From start to finish Khazan kicked my ass on Expert difficulty, but I loved it every step of the way. It never genuinely felt like the game was playing unfairly with its boss fights even when I was having my worst moments. It was always a skill issue. I realize this will never not sound like cope to anyone who hasn't played something like this before. Combat feels great and each of the three weapons feel distinct, though I spent the vast majority of the game on one weapon (spear) so I don't know if that changes later into the game. Stamina management is a critical component of gameplay and takes many cues from other titans in the genre.. ultimately feeling the most to me like Sekiro without the vertical movement tech. Everything is cohesive and well thought-out. Is it in the same caliber as Sekiro? I don't think so. But it does share the same stage and attempts (competently) to emulate its greatness.
Boss fights are where the game seems to have the most passion put into it despite my having minor gripes. While some boss gimmicks are reused in side missions after the main mission, all the main bosses in the game felt like entirely distinct experiences. I would go into more detail, but honestly the surprises each fight brought were part of the fun. Boss stamina for certain types of bosses can be frustrating as their bar will sometimes start to regenerate when they are actively being hit. I can't tell if this is a bug or intended design, but it was deflating. As a result there are a couple of bosses that I really don't want to do again and it does affect my desire to play through NG+ and grind boss materials for crafting. But generally speaking the NG+ grind loop is not something I have time for anyway. My backlog is catastrophically out of control as it is. Anyway...
The meandering level design is full of branching paths without being labyrinthine and is flecked with optional mini-bosses, secrets behind walls, and various hidden collectibles - the majority of which are part of some greater function that benefits you as you collect them. While I never felt utterly lost in a given area, some shortcut unlocks and checkpoints did seem a little arbitrary and I did on a couple of occasions groan when a path just wound its way back to a checkpoint and I realized I wouldn't ever end up using it. Mission pacing and level design were both diverse enough that it didn't feel formulaic. The main missions all tended to run fairly long (for me that ended up being 40-90 minutes fully exploring each map), but side missions ran the gamut of medium to short to "oh, the end is literally right here." None of this takes time spent in the boss arenas into account.
The cosmetics in this game are pretty badass and there's some goofy stuff added to the mix that provides levity too. In most games that have transmog/glamour I find a single look that I like and stick with it most of the way through, but I fully changed my look probably half a dozen times and each time I finished a mission I made sure to check for the new armors I had unlocked. Only gripe with the cosmetics system is that you can't preview something if you haven't found it yet, but that's pretty minor.
Performance-wise there's not much to say. The game ran like a dream with graphics settings maxed out the whole time I was playing. Any time I happened to check my FPS counter it was floating above 100, which is more than fine.
All in all, I really enjoyed my time with The First Berserker: Khazan and hope to see another entry in this out of left field off-shoot of the DNF franchise someday.
Mostly-arbitrary score: 9.2/10
