The First Berserker: Khazan ended up being one of the biggest surprises I've played recently. It successfully blends the challenge and satisfaction of a souls-like with the fast-paced feel of an action RPG, creating a combat system that is both incredibly fluid and highly addictive.
The combat is easily the game's greatest strength. Every weapon feels impactful, dodges and parries are satisfying to master, and the progression system constantly rewards experimentation. The build variety and crafting mechanics give you a reason to revisit bosses and farm materials, making character optimization genuinely enjoyable rather than a chore.
The bosses are another highlight. Many encounters are memorable, demanding and rewarding, with some of the late-game fights standing out as the best content in the game. They require patience, skill, and a solid understanding of your build, delivering the kind of challenge fans of the genre are looking for.
While the story follows a fairly familiar revenge-driven fantasy formula, it's presented well enough to keep you invested. The characters, lore, and worldbuilding gradually reveal themselves and make you want to learn more about Khazan's journey and the setting around him.
The soundtrack deserves special praise. Several boss themes elevate already great encounters into truly epic moments and help create some of the game's most memorable scenes.
The game's weaknesses are mostly related to presentation and variety. Character designs and the overall art direction can feel somewhat generic compared to other standout action RPGs, and the game reuses environments and enemy types more often than I'd like. These issues don't ruin the experience, but they do prevent it from reaching the same level of originality as some of its competitors.
Despite those flaws, The First Berserker: Khazan is an excellent game. If you enjoy souls-likes, challenging boss fights, rewarding progression systems, and action RPG combat with real depth, this is absolutely worth playing.
Score: 8.5/10 – A fantastic mix of souls-like challenge and action RPG progression, held back only by its lack of visual and environmental variety.
---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☑ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☑ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☑ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 8.5
☐ 9
☐ 10
