Khazan Already Succeeded

The gaming industry can be incredibly cruel sometimes.

You can pour your heart and soul into a project, create something genuinely groundbreaking, and still watch it fade into the background because of a crowded release window or just... bad luck. Recently, we got the heartbreaking news that the development team behind The First Berserker: Khazan has been dissolved. Due to poor sales, the team has been migrated to other projects, effectively killing any hopes for future updates, DLC, or a sequel. And honestly? That is a massive tragedy. Because despite the lack of commercial success, Khazan is, without a doubt, my favorite action game of 2025.

It’s an absolute must-play experience. So today, instead of just mourning what could have been, we’re going to celebrate what is. Let’s talk about why The First Berserker: Khazan is a brutal, beautiful masterpiece that deserves your attention.

The Setup: Betrayal and a Shattered Empire

Let’s start with the narrative. Khazan doesn't waste your time with overly convoluted lore right out of the gate. It hits you with a classic, primal motivation: pure, unadulterated vengeance. You play as Khazan himself. This guy isn't a nobody; he’s the Great General of the Pell Los Empire. He’s the revered hero who single-handedly took down the terrifying Berserk Dragon, Hismar. But as history constantly reminds us, triumph breeds jealousy. The Emperor, terrified of Khazan's rising legend, frames him for treason.

Khazan is broken, tortured, and exiled to the desolate, freezing mountains to die. But he doesn't.

What makes this setup work so well isn't just the "wronged hero" trope; it’s how the game weaves this narrative directly into the gameplay. Every swing of your weapon, every agonizing boss fight, feels like a personal obstacle on your path to retribution. It’s raw, it’s emotional, and it sets the stakes perfectly.

A Masterpiece of Stylized Brutality

Now, we need to talk about how this game looks and sounds, because the presentation here is doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

The art direction pioneers this brilliant fusion of cinematic realism with a stylized, cel-shaded animation style. Think heavy, graphic-novel outlines, vibrant contrasting colors, and dynamic character models that absolutely pop off the screen. It’s not just "anime styling" for the sake of it. It’s a deliberate choice that amplifies the dramatic weight of the combat. I actually wished here that the visuals were pushed harder. Similar to that of the opening cinematic. I think this was such a good choice for the art direction, but the visual quality of the art direction took a major hit, that had it matched what we see in the opening would made the experience even more incredible.

And the sound design? It is phenomenally crunchy.

Every parry sounds like a car crash. Every bone-crunching impact is meticulously crafted to deliver a visceral, satisfying auditory experience. The audio cues aren't just window dressing; they are crucial signaling tools that help you react in the heat of battle. Combine that with the ambient sounds of crunching snow and the distant roars of monstrous foes, and you are completely immersed.

And let’s not forget the boss music. The soundtrack scales up the tension in a way that makes these high-stakes battles feel like you’re fighting for your actual life.

The Elephant in the Room: The Difficulty

Alright, let's talk about the gameplay. Specifically, let's talk about the difficulty.

The First Berserker: Khazan is a brutally difficult Soulslike. If you’re a veteran of Dark Souls, Sekiro, or Elden Ring, you may still need to check your ego at the door. Thankfully for some, the team overhauled the difficulty to add more flavors after many criticisms of the game being too hard. Personally, I played the game as it was at launch and the game was certifiably brutal in every sense of the word. I had some later bosses that took dozens of tries to overcome, and with the levels getting longer as you progress AND side content to save companions, help them out or to fill out the story more; this was a 95 hour grind to the end that tested my patience on numerous occasions, but ultimately gave me the most exciting thrills and epic boss battles I have fought in years. The bosses are absolute gauntlets. They're fast, some are super aggressive, some hang back and hit you with the long range and most come packing with multiple phases and gimmicks that always keep you guessing.

But here is why it’s so incredibly good despite being so tough: It is fair. Every death is a learning experience. The combat system heavily emphasizes high aggression. It rewards precise parries and well-timed dodges with devastating counter-attacks. The combat is fluid and responsive, and when you finally nail down a boss’s moveset, the sense of satisfaction is unparalleled. It teaches you to adapt. It forces you to master its intricate systems. It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you crave that ultimate test of skill, this game delivers in spades.

The Arsenal of Revenge: Dual Axes, Spears, and The Perfect Greatsword

To survive that difficulty, you are given three distinct weapon types, and how they play drastically changes your experience. Each weapon boasts its own entirely unique skill tree, allowing you to completely tailor your approach to combat.

You have the Dual Axe & Blade. This is your starting point, and it is all about ferocious speed and mobility. What sets the dual axes apart is how heavily they reward a relentless, aggressive playstyle. The skill tree here is completely focused on frenzy and agility. You unlock devastating whirlwind attacks that lift enemies off their feet, dash-strikes that close gaps in a blink, and incredible evasive maneuvers. If you want to play a high octane game of slice-and-dice, dodging at the last possible millisecond to unleash a flurry of blows, the dual axes are your best friend.

On the opposite end of the mobility spectrum, we have the Spear. The spear is easily the most dextrous and technical weapon of the bunch. It’s designed for incredible reach and completely dominating the enemy's stamina bar. Its skill tree allows you to chain together seemingly infinite, flowing combos, poking and sweeping at enemies while staying just out of their lethal range. You get these gorgeous afterimage strikes and crescent sweeps that make you feel like an untouchable martial arts master. It's precise, it's elegant, and it's perfect for players who love managing distance.

But then... there is the Greatsword. And honestly, this is where I spent almost all of my time, because I hyper-focused on this weapon the second I got my hands on it.

The Greatsword is a slow, methodical, earth-shattering behemoth. Its skill tree reflects a deeply defensive, heavy-hitting philosophy. You unlock brilliant abilities like hyper-armor blocks that let you charge up monumental, stamina-draining strikes without being staggered, and explosive area-of-effect plunge attacks. You aren't dancing around the boss; you are standing your ground and trading blows like a titan.

Watching Khazan heave this massive slab of iron around is the absolute perfect reflection of Siegfried or Nightmare from Soulcalibur. It captures that exact same terrifying, unstoppable momentum. The wind-up, the weight, the way the camera shakes when metal meets bone…it is flawless. I am not exaggerating when I say that the greatsword in The First Berserker: Khazan has the absolute best moveset and overall feel of a greatsword I have ever played in any video game. Every single swing feels like an execution.

Just thinking back on the bosses again for a moment, I always needed to go back to my skill tree and find a move that could exploit something a boss would do, and so I found myself strategizing constantly how to overcome a boss moveset and eventually things would pay off. I think if I had to recommend something about Khazan, it would be to focus on a single weapon for your playthrough. I know it sounds enticing to switch weapons, but honestly, you can't swap mid battle or mid combo. Once you jump into a level, the weapon you have is what you're using. Plus, you only get so many skill points to allocate. So you either put some points into all of your weapons and have a limited skill set to choose from there; or commit to a weapon and fully flesh out the full potential of that weapon; and that’s what I did. And it paid off very well for me in terms of damage and overall options.

The other thing you have to pay close attention to in this game is Stamina. Everything costs stamina in this game, from running, to attacks, dodging, blocking. Almost everything costs and expends stamina from you, so you have to be very frugal about how you attack in the early parts of the game, so you don't expose yourself. When you get midway through the game though and you've invested more points into your core stats including stamina, you will find you have a ton more flexibility with that stamina to make battles more easy going for you.

Beyond the Blood: Why Khazan Stands Apart

Combine those phenomenal weapons with the game's broader systems, and you have something truly special.

A Rewarding Death Mechanic: In most Soulslikes, dying means dropping your currency and doing the walk of shame back to pick them up. With Khazan, when a boss wipes the floor with you, you still gain "Lacrima" (your XP) or Skill Points. This incentivizes you to keep pushing and learning, knowing that even a failed attempt contributes to your overall progression.

Streamlined Loot and Crafting: Gear is grouped into cohesive sets, and colored for rarity. At the beginning of the game, you're only going to see grey items, and as you progress, you will start to see higher rarity type gear that you will need to prioritize for best stats and buffs. Gear sets allow you gain bonuses for up to 7 equipment slots that can give you a ton of bonuses. Even equipping just two pieces of a set gives you some powerful bonuses, plus you can mix and match multiple sets for multiple groups of bonuses. Just make sure you are utilizing the gear sets that work for the weapon you are using. Each gear set works specifically with a certain weapon.

Boss-Centric Progression: You don’t need to mindlessly grind mobs to level up. The game features a unique boss challenge system that actually rewards you with experience and skill points during the fight. Simply by successfully landing attacks or perfect guards against the toughest foes, you gain strength. Your progression feels organic and is directly tied to your mechanical improvement.

Lastly, lets talk about stat prioritization for each weapon. As a base, you always make sure you have a healthy amount pointsinto Endurance and Vitality. Endurance is your main Stamina stat so you want to have a good amount of Stamina to keep you in good shape. Vitality is health, so same with that. You hit soft caps in stat progression at 40 so 30-40 points in these stats is great. If you're using Greatsword, your main stats to focus besides Vitality and Endurance should be Strength. For Dual Wielding, you need points in Willpower (for better guard resistance/stamina recovery), and for Spear, you need Proficiency (to break enemy stamina easier and stagger resistance). In my Greatsword playthrough, I actually added points in both Strength and Proficiency cause I really wanted my heavy hits to destroy the enemy stamina and stagger bar quicker to open them up for free damage. It works!

Conclusion: Embrace the Challenge

So, where does that leave us?

We have a game with a stunning visual identity, deep and rewarding weapon mastery, and a solid narrative of revenge. And we also have the sober reality that the studio behind it has been dismantled. It sucks. It really does. But the worst thing we could do is let a game of this caliber fade into obscurity.

If you’ve been on the fence, if you’re a Soulslike enthusiast looking for your next big thrill, or even if you’re just a fan of phenomenal action games, you definitely need to experience The First Berserker: Khazan. It offers a fresh take on the soulslike mechanics we already know about, wraps it in a gorgeous art style (that could use a bump in quality), and delivers a combat experience that is incredibly punishing but immensely rewarding.

Don't let the difficulty intimidate you, new difficulty modes have been added to address the challenge and don't let the news of the studio's closure keep you away. This is a game that I deemed my favorite action game of 2025, and it is an absolutely High Recommend from me if this is in your wheelhouse.

Let me know if you have played Khazan yet? Do you plan to? Let me know what your thoughts are on all things Khazan.