At this point, I feel as though there's always one game in each new showcase that has me waggling my finger, obnoxiously educating my indifferent friends that 'Uhmm acktually ☝️🤓 if you'd kindly examine this top left pixel, you'll clearly see this trailer is for a hack 'n' slash and, AHEM, not for a soulslike'. Not that I blame anyone for making assumptions—soulslikes might as well be common loot these days, and actually identifying one is often guesswork. Rather than through any one particular feature the whole genre shares, a soulslike is usually labelled as one after reaching a certain threshold of typical Souls elements in almost any configuration, and how many ticks on the list it needs evidently differs from person to person.

However, there is one thing that plops the thickest wedge between soulslikes and classic 3rd person action: hefty resource management. I suspect a punishing stamina bar came to mind first, but your limited healing and consumables are always important to track, and while more recent offerings tend to parade flashy skills and abilities, they too rely on a resource that doesn’t come cheap. Throw in relentless opposition you literally can't just combo to death, and it follows that the most quintessential groove the subgenre's combat settles into is one far more slow and deliberate than the rest of the action genre at large.

It's not a must, of course; there are plenty of faster soulslikes out there, and just as many have proven it's very much possible. Yet, as good as something like Nioh, for instance, is, the whole idea of a soulslike that speedy still feels like oil and water, regardless of how aggressively you blend them. Nioh's quicker pace demanded even quicker and more extravagant toys for you to play with, eventually culminating in a player character so ludicrously optimised that, despite the fun you're having, you'll often catch yourself fondly reminiscing about the days when stamina was a thing and bosses actually got to fight back.

The reason I bring all this up: The First Berserker: Khazan is the first of its ilk to consistently enjoy the best of both worlds—a lightning-fast power fantasy existing seamlessly inside the considered restraints of a soulslike.

This version of the review only covers Khazan's combat. For a complete, uncut look at the game, please consider heading over to the Summit Reviews website.[summitreviews.biz]Thanks!

https://testx-steam.c5game.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3662478611

You play as the once Great General Khazan, a hero of the Pell Los empire now inexplicably betrayed, crippled, and cast into exile at the hand of the very sovereign he once served. Following a dubious pact forged with the opportunistic Blade Phantom, a restored Khazan embarks on his bloody crusade across the realm, hungry for answers and a dish best served cold. It's certainly quick to tell he's good for it: between the sickening crunch behind each swift strike and reality itself warping under the weight of his heavy blows, the eponymous berserker's monstrous supremacy is always on full display, everything from the impossible dexterity of his evasive actions to the utter carnage of his active skills flaunting this ineffable brutality and all-encompassing meatiness.

'All-encompassing' is truly the right word—supporting each of Khazan's three primary arms are enormous skill trees featuring a gargantuan array of options. Take just your defensive measures: you've got a guard you can maintain and simple dodges to get you out of... dodge, but activate either the moment an enemy attack lands and you'll perform an empowered brink version of the countermeasure. Those bold enough to try it have access to a delayed, high-risk parry that'll stop anything in its tracks. Certain attacks require an entirely different kind of counter you'll have to properly time. And if that's not enough, each weapon has active skills specifically designed to function as either a brink guard or brink dodge if you've the Spirit to cast them—a limited resource cleverly earned through consistent use of the fundamentals.

It's almost dizzying in the moment. From there, certain moves chain out of all of the above, and from those you'll launch into any one of your gazillion outrageous combos contingent on everything from your current stamina and Spirit to the poise and readiness of your foe to the distance you'll have to cover to reach them.

https://testx-steam.c5game.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3662478417

It's here that a lot of the soulslike feel comes in. As advanced as your combos can become, they always exact a heavy toll and, to that end, there's always that extra level of consideration that goes into every action, and you definitely can't keep swinging forever, a reality Khazan's suite of superb bosses are all too keen to exploit. Each one is this intoxicating dance of blade and claw, parry and riposte, dodge and counterattack, and their sheer lethality serves as a kind of series of checks you can't ever ignore. Pass enough, and eventually you'll stagger your big ugly partner, presenting a delectable window to impose a huge check of your own on their waning health bar.

And it's in those moments that the pure action feel isn't lost, either. Contrary to most soulslikes, you're supposed to feel like an invincible force of nature, and while you'll surely run into plenty of difficulty on the journey, relatively generous windows on your brink moves and somewhat low enemy aggression provides just enough leeway to craft the kind of perfect fights you can't help but chase—fights that live up to Khazan's impenetrable mythos.

https://testx-steam.c5game.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3662478306

More than the breadth of The First Berserker's capabilities is their exhaustive variety and versatility. There's next to no filler here, almost nothing overlaps with or supersedes anything else, and with a whopping six available hotkeys for active skills, you can wield the majority of them all at once. What this means for Khazan is that he's always got something for every situation, and coupled with only a handful of mutually exclusive choices, if any, within each skill tree, it's easy to see that employing the entire thing simultaneously is the eventual goal here, as immensely hard to swallow as that no doubt sounds.

Despite all that, Khazan is not a thinking man's game, and I'd hate for anyone to assume otherwise. Skill points fall into your lap at a fairly measured cadence outside the typical soulslike levelling system, leaving just enough time to mingle with each new toy, and culminating in this visceral, completely instinctive sense of mastery drilled into you over dozens of hours. I've lost track of the number of times my brain felt overwhelmed by a barrage of strikes or an opening I could take in any direction, only for my hands to execute some flawless, ridiculously complicated response completely of their own volition.


The brilliance of The First Berserker: Khazan is almost paradoxical. Flashy yet deliberate, intricate yet effortless, it's an utterly singular experience perfecting a style of combat I thought could not be perfected. Wrapped in a narrative so wonderfully bleak you can't help but feel something by the end, Khazan is far and away the best game I played last year, and perhaps the finest combat I have ever played, soulslike or otherwise.