The First Berserker: Khazan - Reviews Thread

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Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Game Information

Game Title: The First Berserker: Khazan

Platforms:
  • PC (Mar 27, 2025)
  • PlayStation 5 (Mar 27, 2025)
  • Xbox Series X/S (Mar 27, 2025)
Trailer:

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 82 average - 80% recommended
Metacritic - 78 average - based on 4 reviews (PS5)

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Critic Reviews


But Why Tho? - Eddie De Santiago - 7 / 10
There is plenty to enjoy about The First Berserker: Khazan, but it requires you to commit to overcoming its challenges in a way most other games do not.
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Cerealkillerz - Nick Erlenhof - German - 7.5 / 10
The First Berserker: Khazan is a more than promising title for fans of Nioh, Sekiro or Dark Souls. The fast-paced battles, dark setting and mechanics such as the bonus Lacrima system provide a fresh touch to the genre. The chic cel-shaded look and the motivating revenge story also provide the necessary reason to slay enemies and bosses.
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Fextralife - Tyr - 9 / 10
The First Berserker: Khazan is a brilliant blend of the Soulslike and Hack and Slash genres, offering some of the best combat in recent gaming years and an incredibly polished product. While it does have some shortcomings in its story, replayability, and occasionally borrows too heavily from past titles, if you live for action games such as Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice or Devil May Cry 5, this game will likely be your Game of the Year so far and a title we can recommend at full price.
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Final Weapon - Alex Patterson - 4 / 5
The First Berserker: Khazan is the best Soulslike I've played since Lies of P. The game can sometimes overstay its welcome, but the excellent combat, boss fights, and stellar presentation more than makeup for that. If you're hungry for a new hardcore action RPG, Khazan is the game to pick up.
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Hey Poor Player - Shane Boyle - 4.5 / 5
The First Berserker: Khazan is a brutal, beautiful delight. Its elegant parry system, demonic boss battles, and flexible yet approachable take on character development have come together to create a package that may pull directly from many sources in the genre but ultimately delivers a standout experience that easily stands amongst the stiffest competition the genre has to offer. Its early hours may suffer from linearity, and its parry-heavy combat system may not sit well with everyone, but if you're up for the challenge and willing to adapt to how The First Berserker: Khazan requires you to play, then you're in for an absolute treat.
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Hinsusta - Pascal Kaap - German - 10 / 10
The First Berserker: Khazan is an outstanding Soulslike that proves to be the ultimate hardcore action RPG of recent years. The game combines the best the genre has to offer and delivers a gripping mix of dark atmosphere, precise combat system and challenging enemies. Especially for fans of Soulslike games, The First Berserker: Khazan is an absolute must-buy.
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INVEN - Hongman Yoon - Korean - 8.5 / 10
The First Berserker: Kazan is a game that most action RPG fans will likely enjoy. While it has its flaws and falls short of being a masterpiece, it delivers exactly what was expected. At the very least, it's a solid and well-crafted title.
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Loot Level Chill - Mick Fraser - 9 / 10
The First Berserker: Khazan has a massive focus on rewarding the player's perseverance, whatever their skill level.
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MonsterVine - James Carr - 3.5 / 5
The First Berserker: Kahzan features a fun combat system, an interesting world, and an enjoyable revenge tale, but tedious and overly long boss fights make what should be the most exciting part of the game too frustrating to enjoy. It's unfortunate, as the rest of the experience is a ton of fun, but when the main selling point of the genre is the weakest part of the game, it weighs down the entire experience.
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PSX Brasil - Marco Aurélio Couto - Portuguese - 80 / 100
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.
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Quest Daily - Tom Greer - 8 / 10
The First Berserker: Kahzan is a game that doesn't mess around. It's tough, flashy, and brimming with style, but it does have its rough patches... If you're looking for a game that lets you live out your berserker fantasy — complete with tough-as-nails combat and jaw-dropping visuals — this one's definitely worth the ride. Just be prepared to die... a lot.
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RPGamer - Jordan McClain - 4 / 5
All in all, The First Berserker delivers an uncompromisingly tight combat experience that is further buoyed by an interesting, if somewhat unevenly paced, plot and a gorgeous presentation that is equal parts relentlessly grim and oppressive.
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Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Unscored
A hack 'n' slash soulslike with an uninspiring plot and tedious level design but its satisfying combat and tough boss fights might make it worth trying.
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TheSixthAxis - Jason Coles - 8 / 10
The First Berserker: Khazan is a great action game that's not reinventing anything by any means, but is consistently fun to play. The visuals are lovely, the action is a lot of fun thanks to ever-evolving skill trees, and the boss designs are great too. If you're after a Soulslike challenge, it can fit that bill in some ways, but it should also have a broader appeal thanks to the easy mode and more.
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Thumb Wars - Luke Addison - 4 / 5
A beginner's introduction to difficult games, The First Berserker: Khazan has many of the accessibility options Soulslikes/Action RPG fans have cried out for, and it does it all with an excellent combat system, interesting lore and story, and some fine visuals.
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XboxEra - Jesse Norris - 8.7 / 10
The First Berserker: Khazan is an excellent action-focused Soulslike. A few minor quibbles and a predictable story aren't enough to hold back one of the most brutally difficult games we've ever played.
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I'm interested in this. Hoping to read some of you fellas impressions on the final game. Will there be an OT?
 
Enjoyed the demo, another solid Souls-like though not on the level of something like Lies of P or Nioh. Just started Suikoden Collection and need to wrap up the epic KCD2, will pick it up at some point though.
 
Too bad it doesn't have coop. Me and a couple friends really love going through these together. If its anything like Lies of P (The best souls-like) then I'll add it to the to-play list; I'll be following this thread with keen interest.
 
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I loved the demo. But it felt gameplay-wise basically Bloodborne with only 3 weapons, no spells, no coop and no character creation + anime.


I will wait for a sale.
 
San Dan Glokta said:
Too bad it doesn't have coop. Me and a couple friends really love going through these together. If its anything like Lies of P (The best souls-like) then I'll add it to the to-play list; I'll be following this thread with keen interest.
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You want co-op ? Get Lords of the fallen San, after the 1.5 patch it has become a whole different game and dare I say, one of the best souls-likes out there.
Also :it's a very pretty game 😉

Back to Khazan : I said that I found the demo "more of the same" and that it was your typical souls clone but, these games have me by the balls so I'll get it, can't decide between the digital and physical copy though( which I've found for 50€ over here), hmmm...

PS: You can play the game today by getting the deluxe edition btw (70€)
 
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A Soulslike in this score range is like any other genre in the 90's. I don't know what it is about non-From games that critics refuse to give them better scores.
 
Giallo Corsa said:
You want co-op ? Get Lords of the fallen San, after the 1.5 patch it has become a whole different game and dare I say, one of the best souls-likes out there.
Also :it's a very pretty game 😉

Back to Khazan : I said that I found the demo "more of the same" and that it was your typical souls clone but, these games have me by the balls so I'll get it, can't decide between the digital and physical copy though( which I've found for 50€ over here), hmmm...

PS: You can play the game today by getting the deluxe edition btw (70€)
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Thanks for the insight. We did try LOTF when it came on gamepass but it failed to capture us because of the Umbral thing. We felt it added unnecessary complexity after the novelty wore of. I agree its a beautiful game and we can tell the concept artist was completely unhinged and unleashed lol. Mayhaps we will return to it but you know convincing people to try something again after being soured is a pain.

I know the feeling of being had by the balls. Not a bad sensation depending on who's grabbing :pie_winking:

I rarely buy games full price. Want to wait for the reviews/balances/patches to come out anyway.
 
Sadly, I'm really not into the universe of this game, I don't like the design of the MC and the overall look reminds me of the absolutely terrible 3D continuations of Berserk which ruined the original vision completely and artstyle as well. I wish monkey game had this level of combat complexity and feel instead of paper-thin repetitive bs it has now.
 
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Agent_4Seven said:
Sadly, I'm really not into the universe of this game, I don't like the design of the MC and the overall look reminds me of the absolutely terrible 3D continuations of Berserk which ruined the original vision completely and artstyle as well. I wish monkey game had this level of combat complexity and feel instead of paper-thin repetitive bs it has now.
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It's a valid complaint, I also don't like the animU cell-shaded style but...I need my next souls fix 😉
mckmas8808 said:
How long is the game?
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Full playthrough is about 80 hours long (as per dev)
 
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Really look forward to this game. Bases on the demo, this is probably the most satisfying deflecting combat just next to Sekiro, and that's right up my alley.

By the way do you need claim to do review thread? I wanted to do for this one but obviously my man Adam is too good and fast.
 
Giallo Corsa said:
It's a valid complaint, I also don't like the animU cell-shaded style but...I need my next souls fix 😉

Full playthrough is about 80 hours long (as per dev)
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Wtf? I'm not exactly against this but is it open world or what? I can think of very few games that are 80 hours long that are not bloated....
 
San Dan Glokta said:
Wtf? I'm not exactly against this but is it open world or what? I can think of very few games that are 80 hours long that are not bloated....
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In his review, Fightincowboy said that he was right at around 50 hours played so far, had seen everything, and started New Game+

Keep in mind he's a pretty dedicated soulslike player so he's probably going to complete the game faster than most, but 50 hours (including a big of NG+) is a lot different than 80 hours.
 
saintjules said:
Initially this was supposed to be on gamepass right?
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Yes, why, it's not coming to GP anymore ? 🤔

Anyway, regarding the 80 hours thing, fighting cowboy dude said that he finished it in...50 ?
Don't understand why the devs said 80 then, maybe the game has multiple endings which require a 2nd playthrough ?

Anyway, my personal experience with souls likes is that it usually takes between 50-70 hours usually depending on the game, Wukong for example was on the longer side and took me about 75, Lords of the Fallen around 60 while Lies of P, which was shorter around 50.

Now, i still don't know which version to get, the deluxe edition offers the usual bonus armor (which you'll probably use it for a couple of hours never to use it again), the digital art book (who gives a fook) and the 72 hours early access.
Digital I can get it for 40€ while the physical one I found it at 50€ in a mom 'n' pop store.

Never gonna finish my friggin' backlog G'dammit 😁
 
I wish you could turn on Easy mode from the start. I like the souls style combat, but don't have the time to constantly smash my head in, and I want to still get through games.
 
Giallo Corsa said:
Anyway, regarding the 80 hours thing, fighting cowboy dude said that he finished it in...50 ?
Don't understand why the devs said 80 then, maybe the game has multiple endings which require a 2nd playthrough ?
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FC said he got the "secret" ending in his review, so I'm assuming he got all of the endings.
 
bender said:
Thanks. That's good to hear. I've grown to dislike randomized loot.
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Just done a bit more digging and it does have randomised loot, but it's less frequent and is apparently managed better than it is in Nioh.

Not a deal-breaker for me personally though since I never minded that aspect of the Nioh games.
 
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