The First Berserker: Khazan wants you to feel Khazan's journey - hands-on preview

Regardless of how you choose to classify them, "Hardcore Action RPGs" have quickly blossomed into a truly international genre - and Nexon and Neople's The First Berserker: Khazan is just the latest in a long line of them that have released in the past few years. We've known about it for a while, but we had our chance to finally go hands-on with the game during this year's Tokyo Game Show - and we're pretty happy with what we got to play.

Even after a few minutes holding the controller, I'm already looking forward to the next chance I have to go hands-on; The First Berserker nails the balance between having weighty animations, with responsive controls, and Khazan feels great in motion. Players can use light attacks and heavy attacks, with heavy attacks offering the ability for Khazan to charge them up to deal more damage to both poise and health; shielded enemies can easily deflect lighter attacks, meaning that players will have to endeavor to break their guard before they can make use of their faster light attack combo.

There are also a number of other abilities that should be familiar to anyone who's played the genre before; sneak up on an enemy, and you can deal massive damage with a sneak attack. Get the drop on an enemy, and your plunge attack can make quick work of them. Taking a page from Sekiro, every enemy also has a stamina meter; break their Stamina by either dealing damage or perfect guarding attacks, and you can dole out an especially powerful attack once they've been left open. While we didn't get a chance to oversee this shift ourselves, during an interview with the game's development team, we were told that a key objective during development was to show Khazan's gradual ascent throughout the game, including unlocking new abilities that greatly increases his agility. Already from the start the game is faster paced than some of its contemporaries, but at least from the sounds of things combat should grow in complexity the further in you go.

Beyond the gameplay, perhaps the first thing that stands out with The First Berserker: Khazan is its presentation. We had the chance to play it on a PC, running the game at 4K and high framerates - and it was absolutely gorgeous, with a frankly shocking number of details, like the blood dripping off of Khazan and staining itself in the snow beneath him in the opening moments of the game. It's not just the fidelity, though, the game's artstyle isn't afraid to be overwhelming at points. The game's equivalent to bonfires - shattered, Eldritch swords - bathe the game in a crimson light when interacted with. Normally I'd expect something like that to be an eyesore, but I found it was handled tastefully enough to fit the mood. Not just realistic or overly stylized, Khazan offers a very striking visual identity that feels very easy to fall in love with. The ethereal nature of whatever the hell was up with that orb in the sky leaves one with a ton of questions - one I'm sure I could find an answer to if I opted to dig into it, but I'm content with waiting for my next chance to dig into Khazan, instead.

Despite not being a DNF fan, I admit there's a lot I'm fairly excited about. The story's premise is strong, for one - tales of righteous revenge rule, especially with the undertones of becoming something you weren't as a result of your journey -  but also journals dotted around the level I played worked to illustrate some of the enemy's own thoughts on the situation, and helped ground them in the game world beyond just being bog-standard goons. Whether that will evolve any beyond that in the full story is anyone's guess at this point, but it's more of an effort than some other games I've played - and combined with the other surprising details, makes me very excited to see just how far that polish goes. For example, for all the praise I can give about Khazan's moveset; we only ever had the chance to try out one weapon type, with the game sporting multiple for players to familiarize themselves with.

Put another way; while Khazan is a spin-off for an existing IP, it feels far more than "just" a story set in the same universe. It's clear from both what the developers have told us about the care they've put into Khazan's portrayal, from his moveset and animations to the story, that they really want this game to be something that can appeal to anyone - regardless of their history with DNF. You can really feel the weight of that commitment, too. Even this far from release, Khazan is already feeling a polished and realized RPG, and I can't stress enough how promising that is for whatever the final state of the game might be.

Whether you're new to DNF or a longtime fan, The First Berserker: Khazan looks like it'll be a game worthy of further inspection. Stay tuned for our full thoughts as we approach the game's 2025 release for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam). We'll be posting our full interview with the development team in the days to come, too - so keep an eye out!