The First Berserker: Khazan (PlayStation 5)

Excellent game. Probably some of the best boss fights i've played in a game and i'm hot of ff16 and steller blade. The combat is incredible and easily makes this five stars.PROS:Combat - There really is something for everyone, if your into building for stats and mid maxing, it has more than enough content here to keep you happy for hundreds of hours, if your like me (a hardcore sekiro fan), who loves to parry bosses and feel like your actually involved in the fight instead of rolling on the floor to dodge a mini flame nuke, you will absolutely love this. There's only three weapons, but playstyles can radically change depending on your build, making it so that the low variety is inconsequential. But seriously the bosses, i think it got to the boss where it's pitch dark and all you can see is a shadow and red eyes where i thought okay this is some anime shizzness is a game, absolutely bananas, and 80% of bosses have this i can't believe what im seeing and fighting and it just feels so good to play. The progression is also really good and whilst the story is unbelievable weak in my opinion, it does help to keep you engaged.VISUALS - The visuals are also some of the best i've seen (especially in boss fights), from probably any game. Why ? because it's not trying to look like the real world, they settled on an art style and stayed faithful. Environments look good, and some of the boss environments absolutely slaps, i'd go as far to say there better than fromsoftware here although in my opinion outside from a handful areas in elden ring, the majority of environments look kind of bland. This is especially true in bossfights, whilst maybe not for all, so many of the boss fights had me thinking wow this looks so sick. I've never been this impressed by some of the areas in a game period, the only thing comparable is FF16 and steller blade in my opinion. And even in that game it's more of an exception than a rule. Granted i'm playing this in 4k so i don't know how it looks just normal 1080p but i would still say it's a cut above the rest in terms of visuals to most games.Gameplay - Your going through linear levels with some shortcuts. There are also side missions that can sometimes be unique. You do see some re-used maps, but they do it in a way where it feels very different from the same one you just played so no issues here. It's basically go through the level kill some enemies, some mini bosses, maybe an elite or two and then your main boss. You access these levels from a hub, here you can talk to other npcs and also craft gear and sets, extract/change stats, upgrade a whole list of different things (spectral stats, pot items to unlock, etc). The hub is good and functions better than most hubs i would say. It's a good platform, and you'll often be replaying bosses so you'll select these missions and which bonfire to spawn at (really like this feature so i don't have to replay the whole map), to farm for boss gear sets. These sets will grant bonuses for each set item equipped with some having skills (again really like this). This gives you an incentive to go back and play earlier bosses (which is good because some of these boss fights are absolutely bananas, but if i didn't have that extra motivation i wouldn't go back at all). You'll of course only do this for the sets you want if your like me. One con here is that you can't transfer the skill from fully equipping an armor set to another armor set (that i know if) which really sucks if you like the look of one armour, your kind of forced to use another because of a skill that's unique to that piece of armor. Would of been really nice if when you equipped the armor set it just became a permanent ability for you. Armor sets in general do matter and they do radically effect playstyle as well in a really unique and fun way so hard to complain.CONSEThe cons, i'm playing on a disc without any patches (no internet to download updates) so im not sure if this is the same as the current build, but here's the list none the less:- The story. It's not terrible. It's enough to keep you interested, but it's absolutely nothing special. This sucks because the overarching story is interesting. But when you set a precedent for extremely bland dialogue, that's just not interesting then your building a standard to just skip the cutscenes. If this was any other game we would be clowning this level of effort. And it really sucks because the major plot points are there, the execution just sucks. Characters don't talk to each other and have real conversations, it's all just generic, something that i've heard a million times and feels low quality overall. Which really sticks out because every other aspect of the game is really high in terms of quality. If they really took their time here i feel like they could of one game of they year and had one of those games of the decade. This along with some other aspects made me think this game needed more time to cook and simmer.BORING DIALOGUE/BAD VOICE ACTING -Why are some of the dialogues not voice acted. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. This is their first rpg to they do get a pass as i don't know the circumstances the studio found themselves in when making the game. HOWEVER, you've hired the voice actors, already paid them, so get them to voice ALL OF THEIR LINES !! Probably 20% of things are voice acted. Now if this was just in game conversations that would be one thing, although i would still be unhappy. But this also extends to cutscenes, where it's really weird seeing this triple a cutscenes, subtitles and then no ones speaking just looking at each other. The first time i thought my game was bugged so i looked up someone playing the misson online and it's the same thing. Whoever made this decision needs to be fired, never compromise on the quality of your game, period. Especially in a way that sticks out like a filthy nappy that's 2 inches from my face whilst i have some gourmet food on my lap, this made no sense and it's so prevelant that it makes me think they rushed it (which is impossible looking at other aspects of this game) or they ran out of money. It's their first game, it's not game breaking, so it's a pass, but if i see a sequel and it repeats this mistake im waiting for a sale, and also not pre-ordering next time around.- CHEAP TACTICS. I hate this like i hate finding a spider on my bed whilst i'm sleeping. Sends my blood pressure through the move and makes me very angry. You have excellent combat. Instead of using cheap tactics to kill me, in an attempt to pad out your game, just put in more melee enemies or bigger fights. Things like an enemy hidden behind a corner who will then grab you and rinse 80% of your health after your deep into a level from your previous bonfire, or putting an archer right at the back of an area while you fight a MINI BOSS OR ELITE ??? What are you playing at ? These tactics don't make me feel accomplishment, they make me think you don't know how to design levels. I hated it when dark souls did it, i hate it here. Don't try and kill me as a whoops surprise moment. Again if it was just enemies it would be one thing. But the levels itself try to kill you. Picture one archer on the other side of an icy map in the mountains, and two enemies in front of him. You skip the two enemies to kill the archer strategically, your so close you can taste the ai's blood, boom you fall through the floor and die. CHEAP. If your into that kind of stuff great. But i don't like playing my games like a horror movie, being careful of every step and what's round every corner, especially in ACTION game. call me crazy.Skills - This is the only part of combat i don't like. seeing the gameplay trailers i thought wow dual wield looks sick, Can't wait to see how the spear skills look. The spear skills blow. I'm not saying that the spear sucks to play with cause oh boi does it feel good. But there's definitely a difference in quality of doing cool choregraphed moves with the spear than the dual weirdly, and i suspect the same is true for the greatsword. I haven't played dual or greatswords, so this is speculation to some extent, but seeing evidence online and having played 40 hours, feel like im in a good position to say this. Who knows maybe new game + gives you a whole plethora of skills but i doubt it based on what i've heard from friends so far. This is a small one but it would of been nice to see some cooler looking skills to the spear. All though i am planning on doing a different run of the dual wield daggers at a later date so it is what it is.OverallBuy the game, the start is a bit slow but when it clicks, it clicks hard. I actually didn't like the game at first and thought it was very generic. Stick with it for at least 10 hours and when you know, you know. It is a really fun experience and an amazing first attempt into the action rpg genre. There are some pretty glaring things that need to be addressed in a sequel. And i hope the developers do not rush to make one. This wasn't just game, it was an experience, and i hope the sequel takes it to the next level story, level design and even combat wise. To the developers, give it an extra year maybe two, and you will have a game of the year quality game here. Hope to see this franchise continue. You've made an excellent start, move forwards and please don't take any steps back.

Just like Lies of P, this game is one of the best souls like games out there.The game has an easy mode after the first boss so you can always switch if you are having a hard time, because the difficulty here is really no joke.I beat Lies of P, Sekiro, Elden ring and two other Dark souls games and one of those early bosses called Viper took me 3 hours to beat.The game also gives you the option of summoning an NPC to help you out, if thats what you want.But apparently easy mode, only gives you more health and stamina,. so it probably won‘t make that much of difference, compared to normal.You got 3 different weapon types, a spear, duel axe with a sword and a longsword and you should always build your skill three based on what weapon you wanna use.Beating bosses and looking around is rewarding with loot and new gear with better and different looking weapons.It‘s still to early to give a full review since im not that far into the game, but the combat is really fun and the game runs and looks great, it has a great art style and atmosphere and a ton of cool characters,. even if the story is hard to follow sometimes

One of the best soulslike I have played so far, the action is incredibly fast paced but satisfying.The difficulty is definitely comparable to other souls games and at times I've even found this to be more difficult. Those who aren't so fond of being stuck on a boss fight for hours, there is also an easy mode.

I gifted the game to my son in law and he loves it.

Amazing game

Is great game, i started but dint have time rught now to continue. Honest is worth the price.

you have to grind for weapons and armour including beating the same boss 4 to 5 times to get the set, and they have lots of armour and weapons but only three types you can use very slow, slow and medium speed, if you summon you also have to grind to upgrade the summon the bosses are just unbalanced and you do little to no damage at all and some have stamina bars that refill even when hitting the boss. i like hard games but not sitting there for 5 plus hours to beat every boss lifes to short for that.And the game is far to long and repeats the same boss fights in the side missons, the game has easy mode but it make it to easy and still have to grind more than playing.you should buy a fromsoft game its more balanced and not just one of these developers trying to make the hardest game with no fun at all

This is an anime version of a souls-like game. Clean gameplay, good levelling, lots of enemies etc. great game.