Review: The First Berserker: Khazan Offers a Soulslike Challenge

Given the smashing success of Neople’s Dungeon Fighter Online since it first launched almost 20 years ago, it’s remarkable that it has only seen a handful of spin-offs released. With how appealing the characters and world are, the brand feels ripe for exploration. A few years ago, DNF Duel showed that the setting worked like a charm in a fighting game. Now The First Berserker: Khazan aims to replicate those results in the Soulslike action-RPG genre. It’s a big swing for Neople, and if the quality of this game is any indicator, I think it’s going to pay off handsomely.

The First Berserker: Khazan explores the dark origins of its titular character, who is a major antagonist in Dungeon Fighter Online. Set 800 years before the events of the original game, the story chronicles the adventures of Khazan after being betrayed by the Pelos Emperor. Imprisoned, tortured, and enroute to his ultimate place of exile, Khazan’s fate takes yet another turn when an avalanche wipes out the caravan transporting him. He should be dead, but he wakes up with both his body and strength restored. The catch? There’s a little extra voice in his head, and it’s somewhat eager for blood.

Khazan tries to fight this influence at first, but ultimately he and the Blade Phantom that has possessed him forge an uneasy alliance. Mutual goals, and all that. Those who have played Dungeon Fighter Online will more or less know how this is all going to end. If you’re new to the series, prepare for a relatively standard tale of blood-soaked revenge. The plot is just engaging enough to keep you moving forward, but not much more than that. Khazan’s not exactly rolling with the most complex of motivations, and the writing doesn’t do much to elevate this basic plot. It feels like a missed opportunity, but Dungeon Fighter Online fans at the very least should find enough narrative meat here to chew on.

The First Berserker is, as mentioned before, a Soulslike action-RPG. It takes a lot of its cues from games like Sekiro and Nioh in particular. The game is broken up into discrete stages, each one fairly large in size and generally quite linear. There are a few side paths here and there that you can and should investigate for additional rewards, but you’ll rarely struggle to figure out where you should go next. Compared to many other games in the genre, the level designs aren’t terribly inspired. There are a couple of levels that try to do something interesting, but the whole enterprise is hobbled to an extent by Khazan’s inability to jump. He’s more the type to fall with style.

Visually and thematically, the stages run the gamut. The First Berserker is aiming for a darker mood and that certainly shows in the environments. It gets more eye-catching as it goes, but considering how much the source material pops with color it’s a little disappointing how bland so many of this game’s locations are. It’s a curious choice when lined up with the cel-shaded art style the game is using. By contrast, the characters and monsters look really good. Granted, it has the advantage of being able to lean a little on 20 years of built-up lore, but the transition to this new style has been handled well. The bosses in particular have a ton of personality in their animation routines and behaviors.

While the story is a little undercooked and the level designs fail to stand out, The First Berserker gets high marks in most other categories. Khazan will ultimately have access to three different weapon types. He starts with a dual-wielded sword and axe set that serves as a nicely balanced choice. With decent speed and good damage, it’s easy to see why the game leads with this option. Before long, you’ll also have access to a massive two-handed sword and a spear. Each weapon type results in a very different gameplay feel from the next, so you’ll want to experiment and see which is best for you.

You can customize these weapon styles further, with each of them having their own rather extensive skill tree to unlock as you please. Happily, The First Berserker allows you to respec at your leisure. Throw your points around and really see what the game has to offer. It’s probably best to settle on a weapon early on, though. Removing and reallocating all of those points only gets to be more of a pain as you pile them up. Beyond each of the individual weapon skill trees, there’s also a shared one to spend points on. The game gets the most out of those three weapon types, to be sure.

There is also have armor to consider. You’ll find various pieces scattered about, and enemies will sometimes drop them too. Eventually you’ll stumble across recipes and a means of crafting, expanding your options even more. These crafting recipes are one of the main reasons to embark on the game’s side missions, which send you back to previous stages to battle new enemy arrangements and have a rematch with upgraded versions of the bosses. If there’s anywhere in this relatively lengthy game where I started to feel the fatigue set in, it was in these side missions. Still, you’ll want to keep your gear as spiffy as possible. The First Berserker can be pretty tough, like most games of this sort.

The meat of the game is the combat, and The First Berserker has some seriously satisfying action. Stamina is perhaps the most important aspect here. Compared to many of its peers, this game forces you to ration your stamina much more carefully. No matter how you level up or upgrade your equipment, you’re going to find yourself brushing up against the limits of Khazan’s stamina until you get the hang of things. Attacking, dodging, and blocking will all use up a good chunk of your meter. Carefully-timed blocks result in a Brink Guard, which uses up a lot less stamina. This is a very important aspect to master. You can also Brink Dodge, which temporarily improves your dodge attacks. Some enemy attacks can’t be safely guarded, so it’s vital to know when to dodge.

Somewhat ironically given the title of the game, The First Berserker is more of a defensive game when it comes to battles. The best way to deal damage to enemies is via Brutal Attacks, which are special moves you can pull off when the enemy’s stamina or fortitude is exhausted. Not only does this hurt the enemy, it also restores Khazan’s stamina. Brink Guards are one of the more reliable means of reducing enemy stamina, but you have a number of other ways to get those meters down. You can also use well-timed counterattacks to refill Khazan’s stamina gauge and deal serious damage. You can probably figure out the dance card from here. If your stamina runs out before your foe’s stamina, you’re going to be in trouble.

This lends a serious weight to the combat, since any waste of stamina can spell your doom if you’re up against any real threat. Less critical but also of concern is your spirit, which fuels your coolest moves. You can replenish it by attacking, which means you can’t play completely defensively. It’s important to get licks in wherever possible to keep your spirit up and deal bits of damage. You’ve got a lot of things pulling on your stamina, and it’s up to you to balance it all. The boss battles are a tough test and until you learn to match The First Berserker‘s pace you are going to have a rough time.

Once you figure out how it all works, this isn’t too difficult by the admittedly high standards of the genre. The bosses are naturally the most challenging parts of the game, with plenty of attacks and phases to deal with. Since Brink Guards are so essential, you have to spend some time to get to know all of the different attack patterns for each of them. If you learn when to guard, dodge, and counter, that’s most of the war won. Simple enough, right? You have a lot of options at any given point based on how you’ve built your character, but the heart of it comes down to those principles.

Some builds for Khazan are admittedly smoother to work with than others, and there are definitely some that can effectively cheese the game. I think there’s a lot of variety to play around with in this game, and plenty of solid ways to develop your character. The different types of enemies and big boss battles give you lots of opportunities to test those set-ups, so there’s that box checked. I had a lot of fun trying out different sets of skills with each weapon type, especially in those boss rematches. I eventually settled into a spear build that served me well through the rest of the game, but it wasn’t an easy choice.

The First Berserker: Khazan doesn’t get it all right, but the core combat and character building are a blast. For a first effort in a very competitive genre, Neople has done a fantastic job with this game. It pulls elements from the best of the Soulslike genre while mixing in just enough of its own spices to stand out. There are clear areas to improve on if the publisher chooses to follow this up, as a better story and more engaging level designs would help round things out. A true berserker only cares about the fight though, and that’s one place where Khazan cleans up.

The First Berserker: Khazan will be available on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam on March 27, 2025.