Key Takeaways
- The First Berserker: Khazan targets to be greater than a Soulslike, however its design is closely influenced by way of FromSoftware rules.
- Gameplay makes a speciality of visceral battle, with pleasing heavy and light-weight assaults, however dodging feels useless, and stamina control is the most important.
- Khazan’s distinctive cel-shaded artwork taste and persona design lend a hand it stand out, however its id as a sport stays not sure between Soulslike and Dungeon & Fighter.
During the last few years, non-FromSoftware Soulslikes have change into all of the rage, with various levels of luck. In my humble opinion, Lies of P is the head of the class, even if video games like Enotria: The Closing Music, Celebrity Wars Jedi, and Lords of the Fallen have additionally effectively dipped their feet into the style.
The First Berserker: Khazan is the most recent identify to undertaking into what the builders name the “Hardcore motion RPG” house, and I were given to move hands-on with it at this 12 months’s Tokyo Recreation Display.
Extra Than A Soulslike?
Set within the Dungeon & Fighter universe, our titular hero Khazan has been branded a traitor, had his tendons severed in each hands, and has been solid away right into a snowy mountainous area. Via our regulate, he units out on a trail of destruction and revenge to proper his wrongs and actual ache on those that exiled him.
Khazan’s builders had been fast to inform me that the sport can be extra than simply every other Soulslike. However from the demo I were given to play, I failed to peer a lot evidence of that.
Khazan’s builders had been fast to inform me that the sport can be extra than simply every other Soulslike.
Each and every part of The First Berserker is rooted in FromSoft’s design rules. The tools, the leveling machine, the bonfire-esque checkpoints, it’s laborious to peer how that is the rest however every other sport within the style. However that’s no longer essentially a foul factor for the ones sadists available in the market on the lookout for every other problem.
Humble Beginnings
Regardless of being a once-mighty hero, Khazan is stripped of the whole thing that made him robust, together with using his hands. This will have to have, in concept, made the start of The First Berserker very, very tough.
A handy guide a rough pact later, on the other hand, and Khazan is blessed with no longer handiest using his hands but in addition a formidable sword/awl combo, disappointingly retconning the former plot issues, as our hero is as soon as once more ready to rip enemies aside with a couple of swift swings of his guns.
However I didn’t leap into my The First Berzerker: Khazan demo for the plot; I got here for without equal anime-esque Souls energy delusion, and that’s what I were given. Most commonly.
As I touched on previous, up to the devs are reluctant to confess it, the sport is a cel-shaded Soulslike, and its battle is the very best predication of this. Fights are dictated by way of the wish to exchange between heavy and light-weight assaults, with an emphasis on dodge rolls and blocks (however no parries) used to steer clear of assaults.
Each and every hit with Khazan’s sword or awl felt visceral and punchy, which is exactly what you wish to have from a hardcore motion RPG. Plus, any sport that has numbers fly out of an enemy on have an effect on earns bonus issues from me. To this point, so just right.
Each and every hit with Khazan’s sword or awl felt visceral and punchy, which is exactly what you wish to have from a hardcore motion RPG.
However whilst attacking in The First Berserker felt nice, the defensive aspect of the sport had me pulling my hair out. If you happen to’ve learn any of my earlier commentaries on Soulslikes, you’ll know I’m unhealthy at parrying, so its omission is not any large deal for me, however that implies that the dodging must really feel easiest. In Khazan, it doesn’t.
All through the famed dodge roll, I by no means generated sufficient distance from an enemy, and it by no means appeared like there have been sufficient I-Frames, that means essentially, they felt wholly useless. As someone whose crutch is a dodge, this pissed off me to the purpose the place I virtually utterly stopped the usage of them, opting to dam as a substitute.
Blocking off, on the other hand, is a larger drain of stamina, and working out of stamina is deadly. As you’d be expecting from a sport of this ilk, each movement in battle makes use of stamina. You hit an enemy, stamina drain; you dodge an enemy, stamina drain; you block an enemy, yep, stamina drain. Taking successful as soon as Khazan’s out of stamina will stagger him, resulting in the enemy having their approach with him and virtually for sure killing him. This was once by way of a long way the largest supply of deaths, and exasperation, in my preview.
Cel-Shaded Supremacy
Whilst the battle wishes fine-tuning forward of release, I used to be in an instant enamored with Khazan’s artwork taste. I’ve at all times been a sucker for a bit of of cel shading, and Khazan has it in abundance.
Its characters and enemies are drawn in a cel-shaded artwork taste, whilst its backdrops are “semi-realistic,” giving the sport a in reality attention-grabbing stylistic juxtaposition.
Khazan’s artwork director, Kyuchul Lee, instructed me that this system was once applied to make the sport really feel extra evocative and emotional, likening it to “observing an animated movie in a theatre.” It for sure is helping it to face out in a sea of murky competition.
I used to be in an instant enamored with Khazan’s artwork taste.
And, for as just right because the visible taste was once, the sport’s persona design was once similarly as compelling. As someone unfamiliar with DNF lore, the variability of human and non-human enemies stored me on my feet all the way through my half-hour with the sport. I tussled with hulking guards, ranged bowmen, monkeys, and golem-like creatures on this quick window, acquainting myself with one of the most sport’s NPCs alongside the best way.
The First Berserker: Khazan has possible, nevertheless it must shake off its confusion and come to a decision what it desires to be. If it settles on changing into a Soulslike sport, there’s a serviceable revel in in right here. Its distinctive glance and attractive atmosphere imply that there will likely be greater than sufficient to meet the ones taking a look to scratch a Souls itch.
Sadly, it feels just like the builders are dedicated to hanging all in their eggs within the Dungeon & Fighter basket, that means that even if the sport has transparent Souls DNA, it might finally end up as some bizarre, messy hybrid that fails to decide to the rest.
The First Berserker: Khazan is a hardcore motion role-playing sport. The participant will change into Khazan, the nice normal of the Pell Los Empire, who overcame demise, and units out to expose the incidents that ended in his downfall and search vengeance on his enemies.
Khazan and Ozma, the heroes who stored the Pell Los Empire from Hismar the Berserk Dragon and the Dragon Legion. Then again, Normal Khazan, falsely accused of treason, turns into a wretched outcast as he’s condemned to exile past the empire thru brutal torture.
YOU MUST PREVAIL
Live to tell the tale the relentless pursuit of imperial forces, navigate conspiracies aimed toward killing Khazan, and triumph over the tough environments you come across.
YOU MUST REMEMBER
You had been as soon as a hero within the historical past of Arad, a once-in-a-lifetime determine. Recall the forgotten abilities of combat realized thru brutal torture and slay the enemies who defame and stand towards you.
YOU MUST RECLAIM
To find all possible enemies, reclaim the whole thing that was once taken from you, search revenge, and regain the respect and glory that rightfully belong to you.
Tale
The First Berserker: Khazan is a sport that adapts the universe of DNF (one among Nexon’s globally recognized highbrow houses), coping with the tale of Ozma and Khazan.
The participant will change into the hero “Khazan,” the ancestor of all Slayers and the one that defeated Hismar the Berserk Dragon, continuing to discover the reality of his downfall inside the empire.
Motion
The First Berserker: Khazan is a hardcore motion role-playing sport.
Enjoy DNF’s frantic hack and slash taste blended with hardcore motion as Khazan’s devastating battles wait for you.
Enlargement
The First Berserker: Khazan is an RPG with more than a few apparatus and perks to customise your individual approach of enlargement.
Play because the protagonist “Khazan,” upgrading no longer handiest persona skills but in addition combining various kinds of weapon and armor skills to check your playstyle.
