The First Berserker: Khazan Hands-On Preview – Very few games have been so foundational that they’ve inspired an entire sub-genre of game.
It seems now that the first question anyone asks when they see a trailer for a new action RPG is about whether or not it’s a Soulslike. Sometimes it’s a clear answer, other times less-so.
In the case of The First Berserker: Khazan, it most definitely is a Soulslike. It’s the latest entry in the sub-genre, and this time it’s got real star power behind it – Ben Starr power, that is.
Getting to constantly hear the talents of Ben Starr as he voices the main character(s) is great, but how does this new Soulslike stands up to the rest of its contemporaries?
We won’t know the whole answer to that until it arrives on consoles and PC sometime next year, but for now, I got to go hands-on with TFB: Khazan for PSU and try the first three levels in a closed beta test. So I’m starting to put together the answer to that question.
The First Berserker: Khazan Hands-On Preview – Just Another Soulslike, Or Something More?
A Starr And A Fallen Hero
First, a bit of housekeeping. I didn’t play this beta on PS5, but on PC as that was the only option for this hands-on opportunity. Though there’s a closed beta coming up for TFB: Khazan that’s console only, so if I get the chance to check it out there, I’ll update my thoughts on performance here.
Otherwise, I’m happy to report it ran perfectly fine at 1440p on my desktop, which sports a Ryzen 5 3600 CPU and a RTX 2060 GPU with 16GB of RAM.
Moving right along, Khazan kicks off with our hero on his way to a death sentence, after having been wrongly accused of treason. A phantom looking for a host body stops him from getting there though, and imbues him with a whole new range of powers.
Once they agree to work together, they’re off to the races for Khazan’s journey of revenge on those who wrongly accused him, and the Blade Phantom’s mission to repair the damage that’s been done to the Netherworld.
The story is rarely the focus in Soulslikes, but there is a notable bump to TFB: Khazan that comes purely from Ben Starr’s performance. He voices both the Blade Phantom and Khazan, and it’s great to hear him clearly having fun with the Blade Phantom’s demonic voices contrasting to Khazan’s stoic hero tone.
Which is why it’s unfortunate that everything else about the story is, at least so far, bog-standard ‘the world is in jeopardy’ stakes and doesn’t exactly grab me. I’m sure I’ll continue to have fun hearing Starr have fun and put on a stellar performance, but will I care about what he’s saying? To be determined, since this is just my feelings after the first few levels.
In all fairness, TFB: Khazan is set in the DNF (Dungeon & Fighter) universe which I admittedly know nothing about, so maybe it’s just all going over my head. Still, I don’t think I should have to be fully read-up on and fictional universe to enjoy a game set in it. There should be things unique to the game compelling me, rather than the game relying on me having a preexisting love and knowledge about something.
And right now, I just don’t feel too compelled.
Hitting The Soulslike Marks
TFB: Khazan isn’t just a game that has some Soulslike elements – it straight up is a Soulslike. Estus flask-style healing that refills only when you reach a bonfire-like checkpoint? Check.
Bonfire-like checkpoints? Check. Stamina bar that governs all your movements including attacking, dodging and sprinting? Check. Enemies that respawn after you’ve rested at the checkpoint? Check. Having to recover your XP where you died, and if you die again before getting to it then those points are gone forever? Check. Stats you have to level that cover vitality, endurance, strength, etc.? Check.
Environmental storytelling and storytelling through item descriptions? Check. Combat that’s based around dodging, guarding, parrying and attacking by memorizing enemy attack patterns? Check. And finally, every enemy (whether they be a boss-level enemy or not) can take you down in a few hits if you’re not careful? Check. It’s a Soulslike, through and through.
But does it have a few changes that are worth mentioning. For example it takes a page out of Lies Of P’s book, and puts your otherwise lost XP outside of a boss room when you die to a boss. It also grants you a small amount of XP for having just fought the boss at all. Which I appreciated, because that means you can still work towards your next stat-upgrade (albeit very slowly) even when banging your head against a difficult boss.
And if the first three levels are any indication, there are plenty of difficult bosses and enemies to face throughout TFB: Khazan. In fact, the first three levels have displayed such a high bar of difficulty, that I’m concerned for how the rest of the game ramps up.
Parry Or Die, It’s Your Call
Getting into the weeds of the combat now, the thing to know about TFB: Khazan is that you’ll live and die by your ability to parry. You can dodge attacks, sure, but right at the beginning of the game with no stats leveled up or wearable gear to increase your stamina, dodging means you’ll run out of steam faster than you might realize.
And when you run out of stamina, Khazan dodging, attacking and guarding are off the table. Get hit or try to guard with your stamina bar at 0, and you’ll be sent into a state of exhaustion, which means that Khazan will wobble while standing in place, entirely vulnerable until the stamina bar fully recovers, and even then it’s still another half a second before you have full control of him again.
Enemies won’t always give you space to get your stamina back, which means that if you try to avoid parrying because it might not be your strong suit in games like this, TFB: Khazan will be infinitely more difficult and arguably unplayable. You need to parry – not just to break down your enemies stance for a critical hit, but because you simply won’t win more challenging fights without it.
This would be fine if the combat and parrying felt very tight, but unfortunately in this beta build it often felt sluggish. Successfully parrying a string of attacks or performing a ‘brink dodge’ still feels slick when you do pull it off. But there’s a weight to Khazan and his movements that, rather than making combat feel more impactful, instead feels like it’s getting in your way.
Speaking of combat having an impact, so far in this preview it looks like Khazan gets three types of weapons to play with. Dual-wielding a sword and axe, swinging around a giant greatsword, and a spear. You also get a ranged attack in the form of a magical javelin, and there could be other abilities further into the game but obviously I’m not yet privy to those.
The weapons each feel fine to use, but none of them really feel like they hit hard until you’ve discovered higher-level versions of the same weapons or you’ve leveled up your stats appropriately.
Which makes enemies and bosses feel even more like damage sponges. A feeling that’s not aided by the constant flashing of numbers telling you how much damage you just did (or received) when in combat.
The focus on parrying, mixed with the sluggish feeling combat and weapons that don’t always feel like they’re doing very much damage and enemies that make you feel like you’re fighting a beefy sponge combine to give me cause for concern for the rest of the game.
Looking at the multiple skill trees for each weapon and then a ‘general’ tree tells me that there’s a lot to the combat I just won’t get to see in this beta. It’s entirely possible those mid-late game skills really open things up and make the experience more balanced.
But I can’t help but wonder how many players will actually put in the effort to get there when the first major boss is essentially a rip of Sekiro’s Guardian Ape without the difficulty toned down.
TFB: Khazan is a challenging game, for sure, but at this stage, I’m left wondering how the pacing will actually work out, and if it’ll work at all, when playing the whole game. With limited weapon options and a gear system that seems to be nothing more than ‘use the one with a higher damage number,’ I’m not exactly filled with confidence.
Hopefully those skills and abilities I’ve not yet seen make up for a lot of my concerns. Otherwsie, TFB: Khazan could go down as a game with slick combat that suffers from balancing issues making it feel like an un-fun grind.
Cautiously Hopeful
Despite that whole rant I just went on, I do find myself wanting to just play more of TFB: Khazan as soon as I can. Because when I’m getting those parries and timing those dodges and getting my hits in, I’m rewarded with a stylish spectacle that feels good to pull off.
I also really like the art and animation of the characters, the anime-style shell-shaded look to everything looks great, even if the environments (for now) have yet to show me anything really jaw-dropping. The snow-filled and dark areas that make up the first few levels don’t look bad, I’ve just not had any real “wow” moments yet.
But this is just a preview, and there could be so much more to come that dashes away all these concerns, including the sluggish combat and extremely high-difficulty bar out the gate.
I’d absolutely love to be proven wrong, and shown that I didn’t need to be concerned about the rest of the game’s pacing, and that the story along with character progression would ramp up in a way that keeps things fun and engaging.
So I remain hopeful, because it is fun to play when it all comes together. By the time I was on the boss for the third level, I realized that I was already getting the hang of things and was having a lot of fun trying to beat the boss.
It felt like a grind to get there, but once I did I was having a good time. I just hope the whole game isn’t a constant cycle of feeling like I just want to put the game down forever, to feeling like I can’t wait to keep playing.
The First Berserker: Khazan is due to arrive on PS5 sometime in early 2025.
Closed beta code generously provided by the publisher.