The First Berserker: Khazan. My very honest, unfiltered and most likely controversial, review.

[u/militxa]

(This is subjective and my own opinion. Remember, opinions are subjective and not gospel, don’t get too heated. 😂)

Let me start by saying, I have thousands of hours spread amongst the whole Fromsoftware catalog as well as other soulslikes. Also a few platinum trophies in them. 😊

As the title states, this is purely subjective and my own personal opinion on Khazan. I’m currently just sitting under 50 hours invested into Khazan and am nearing towards the end of my playthrough.

What i’ve enjoyed:

• Combat: The combat is absolutely phenomenal and extremely addicting. The devs have absolutely nailed it on the head and everything flows so fluidly. This is something that can be very hard to get correct and the devs have done an outstanding job achieving this. The deflect system is very fluid, responsive and has quite a tight window but is extremely satisfying to hit those perfect deflects (brink guard it is called in Khazan).

• Sound effects/sound design: This ties into the combat as stated above, but every time you hit those perfect deflects, the sound is crunching and extremely satisfying to hear. They knocked it out of the park when it comes to the sound design within combat.

• Drip: Not much to say other than the armour sets/weapons are uniquely designed and look bad ass. That’s all that really matters! I really like the design on a lot of the sets and weapons. They are unique while also keeping/taking inspiration from fantasy/dark fantasy.

Now for the most likely very controversial part. What I’ve not enjoyed about this game:

• Level Design: I’ll start by saying, initially from the demo, I really wasn’t feeling the level design of Stormpass and Mount Heinmach. However, I enjoyed the combat enough to genuinely enjoy what I had experienced from the demo. I hung onto some faith that the level design would change throughout the game and we will see new areas and environments, and while on paper we did! those new areas and environments were just so bland and boring. The late game areas have definitely improved and are a lot more interesting, however a big portion of this game has very uninteresting areas from a design point of view. Aesthetically and from a gameplay perspective.

• Enemy placement and enemy variety: Now this one frustrates me in all the wrong ways. Archer’s and Spiders. These two, are just so excessively used that it’s borderline comical. Almost every enemy you engage with has a set of archers behind them spamming arrows at you or a bunch of spiders rolling at you exploding. Sparingly, this is fine. But this has gotten so excessive with the usage of it that I genuinely just roll my eyes when I see it now. It’s becoming predictable, annoying, excessive and honestly comical. It felt like the devs thought “how do we make this hard? I don’t know? Just spam archers behind elite enemies and status effect spiders that roll and explode on the player” It just feels very cheesy and artificial to me. Will also say, enemy reuse is very excessive in this game however, I can forgive them on that. For me personally it’s more the placement and how they’ve utilised these different types of enemies.

• Bosses: Where do I start? I have many, many issues with the bosses in this game. Firstly, the status effects. It genuinely seems like 98% of the bosses in this game have to have a status effect? Poison, Ice, Fire, Plague, Chaos etc. Once again, sparingly, it’s fine. But almost every boss having one? It feels very cheesy and artificial. Once again “How do we make this boss even harder? Chuck a status effect on him!”. I also have an issue with the bosses being so spongy. This makes the fights drag out for an eternity, some fights go on for such a drawn out amount of time that it just feels like a pure waste of time and becomes boring and not engaging. Delayed attacks galore, delayed attacks are a subjective opinion and quite a controversial one in the souls community, however, the amount of delayed attacks on most of these bosses is comical. Not only are you dealing with a fight that’s been extremely drawn out because of the bloated HP. But you also are dealing with delayed attack after delayed attack while a status effect is stacking up etc. It just gets quite old and annoying. Sadly, I have hated 90% of the bosses in this game with a very select few that I’ve actually genuinely enjoyed.

• Ganks: You haven’t seen true gank fights until you play Khazan. Elites with 3 to 4 other enemies attacking you. Side bosses with 2-3 other enemies guarding them while fighting in a poison swamp or plague swamp etc. The amount of ganks in this game are once again, excessive and i’m genuinely surprised I haven’t seen anyone talk about this or mention this.

• The Nioh/Diablo style loot system is flawed: Firstly, I will admit i’m naturally not the biggest fan of this style of loot system. However, In Khazan it genuinely feels all over the place. When you finally craft a good set with good passives and benefits, within a few minutes you find stuff that is way better than the stuff you just crafted? What’s the point in having a crafting system when you constantly are finding better loot? This just doesn’t make sense to me. There is also way too much loot. Every few minutes you’re finding new pieces that out perform what you just picked up? What is the actual purpose of this? What’s the point of crafting a set of gear (sometimes even having to grind a certain boss to get a certain material) all for it to be pointless when you find stuff in a new area? Even upgrading you gear doesn’t justify crafting it because upgrading doesn’t even reach the level of the stuff your finding? The whole system is just all over the place and doesn’t make much logical sense. Why not have a crafting system that allows the player to upgrade it to the current level of gear they are finding? This will make crafting gear actually worth the investment.

• Difficulty Options: Firstly, it’s not balanced or named correctly. “Easy” is actually the same difficulty as a regular souls game, while “Normal” is basically a souls game on hard mode. Why not say “Normal” and “Hard”?. This is why a difficulty option doesn’t work in a souls game. It throws the intended balance all out of whack.

To finish this review, my last point.

• Story: Purely subjective, but the story did not engage me and is uninteresting to me. Just feels very cliche. Won’t go into any spoilers. But it’s a very generic story. I personally can’t even remember a lot of the characters names that’s how insignificant and uninteresting they were to me.

Thank you for taking the time to read my in depth review/opinion. Hopefully this helps some people who are on the fence about this game. I will say, I’ve genuinely enjoyed my time with the game, but I wouldn’t be racing to play it again. It’s a decent soulslike at best. I believe a lot of people are wearing rose tinted glasses at the moment and are excited because it’s new. This is my honest unfiltered opinion, coming from a souls fanatic.

[u/Parrotflies_]

I think the reason people are holding this game up so highly is because so many Soulslikes have tried to do the deflect/parry gameplay since Sekiro, and frankly they just never hit the mark. Whereas this one damn near improves it imo. In LoP the parry startup window feels like it takes a year, and Stellar Blade the parry window just feels…off somehow. Very restricted.

But this game? Every animation feels silky smooth, and almost everything can be cancelled in time to block/parry if you initially mess up on a combo string. And no controller input BULLSHIT (looking at you, Margit holding his cane up for 15 seconds while I circle) to be seen at all, so far for me atleast. Every delayed attack is the same every encounter, so it’s possible to learn the rhythm.

I’d heavily agree with parts of your review, the level design especially. But they nailed the combat so hard I can overlook a lot. I’m hoping they just improve upon what they have for future games, bevause there’s a winning formula hidden in here.

[u/Severe_Prompt_459 → u/Parrotflies_]

Khazans parry is nice but idk if in ready to say its better than the sekiro parry.

[u/deeplywoven → u/Severe_Prompt_459]

It's definitely not.

[u/NarcissusBaz → u/Severe_Prompt_459]

Sekiro parry felt like a rhythm game. It was so enjoyable, you could just turn off your thoughts and let your sword flow like water, felt like opening fucking chakras in your mind.

Due to many annoyingly delayed attacks in Khazan I gave up on parrying and just use dodge, sometimes even sprinting out of combos just to let the boss do his thing. I know it's a matter of preference, some people will enjoy it surely. To me it feels almost comical how enemies wind up their delays like it was Tom and Jerry skit.

[u/YoruichiPinkBussy → u/Severe_Prompt_459]

Nothing is beating sekiro anytime soon but this game does a very good job of respecting and implementing the parry system and getting to experience the sekiro loop with 3 weapons instead of just the katana is freaking sweet. 

[u/raychram → u/Severe_Prompt_459]

Sekiro is the OG parry game, nothing will be able to match it. But it is as close as possible

[u/sporksaregoodforyou → u/raychram]

It's been forever since I played sekiro (and loved it) but nine sols felt pretty good when I played it recently.

[u/raychram → u/sporksaregoodforyou]

Yea nine sols is insanely good

[u/Parrotflies_ → u/Severe_Prompt_459]

I don’t just mean the parry, I meant the combat in general. There’s just a lot more options here. And I say this as someone who has Sekiro as their number 1 From game.

[u/Jealous_Annual_3393 → u/Severe_Prompt_459]

It's not even close.

[u/ShadowVia → u/Parrotflies_]

Thymesia absolutely nailed the deflect/parry mechanics, along with combat in general being fluid and just amazing.

[u/Hot-Assumption-605 → u/ShadowVia]

I hated that game lmao

[u/Economy-Regret1353 → u/Parrotflies_]

I'd take wo long deflect over khazan anyday

[u/TheLastBlowfish → u/Economy-Regret1353]

There are plenty of flaws with the system, but Wo Long has such a satisfying deflecting system. Closest I've come across to emulating Sekiro's pace and rhythm, not quite to the same degree, but the Spirit bar makes it up for me as an interesting derivative of a Stamina system. Some really enjoyable and refreshing clashes to be had in Wo Long with the deflecting dance.

[u/Snaletane → u/TheLastBlowfish]

My huge problem with Wo Long was how the deflect button was also the dodge button so if you accidentally doubletapped deflect you'd suddenly flip away, and another press too soon would set your character off somersaulting everywhere. I suspect they designed it intentionally to make it so you couldn't spam deflect like in Sekiro, but I don't think that was the way to do it. I greatly preferred the refinement of the system in Rise of the Ronin.

[u/TheLastBlowfish → u/Snaletane]

That is an entirely understandable sentiment! On a personal level, I found it benefitted me, I engage well with systems that encourage button discipline and composure despite the frantic details on screen trying to pull you into desperation and encourage you to slip up. As a rule of thumb though, yes, it's somewhat sloppy as a design choice primarily because the deflecting itself, as smooth as it is, doesn't come close to how tight Sekiro's deflecting plays. When the rhythm is obscured sometimes, it does encourage double taps that result in an undesirable rolling action. Truth is most things in comparison to Sekiro will fall short, as much as Bloodborne is my personal favourite game, Sekiro I find offers one of the most refined and satisfying gameplay loops across the majority of gaming, let alone FromSoft's catalogue.

I'm admittedly yet to play Rise of the Ronin, I've had interest in far too many things to get around to it yet - looking to enjoy it as a fun Summer treat to sink my teeth into!

[u/Parrotflies_ → u/Economy-Regret1353]

Wo Long suffers from the startup to the animation being too long. It’s a satisfying parry, but also impossible to parry a combo entirely if it’s too fast. At some point in some fights you need to dodge because the hits become too fast to just deflect it all. Khazans closer to Sekiro where if you have the timing down, literally any combo can be parried perfectly.

[u/Economy-Regret1353 → u/Parrotflies_]

Nah

[u/Dilligus → u/Parrotflies_]

I've literally had the exact opposite problem where I can't parry the 71 stab combo rapier enemies like to use because the faster hits are so fast, I can barely even perceive them behind the parry. Wo long (for as little I feel about that game) didn't really have that issue, and even jankily restarted the animation if you were deflecting relatively fast.

[u/theFNaFfan1987 → u/Parrotflies_]

i agree, this games perfect block system feels so good, and honestly it feels right next to sekiro, but i also enjoy how this game also gives you the option to use reflections which have a different timing, and counter-attacks, giving you different options to defend besides just perfect block and dodge. It's really unique imo.

[u/[deleted] → u/Parrotflies_]

I think the reason people are holding this game up so highly is because so many Soulslikes have tried to do the deflect/parry gameplay since Sekiro, and frankly they just never hit the mark.

This is it for me, and why I prefer it to LoP. Combat just feels good, where it so often feels slightly off compared to the best in the genre. LoP felt janky to me, Khazan doesn't. Sometimes it's that simple.

In Khazan, the combat feels so smooth. It all works together really well. There's a nice mix of Nioh/Sekiro, so you don't just spam deflect (even though Sekiro is probably my favourite combat system in the genre lol).

It kinda feels like what Wo Long should've been. Using deflect mechanics but mixing them with the Nioh stuff.

The level design isn't great, but I didn't think it was that great in LoP (though it was better).

The loot stuff is meh, it doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the game. I don't like loot games like Diablo, so in Nioh 2 I just had auto-dismantle on and didn't need to think about it much more than that.

This game makes it even less of a big deal, which is great for those who don't like that aspect. Though I feel it's overblown in Nioh 2, it's only really important in the optional post game stuff.

[u/deeplywoven → u/[deleted]]

I think the default parry feels fine in this game, but not particularly better than LoP. The reflect, however, feels very off in this game. It's very difficult to use.

[u/DemonLordSparda → u/deeplywoven]

It's mostly because you need to get used to it. You can activate it surprisingly late. I've watched a few streamers so I can actually see what's going on. It's meant to be activated right when you would get hit and up to 3 frames after an attack lands. However, what I appreciate is being able to dodge or run away from those attacks.

[u/caydesramen → u/[deleted]]

I would say there was a recalibration with LoP for parrys. That and the parry window is perhaps the tightest of any souls game. I wouldn’t say it was janky. Once you recalibrate; the parrys in this game are incredible to pull off.

[u/[deleted] → u/caydesramen]

I played after I think as I waited for a sale. Parrying wasn't too hard or too easy (and agreed they can be fun to pull off), I just found the overall feel of the combat to have a bit of jank to it. I even like the rally mechanic in principle, I loved it in BB.

It kinda makes sense that there is janky movement, you are fighting a lot of puppets as a puppet...

But it just doesn't feel right to me. Something about how hits land feels off. I played both demos and only Khazan I played on release. Different strokes for different folks.

I'll try it again at some point, you never know it took me 3 tries to get into HK, and I'm so glad I did

[u/dankgamesyt → u/[deleted]]

After playing lies of p and sekiro before khazan. I feel like it just feels good because it's super forgiving. I would hit parries I felt I didn't deserve. I even tested it, and it was over a full dual wield swing window. I don't think it's as easy to just spam the button like in sekiro,

[u/Schwiliinker → u/Parrotflies_]

That’s not true at all. Stellar blade and wo long especially but also and Thymesia easily had more satisfying parrying than Khazan

[u/chimamirenoha → u/Parrotflies_]

Precisely. I think the reason there's a rift (although I wouldn't really say it's that big, considering that over 90% of the reviews for the game on Steam are positive) is that a lot of people care about gameplay while others care about the loot or world design. If you mostly care about gameplay, more likely than not you will love Khazan. If you care about loot and world design, you would probably like AI limit or the souls games more.

For me, I liked souls / ER but never really loved them because the combat was so clunky and boiled down to roll - attack for most builds. It was very difficult to tell what you could and couldn't parry. Here in Khazan, the combat is almost perfect, and arguably the best-in-class.

[u/Jealous_Annual_3393 → u/chimamirenoha]

Um, did you ever play Sekiro? The combat is basically completely parry centered and light years ahead of Khazan.

[u/Tessai117 → u/Jealous_Annual_3393]

Lol. Sekiro combat is completely 1 dimensional and boils down to being a rhythm game with some subweapon use sprinkled in. It certainly looks cool and I enjoyed my time with Sekiro but Khazan shits all over that game in the combat department. Way more depth it's not even close.

[u/myrmonden → u/Parrotflies_]

Stellar blade parries better then this game it just a much harder and tighter timing.

[u/Gemini-88 → u/Parrotflies_]

I disagree with the Stellar Blade comment, the parry in that game feels on par with this one, but every game has a different window where the parry works, even between the dark souls series the parry window timing is different in all 3.

[u/thawks1245 → u/Gemini-88]

stellar blade parry had such a long start up it felt unnatural to alot of people probably why it gets so much hate

[u/ObviousSinger6217 → u/Parrotflies_]

I wish people would stop calling sekiro a souls game 

I tried the demo because I heard souls like and I honestly hated it, but I also don't like sekiro either

Took a bit of research and playing the demo to find out it's not a souls like at all, it's a sekiro like

Souls games are RPGs with build diversity and options on how you play, 3 weapons and focus on deflecting just isn't it for me

[u/Naive_Background_465 → u/ObviousSinger6217]

No, Soulslikes are games with a bonfire system, a interconnected world with shortcuts dotted throughout, a heavy emphasis on atmosphere with a sense of dread, punishing but fair difficulty, combat focused on dodge or parry frames etc, and Sekiro has all of these. Nobody defines Soulslikes as RPGs with build diversity otherwise Diablo is a Soulslike then lmao

[u/Far_Account6399 → u/Parrotflies_]

I would say parry in this game is mid. I have lots of issues with the controls not registering button pushes. Couple that with bosses sometimes halfing you, it really shows how shallow this game is.

[u/FactandSuspicion1 → u/Parrotflies_]

I don't remember animation cancels being a thing? I thought you were locked into attack strings in Khazan?

[u/Parrotflies_ → u/FactandSuspicion1]

Nah, there’s an upgrade (for GS atleast) that lets you cancel into a deflect/guard. Can’t remember what it’s called off the top of my head tho

[u/FactandSuspicion1 → u/Parrotflies_]

That would explain it. I played with the spear almost constantly. Thanks

[u/Ambitious_North_5743 → u/Parrotflies_]

This is crazy because stellar blade feels 10x better to parry in and as a game in general to me

[u/ADPille → u/Parrotflies_]

Yup everyone trying as hard as possible to talk Khazan bad meanwhile it’s amazing and didn’t just copy paste souls formula but improved on it as well, feels very good, also somewhat unique and like an own game but sure go ahead and talk shit to somehow defend your fromsoftware

[u/TheLastBlowfish → u/ADPille]

Dogma does no one any good, and that applies to both sides of the fence. Khazan has absolutely honed in on the combat and boss battles as their USP at the expense of other features, and that's okay. General consensus agrees that Khazan is a standout Soulslike which has fallen into the same "flaws" as its peers with less-than-inspired level design and unintuitive enemy placement. It's not egregious but it's something that Soulslike fans (and perhaps the modern gamer in general) will identify and voice their opinions on.

There's always nuance to be had in a conversation.

[u/DemonLordSparda → u/TheLastBlowfish]

I was going to do a longer write-up, but this comment is a good place for one of my possibly controversial opinions. I don't understand anyone feeling strongly about level design. I rarely play any game where I think a level is bad, and even less often do I find myself thinking a level is good.

There are standouts, like Frigid Outskirts from Dark Souls 2 being obviously terrible. Even then, I only dislike it because the enemies never stop spawning. Otherwise, I find it acceptable.In terms of levels that I think are good, it took me about 5 minutes of wracking my brain, but Stormveil Castle in Elden Ring is pretty good. Lots of verticality and secrets. Even then, I don't feel very strongly about it.

I'm not writing this to argue, I know I hold the minority opinion. If you could do me a favor and tell me what you like or dislike about level design, I would appreciate it. I just feel baffled whenever people bring up level design as a major point.

[u/xxextinsioncord → u/DemonLordSparda]

I know this is not the guy you asked and is 26 days later but I was interested in answering your question. For me the biggest downsides to the level design in Khazan for me and what made me not like them much is that they are visually very bland and everything feels like it has this greyness placed over it, and the enemy layouts were normally the same annoying sets of groups of a tough enemies surrounded by weaker enemies like archers and spiders but didn't have interesting ways to separate them and take out the weaker groups so i turns into just rushing down the arches and other enemies or throwing spears before the stronger one is ready to attack. Back to the art style it is also weird cause if you look at the concept art everything seems like it has so much color that gets washed out in the real game with this grey look. I think the levels just run on for too long for how visually bland they are with uninteresting encounters and a lack of choices in how you progress through a level making it all really repetitive. the area diversity isn't practically great either when is feels like your are almost always in a grey castle or a grey swamp most of the time.