Summary
Storming into the Soulslike genre with flying colors,The First Berserker: Khazandelivers a standout gaming experiencethat incorporates all of the elements that make the genre so great and introduces plenty of new elements to keep the game feeling distinct yet familiar at the same time. Part of what makes the game so refreshing is the ability to change between builds and weapon types whenever the player wants, as traditionally in Soulslike games, the player will spend all their precious resources leveling up a single weapon and be unable to switch to another without some difficulty. The game is designed with the player in mind and opens up the door for so much expression and freedom to play the game however the player chooses.
Something that aids in the liberty of the gameplay is the access to merchants throughout the game, who sell a large variety of consumables, weaponry, and tools to aid the player in their playthrough. However, not all items are made equally, and while some are great to pick up whenever, some may be incredibly situational, and others are outright useless in the grand scheme of things. These few items should be avoided at all costs when writing a shopping list, as their utility is minimal, and there are often better alternatives or ways of acquiring the items that negate the need to shell out 1000s of well-earned coins to the sellers.
7Primeval Regression Orb
If A Reset Is Needed, Craft Them Instead
Resetting stats and skills is nothing new to the world of Soulslikes.Khazankindly allows players tolevel up their skill tree however they choose, and then if they change their mind at any point, they are free to refund individual points or entire sets without any costs or barriers. When it comes to the stats that are leveled through Lacrima, this is not the case. Instead, if the player wants to change from investing heavily in health and is looking for some other stats that scale better with their weapon, they need to use a Regression Orb in order to do so.
It is a nice item to have as it gives the player a lot of choice over when and how to use their currencies throughout a playthrough. However, there are several issues with the item. First off is the cost; at 10,000 gold, it is a pretty steep investment, especially when the crafting recipe is a fraction of the price and delivers the exact same item without breaking the bank. The second issue is the actual function of the item. The need to restat Lacrima points has very small use cases, as vitality and endurance are good to have for any weapon class. The remaining three stats are often shared across multiple weapons. This means that even if the player wants to completely shift their playstyle over to another weapon, there isn’t even much point in refunding stats, as gaining levels is incredibly easy. The player can level up the stats to an equal level without having to go back to square one.
6Assassin’s Elixir
This Isn’t A Stealth Game
The ability to back-stab enemies has been around in gaming for decades now, offering players a reward for being a little bit sneakier than normal with a hefty chunk of damage and even a complete execution in some cases. That sentiment remains the same here, as the player is able to walk slowly up behind an enemy and take them by surprise with a powerful attack that most enemies won’t be able to recover from. The situations where this is possible however, are rather uncommon because either the enemy is facing the player, which makes the back-stab pretty impossible, or the enemy that would allow for a sneak attack, is close to an edge, which lets the player just slap them off the map to save the trouble of a full animation.
The Assassins Elixir for 99% of the game is completely useless, as any time a player has the opportunity to back-stab a foe while under the effect, they could have probably done so anyway without using the consumable. Also, even though the item doesn’t cost a huge amount, if the player really does want to channel their inner assassin, the item can be crafted at a pretty reduced cost and there are more than enough of them littered throughout the levels to give a silent boost to the player if they choose to use it.
5Uncommon Jars
Funny But Less Than Functional
Weapons and armor are the two defining characteristics of the player and their ability to deal with the progressively more difficult enemies in the game. There is a wide variety of choices available, ranging in sizes and effects, with the player having the ability to swap betweenany given piece of armoror weaponry whenever they choose. Danjin, who players meet a little way into the game, has quite a collection of interesting helmets in the shape of jars, each with their own silly face to add some humor to the otherwise dark and gloomy world.
The list is rather expansive, and towards the bottom, the helms that the player will have access to by the end of the game are incredible in terms of power and offer some of the best armor options in all ofKhazan.The same cannot be said for the early, uncommon jars, as the first few in the set provide very minor stat bonuses that will already be obsolete by the time the player can purchase them. Aside from giving the player a hilarious head to run around and defeat menacing bosses with, the items should be avoided for the most part, as even basic pieces of armor that drop from any old enemy can easily outmatch the benefit from equipping the items, as cute as they may be.
4Coward’s Lantern
Conquer Your Fear Of The Dark
One feature that is fairly interesting inKhazanis the access to several different kinds of lanterns that not only provide a small amount of extra light but also give the player some pretty powerful effects that can passively affect the world in significant ways. Revealing secret passages, preventing undead resurrections, and being able to have a light attached to the hip that aids the player in the background is incredibly useful, and Danjin offers the best options in that regard that should be picked up as soon as possible. This lantern is not one of those options, as the utility it provides is so minor and basically irrelevant for large chunks of the game and only works against a very specific enemy type.
Compared to the power of the Undead Hunter’s Lantern, the Coward’s Lantern feels like a completely different class of item that provides a tiny effect to deal with an enemy that is not only fairly uncommon but also not that hard to deal with in the first place. If the undead assassins it was designed to deal with posed a much larger threat, then maybe there would be some justification for equipping it. But as it stands, they go down within a few blows and are pretty easy to avoid despite being mostly concealed, so players should certainly avoid spending the large sum this item demands and stick to one of the more useful and impact lanterns that Danjin has on sale.
3Tear Summon Stone
Dying Never Feels Too Bad
Corpse running is a mechanic that has becomea staple of the Soulslike genre, allowing the player the opportunity to run back to their location of death and reclaim the currency that was taken from them by the enemy, boss, or even terrain.Khazanhandles the mechanics in a slightly different way that is significantly more forgiving and makes dying with a chunk of Lacrima far less punishing than in other titles. For one, checkpoints are very abundant, which means that even if the player dies right at the end of a section, it is never too far to get back to, and the location of the Lacrima pick-up is often placed in a more accessible place to avoid any further torment and struggles.
On top of this, if the player unfortunately dies at the hands of a boss, the location is placed outside of the fog gate, letting them grab the currency that would otherwise be trapped behind the inescapable arena. This item is one of those that is rarely needed, and in the off chance the player really doesn’t want to go running for a large sum of Lacrima, they will have either acquired a few along their journey and can use one straight away, or simply run and craft one for a much more reasonable price. At the end of the day, dying feels far less painful inKhazanas the amount of Lacrima gained more than makes up for any losses that may happen, and the game even aids the player further, by giving them an extra boost when challenging bosses, on top of being able to recover the lost amount right away. Useful as a one-off use, but outside of that, it is never worth the purchase.
2Duimuk’s Armor And Weaponry
Just Not Worth The Price
Duimuk is one of the three merchants in the game that offers a nice variety of items that can be both beneficial and extremely useful, but also pretty worthless and basically some junk that will sit at the bottom of the inventory for eternity. Something that separates Duimuk from the others is his rotating inventory of weapons and armor, which changes as the game progresses and offers a set of items that are based on the level of the player in both their rarity and the level of the items themselves. The problem is thatacquiring new and better pieces of armoris a task that is much easier to do in other ways than spending a pretty large sum of gold on a single item, only for it to be replaced down the line.
A big aspect of the armor and weapon selection is the emphasis on set bonuses and the power gained from equipping items from the same set. The best way to get a nice weapon with a matching suit of armor is to craft it or farm a boss that drops the items from that specific pool. Crafting the sets not only nets far stronger items than Duimuk can provide, but it is also far cheaper to do and gives the player more choice and guarantees that they will be able to acquire it, rather than it rotating away just a few missions down the line. There will be several moments where maybe Duimuk actually does provide a decent item, even if it is a bit expensive, and upon purchasing it, the player will then proceed to use it for five minutes before a replacement drops that supersedes the item in every way. Better to save the gold for other items and craft the ones the player really wants.
1Spirit Ore
Virtually Useless
Spirit is one of the most valuable resources in all ofKhazan,giving the player the ability to hurl powerful ranged attacks and cast a boatload of incredible abilities that deal absurd amounts of damage and keep the player competitive against harder foes. As the game goes on, by the later stages, players will be able to generate spirit like it’s nothing, building up a full bar from zero in just a few hits. The Spirit Ore is one of those items that has the player wondering, “Why?”. Now, from the outside, the ability to gain four or five spirit tokens in an instant does sound pretty good, but the problem is that not only is spirit generation already pretty fast, a lot of the time players will have to use the basic fundamentals of the game to succeed, which don’t cost a thing and build a bunch of spirit in the process.
It can be a nice boost and a way of recovering some extra javelins to finish a foe off without getting close, but at the cost of over 12k gold, it is a powerful item to even consider buying, especially when the item can be crafted. The recipe is certainly a bit more costly when compared to other consumables, but the option is there and a better solution for players who really want that extra boost. But for anyone else, throughout a playthrough, there will be plenty of these ores to pick up and use when needed, but for the most part, they will sit unused in the back pocket and should not even be in the conversation for item choices in the store.
