{"id":1277,"date":"2025-03-27T00:15:03","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T01:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/?p=1277"},"modified":"2025-03-27T12:34:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T12:34:53","slug":"the-first-berserker-khazan-review-the-best-soulslike-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/27\/the-first-berserker-khazan-review-the-best-soulslike-of-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Berserker: Khazan review \u2013 the best Soulslike of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The First Berserker: Khazan – all it’s lacking is some new ideas (Nexon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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<\/a> and Sekiro<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

Dungeon & Fighter is far less popular in the West than in its homeland of South Korea but 2022\u2019s DNF Duel<\/a>, by the always excellent Arc System Works, was a very good fighting game spin-off. It wasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re 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\u2019t going to reinvent the wheel it becomes easier to appreciate the game\u2019s impressive workmanship.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s games.<\/p>\n

Where it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Although the game is structurally similar to Nioh the combat is closer to From\u2019s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, when it comes to its heavy reliance on blocking and parrying. You\u2019ve got a dodge as well, but it\u2019s even more difficult to avoid a flurry of attacks with that, especially as all the moves are governed by a quickly depleted stamina bar.<\/p>\n

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