The soulslike genre has a discoverability problem. Every year produces a handful of genuinely competent entries that get buried under the noise of bigger releases and the genre fatigue discourse that never quite goes away. The First Berserker: Khazan, developed by Neople and published by Nexon, was one of those buried games in 2025. It should not have been.

What It Is

Khazan is a third-person action RPG set in the Dungeon Fighter Online universe, a franchise with a long history in Korea and a dedicated global fanbase that does not always translate to mainstream recognition in the UK and Europe. The game follows Khazan, a legendary general betrayed by his own empire and forced into a pact with a demon to survive. The premise is well-worn but executed with genuine craft.

The tone is darker and more serious than the source material suggests. Neople made a deliberate choice to create something that could stand independently of DFO knowledge, and largely succeeded. You do not need to know the wider universe to follow or enjoy the story.

The Combat

This is where Khazan earns its place in the conversation. The combat system is built around a stamina and stance mechanic that rewards aggression without removing the need for care. Enemies telegraph attacks with enough visual clarity to make parrying feel learnable rather than arbitrary. The dodge window is tight but consistent.

Boss fights are the centrepiece. Khazan’s boss design is confident: enemies are challenging without being cheap, and the pattern recognition that the genre demands is fair. Several fights are genuinely among the best the soulslike genre produced in 2025.

The build system, drawing on DFO’s class-based heritage, offers more depth than the surface suggests. Three distinct weapon types each have their own skill trees, and the stat allocation feels meaningful without becoming homework.

Where It Falls Short

The environmental design is weaker than the combat. Levels are linear and visually repetitive in places, a contrast to the inventiveness of the boss encounters. Traversal between fights lacks the environmental storytelling that the genre’s best examples (Elden Ring, Lies of P) use to make exploration feel purposeful.

The story is engaging but delivered inconsistently, with some character moments landing and others feeling rushed.

The Verdict

If you have any appetite for the soulslike genre and you have exhausted the more prominent entries, Khazan is worth your time. The combat system alone justifies the price of entry, and the boss fights will satisfy anyone who plays these games for the challenge. The weaker areas do not undermine the stronger ones.

It was not game of the year material. It was better than its profile suggested, which is a different and equally important thing to say about a game.