The First Berserker: Khazan review – the best Soulslike of 2025
A spin-off from the Dungeon & Fighter series proves to be one of the best new action role-players of recent years, with influences from Nioh and Sekiro.
A spin-off from the Dungeon & Fighter series proves to be one of the best new action role-players of recent years, with influences from Nioh and Sekiro.
If you don’t know what Dungeon Fighter Online (aka Dungeon & Fighter, aka DNF) is then The First Berserker: Khazan must seem like the most generic-sounding and uninteresting game imaginable, based solely on the name. It certainly doesn’t make it obvious what the game is, in terms of either its parent franchise or its gameplay, but in short it is a Soulslike – and a pretty good one at that.
Dungeon & Fighter is far less popular in the West than in its homeland of South Korea but 2022’s DNF Duel, by the always excellent Arc System Works, was a very good fighting game spin-off. It wasn’t very original though and in that sense it has a lot in common with Khazan, since it does many familiar things very well but never invents anything significant for itself.
We’re not very familiar with the background lore of the series but Khazan is one of the more prominent characters and naturally this standalone title busies itself with explaining his backstory. It has all the predictable tropes of the Soulslike genre, from bonfires where you can save your game to a sky high difficulty level, but once you accept this isn’t going to reinvent the wheel it becomes easier to appreciate the game’s impressive workmanship.
While there are clear influences from a number of FromSoftware titles, Khazan is actually closest to the consistently underrated Nioh duology. Instead of a tightly designed, interconnected world, as in Dark Souls et al., the game is level-based, with the way skills and loot work being very similar to Team Ninja’s games.
Where it’s also like Nioh is that the story is completely forgettable, with Khazan being betrayed and accused of being a traitor, before being tortured almost to death and left to expire on a freezing cold mountaintop. He survives thanks to a mysterious character called Blade Phantom, who grants him access to various magical abilities, before setting off on the road to revenge.
Although the game is structurally similar to Nioh the combat is closer to From’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, when it comes to its heavy reliance on blocking and parrying. You’ve got a dodge as well, but it’s even more difficult to avoid a flurry of attacks with that, especially as all the moves are governed by a quickly depleted stamina bar.
Enemies have the same type of bar and so battles revolve around trying to tire your opponent and break their stance, so you can get in and do some real damage. Chipping away with normal attacks will rarely win the day and instead you need to block and dodge consistently and wait for your chance, ideally by performing a block at the exact right moment to trigger a Brink Guard.
This makes combat very defensive but that feels more realistic – despite the various fantasy monsters that you’re fighting – and tactical, as you’re constantly probing your enemy’s defences and balancing your stamina to strike at the optimum moment. It’s difficult, there’s no question about that, but hugely rewarding when you get it right. But if it’s too much for you there is, unusually for a Soulslike, an easy mode.
There’re only three weapons – a sword and axe combo, an even bigger sword, and a spear – but each has its own skill tree and they all feel very different, with their own specialities, buffs, and magical abilities – many of which can be chained together into increasingly lengthy combos.
The randomised nature of the loot you collect can be frustrating, but you eventually unlock the ability to craft exactly what you want, if you don’t find it naturally. Although even then, there’s so much gear to maintain and upgrade it can feel like busywork at times.
Unusually, there is an easy mode (Nexon)The level design is fine, if rather inconsistent, with some levels edging into open world territory but a lot of the others lacking any interesting exploration. That doesn’t mean there aren’t hidden secrets though, with the most useful allowing you to increase all your stats at once. As with Nioh, there are optional side quests set in levels you’ve already visited but the second (and third time) is rarely the charm.
Surprisingly for a Soulslike, there’s no co-op or multiplayer of any kind but you can make use of computer-controlled allies, which can be summoned to help with tougher fighters and can be upgraded by fighting evil versions of themselves.
Although it’s not very obvious in most of the screenshots, Khazan has a very attractive cel-shaded art style. It’s not trying to look like anime, as it’s generally too detailed for that, but manages to strike a very effective balance between looking unique and still maintaining a dark, foreboding atmosphere. At times it goes overboard with the lack of colour but in general it’s a very nice looking game.
Apart from the visuals though, Khazan is all about the combat and the boss encounters and while that side of things is all very good it’s really just a mash-up of Sekiro and Nioh, with both of those being better games overall. It is the best Soulslike so far this year though and hopefully, if it does well, a sequel can be more ambitious with moving things forward instead of just echoing what already exists.
The First Berserker: Khazan review summaryIn Short: A very competent Soulslike, with excellent combat and an attractive art style – it’s just a shame it barely even tries to do anything new.
Pros: The combat is top notch, with some great boss battles. Lots of customisation options (including an easy mode) and tons of content. Interesting art style, even if it can be a bit monochromatic at times.
Cons: There’s very little in terms of new ideas and the level design can often be quite bland. Upgrading and maintaining your gear can become a chore. Unengaging storytelling and characters.
Score: 7/10
Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £49.99
Publisher: Nexon
Developer: Neople
Release Date: 27th March 2025
Age Rating: 16
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