The First Berserker: Khazan

TL;DR You love parrying? You lika a challange? PLAY THIS GAME, the ultimate tough but fair! It's on the harder side, but it feels so good when you become good at it... This is absolute PEAK in terms of combat and boss quality. Elden Ring is a "whole package", it has story, exploration, combat, build variety, but strictly in terms of HOW GOOD THE COMBAT FEELS, Khazan is hands down one of the best ones out there (I can compare it to Sekiro, Lies of P, Elden Ring, Black Myth Wukong, Stellar Blade etc.). Let's start with CONS: the game has rather linear levels and a-ok story (voiced by the same actor who played Verso in Expedition 33); visuals have good art direction and are stylized. It's decent, sometimes they re-use a map layout for a shorter mission; some levels/missions are more of a boss-rush. Those are the weakest points, honestly. Levels, visuals, story, a decent 7/10. It exists, fulfills it roles, but it's not why are here... What are the PROs? The combat feels amazing. Everything is smooth, responsive, it just feels good. All attacks are fast but well telegraphed, you can intuit what to do. You can parry almost everything, there are very few grabs and attack that do status effects that you have to dodge, but you will figure it out immediately.. Alternatively, you can dodge everything and not parry anything. You have 3 types of weapons/playstyles and the tree skills can accommodate your preferences. The bosses are the PINNACLE OF A FAIR FIGHT. The first phase teaches you a limited moveset of a boss, expanded in the second phase. The bosses are TOUGH but FAIR, all hits register properly, no problems with camera, timings are good (they are not overdoing delayed attacks/roll catching), everything is telegraphed, CLEAN, and IT FEELS O SO GOOD... The enemies do not one-shot you, no AOE status effect BS, everything is fair. And it feels so good, that you know that you can stand your ground and parry EVERYTHING and the boss won't be able to hurt you. It's hard to justify a feeling, but IMO it's even better than LIES OF P. In Lies of P you rely strongly on parrying, but in Khazan you can parry and dodge; you have good control over what is going on during the fight. You are in control of whatever the games throws at you... BIGGEST ISSUE- DIFFICULTY The biggest problem is the SKILL REQUIRED to play it. If you want to beat it on the intended difficulty, you have to hit more than 70-80% of perfect parries. If you're not hitting that, you either have to lower the difficulty and/or use summons, otherwise the game becomes borderline unplayable. People say, that BOSSES HAVE A LOT OF HP. It's true, but (1) if you hit those brink guards/parries you manage your stamina [they use A LOT LESS stamina] and you can use (2) combos and (3) skills, and perfect parries allow you to break poise/stamina and use (4) brutal attacks. IF YOU CAN ONLY CHIP AWAY AT BOSSES WITH R1 SPAM YOU WILL HAVE A BAD TIME. You have to manage your stamina, do stamina damage by brink guards, and use combos, skills, brutal attacks. Bosses become fun and managable if you play the game the right way. It the ultimate TOUGH but FAIR.