The First Berserker: Khazan is a brand new Souls-like set in the DNF (Dungeon & Fighter) universe that sees you playing the titular Khazan, a brooding blonde hulk of mass on a revenge quest. Seeking to right the wrongs that have been made against you and clear your name, the trying journey will see you traversing many a region, tackling gigantic bosses, using supernatural abilities and coming out bathed in blood at the end of it. Featuring an almost Nordic Viking setting with a cell-shaded art style, playing a brute voiced by the immensely talented Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI), you’ll be engaging in some of the most incredible combat feats and set pieces the space has seen for quite some time. It’s seeping in edge. It’s a video game reminding you that both Souls-likes and dudes rock.

Across sixteen largely linear main missions, you’re working towards taking down the big bad, Ozmar, the one man most responsible for Khazan’s proposed death that he overcame. Throughout that journey, you’re coming toe-to-toe with his many peers and toppling beasties and mastering the craft of tough combat. You’re working through winding paths set in castles, frozen mountain tops and poison swamps, memorising both your own and enemy’s attack animation and patterns, bending these to your will to not succumb to the brutal onslaught of foes and assault on your way. There’s a series of spiritual red ‘invasion’ NPCs that serve as a mini-boss to tackle along the way. A lot of this sounds familiar and old to some, and it is. It’s the kind of stuff that’s been in FromSoftware games for the last fifteen years, but if you’re like me and don’t mind that (provided the game is bloody good), then you’re still in for a wonderful time.

Despite all of this, The First Berserker: Khazan manages to carve its own path in the space. All these familiar flavours and pieces of the Souls-like pie are fine-tuned and tweaked in different ways; the aforementioned invasion NPCs can be farmed to get a valuable resource used to upgrade the strength of your own summons, you can revisit prior areas for side objectives and here you’ll see changed things in the environment due to updated world states. These side missions are revamped runs through familiar maps and biomes, but smaller sections of them all to gather a key item and take on a spirit or a darker version of a prior boss. All of these little choices are meaningful ways to distract from the main jaunt through the 40-or-so-hour campaign, breaking up the slog that grinding otherwise could be. You level up unbelievably fast. At about three-quarters through the game, I reached level 100. In comparison, I cleared Elden Ring on about level 80. It’s a good thing you’re offered these concessions, too, because it’s certainly up there in the hardest of its ilk.

Players are also provided with many options to work with that can help them on their journey. There are three weapon types in Dual Wield (efficient in speed and relentlessly uninterrupted assaults), two-handed Greatsword (efficient in dealing higher stagger damage and area of effect if charged), and Spears (efficient in reach to avoid jumping too deep into the fray). Different people will find what works for them, but I quickly decided my favourite type was the Greatsword, playing the defensive and timing each block and parry to finally stagger mooks and bosses and deal devastating damage when they’re exhausted. Along with the general stat boosts in areas like vitality, Mastery Skill points are earned throughout play and open up a considerable breadth of opportunities. You can get new attack patterns to work with and special attacks that are used once you’ve got enough ‘spirit’ charges. Adding meaningful passives, such as bolstering the amount of stagger damage and stamina regeneration you do upon a successful block. This is something I invested in heavily, ensuring that despite wielding this giant sword behind my back at all times like Berserk‘s Guts, I was a Khazan that could not be slowed down or stopped.

There are gear sets that can be crafted or found that, if worn together, also add meaningful and tangible buffs. Topping all of this off, upon beating one of the significantly harder bosses about halfway through the game, you’re rewarded with a Limit Break-esque ability reminiscent of Final Fantasy. Now, once a gauge is filled, you can enter an invulnerable state for a limited amount of time, dealing significant damage in attacks and also providing some breathing room for when you feel a boss’s attacks are a little too strong and fast. Combine all of these bits and pieces, and The First Berserker: Khazan is certainly one of the linear Souls-likes that feels like it has the most options and experimentation for players. I just sometimes wish there wasn’t so much damn gear being dropped at all times. It can seriously be too much at times; too often did I pick up a new piece of gear for it to quite literally be only 1 point of Defense higher.

I’ve played and reviewed a lot of Souls-likes. Where they often fall apart is how gruelling, unfair and unfun they can be. Titles where they demand too much of you, presenting a great big bouldering boss with an unbelievably fast and unpredictable attack pattern that you can barely read or learn from. In these instances, they’re games I know I can clear, but why should I when they’re not respecting my time or patience by just throwing… well, whatever at me? Despite The First Berserker: Khazan being bloody hard, it thankfully never falls into this trap, thanks to its various gameplay options (including an easy mode!) and tough but fair bosses. They also run the gamut, never feeling all that repetitive.

If you love a boss fight all about spectacle, I promise The First Berserker: Khazan will be your jam. Yes, there are your less creative early on giant beasties in there, such as a bear and a yeti, but that quickly opens up to a monolithic goat man who bangs metal together and causes heat and fire all around the arena, an exciting challenge to mitigate mid-parries and flurries. An ethereal jellyfish lady that surrounds the environment in an inpenetrable tsunami, a dark elf mage who summons spirits, a hulking guy that looks like Castlevania’s Trevor Belmont, only with a hulking amount of mass and a club and fiery crossbow hybrid weapon… the exciting challenges that lie ahead are well worth your time. Clashing iron against steel, finally drawing blood against your opponent… I’m reminded why I love Souls-likes so much. It’s the damn thrill of the fight.

Souls-likes are a damn a dozen at this point and though it’s far from the most original and perhaps a little too long for what it is, it’s a blast to play and experience. It’s hard to imagine a fighting game translating to the Souls-like experience, but they nailed it. I’m also the same person who was won over by a gritty action RPG spin on the Pinocchio universe just shy of two years ago, so take that with a grain of salt. At least if there was any doubt, Souls-likes of all varieties are here to stay.