with some bumps in the road, it is a game that manages to earn his spot in the genre with a challenging proposal and with some very interesting ideas
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The First Berserker: Khazan definitely feels old-school in its approach but its vast assortment of super-tough bosses and oodles of extras that are great fun to master make it stand out as an excellent Soulslike. Plus, you can wear goofy jars on your head! 🩸
Now that we’ve reached the end of The First Berserker: Khazan, what stays with us most is the feeling of facing a game that knows its own strength extremely well. Neople hasn’t built a soulslike that’s flawless on every front, but it has built an experience where combat takes on absolute centrality and, in most cases, manages to keep engagement running high. This very specialization is what makes Khazan an interesting title even beyond its ties to the Dungeon & Fighter universe. Personally, I consider the combat system the most convincing element of the entire production. The need to learn enemy movements, manage stamina, alternate attack and defense, and exploit the right openings makes every fight particularly satisfying. The game almost never hands out its victories: when players finally manage to get past a boss that took numerous attempts, the satisfaction mostly comes from knowing they’ve sharpened their own skills, not simply from picking up stronger gear. The boss fights, as a result, mark the moments where Khazan shows its potential at its best. Some fights run extremely demanding but also deeply rewarding, since they force players to genuinely understand the game’s mechanics. Facing a boss turns almost into a kind of dialogue built on movement: the opponent throws out an attack, the player learns to recognize it, responds with a parry or a dodge, and waits for the right moment to counter. It’s a system that asks for patience but pays off handsomely once mastered. I also appreciated the art direction. Cel shading isn’t just a distinctive aesthetic choice; it gives the game an immediately recognizable identity. The characters, and especially the bosses, come with real craft behind them, while attack animations help make fights spectacular. Some settings feel less memorable and lean on fairly similar tones, but the overall result still lands convincingly. The mission-based structure, on the other hand, ranks among the aspects that won me over least. On one hand, it keeps the experience focused on action and makes it easy to jump into different activities; on the other, it cuts down the sense of discovery that often ranks among the most fascinating elements of soulslikes. Players explore the game world through separate, relatively linear levels, with few moments where they truly feel lost inside one huge interconnected environment. The narrative, too, could have hit harder. Khazan’s story has an interesting premise and touches on potentially powerful subjects, but some characters and some situations don’t get the room they need to fully develop. The protagonist mostly works as a warrior and as the central figure of the action, while his more emotional side could have used more depth. Even so, the story still manages to hold enough interest to carry players through to the end. Difficulty, finally, is bound to split the audience. Personally, I see it as a positive that the game demands effort and precision, since that’s exactly what gives real value to victories. That said, some difficulty spikes come across as particularly sharp and can make the experience frustrating for players unfamiliar with the genre, especially when they reach a boss fight without having had enough chances to properly prepare for its mechanics. Either way, The First Berserker: Khazan left me with an excellent impression. It’s not a game trying to compete on every single front with the best soulslikes, but it carries a strong enough identity to stand out. Its strength lies in the precision of its combat, the quality of its boss fights, the variety of its weapons, and a recognizable art direction. I can only credit a production that shows just how well Neople has adapted to a genre completely different from what it’s known for, and I can only call this title a soulslike that looks great, plays solid, challenges players, and above all entertains — one worth recommending to anyone who puts the combat system at the center of their experience. Players looking for a massive world to explore or an extremely complex narrative might come away less satisfied. For everyone else, Khazan’s journey stands as convincing proof that even a series born mainly in the territory of online action RPGs can find a new dimension through a single-player experience built with ambition and personality.
The First Berserker: Khazan rises above the soulslike crowd with brutal combat, memorable bosses, and a striking gothic-anime identity, even when repetition and uneven progression hold it back.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Where The First Berserker: Khazan stumbles in its crashes, surface-level narrative and overabundance of loot management, it more than makes up for with sensationally satisfying combat, wonderfully moody atmosphere, exceptional dark fantasy visuals and a gauntlet of brutal yet empowering bosses to overcome. Khazan may not be the most powerful of all Souls-like protagonists, but through sheer perseverance and rage, he's not far off joining the highest echelons.
The First Berserker: Khazan may be the best non-FromSoftware soulslike yet. Its anime-inspired visuals, soaring orchestration, and frenetic combat make for an unforgettable experience. With a brutal, personal story and rich world-building, every battle carries weight. The skill floor and price may be steep for newbies, but greatness comes at a cost—and this one’s worth every blood drop and penny.
The final flaw holding Khazan back from excellence? The art direction . From a technical standpoint, Neople's game actually holds up quite well, thanks to quality cel shading and remarkable animations; furthermore, the optimization is excellent, thanks to remarkable scalability that allows the game to run satisfactorily even on less-than-stellar configurations.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The First Berserker: Khazan is a solid soulslike with a lot to like. It has a robust combat system with plenty of mechanics to master, the bosses hit hard and are satisfying to overcome and the story is entertaining with plenty of fun moments sprinkled throughout. While the exploration is a bit uneven and the level design is nothing to write home about, The First Berserker: Khazan is an impressive action game that's hard to put down.
Khazan borrows heavily from Team Ninja’s work, both for good and bad (but mostly good).
While mechanically sound, The First Berserker: Khazan fails to innovate, its by-the-numbers narrative and uninspired worldbuilding relegate it to ‘just another’ genre entry.
Review in Persian | Read full review
The First Berserker: Khazan may not look like a classic Souls-like at first glance, but the combat puts it boldly up there with the best. It's a brutal, fast-paced, and addictive brawler that rewards patience and precision. The story doesn't impress and the side content feels repetitive, but the essentials - the combat system and boss fights - work a treat. If you enjoy a challenge, like to learn from mistakes, and don't mind Korean style, you shouldn't miss this one. Khazan isn't a revolution, but it's a damn fun evolution.
Review in Czech | Read full review
It may not reach perfection, but The First Berserker: Khazan is among the best soulslike games of the last decade.
Review in Greek | Read full review
The First Berserker: Khazan features some tight combat and an interesting presentation, but is hit hard by a botched main story and repetitive content.
The First Berserker: Khazan proved to be a game as challenging as it is captivating. The developers paid attention to aspects that often caused frustration in soulslike games and implemented improvements in favor of the player. At the same time, the game boasts combat dynamics very similar to slashers, which turned out to be a successful idea. The variety of enemies encourages experimentation not only in terms of tactics, but also in character skills and attributes. In my opinion, this title is the best action RPG in years.
Review in Polish | Read full review
The First Beserker: Khazan is an absolute riot. It’s brutal, punishing, and has so many systems, mechanics, and upgrades, that show their purpose immediately. The customization you have for Khazan is perfect for build-crafting, even within each weapon type. Khazan has its presentation on lock and is a gorgeous game with incredible art direction and tone. It’s action-packed, its bosses are spectacles, and with nearly 70 armor sets to craft, there is so much to this game beyond a single playthrough.