Tokyo Game Show 2024, one of the largest game festivals in Japan, was held from Thursday, September 26 to Sunday, September 29, 2024. The First Berserker: Khazan " at the Nexon booth!
About the Nexon booth
The action RPG "The First Berserker: Khazan," scheduled for release in 2025, was being advertised on one of the largest monitors I have ever seen!
We had a long line of people waiting to try out the game, and even though it was a business day, we still had to wait about an hour to try it out. It seems that the game is attracting a lot of attention from people in the industry!
Before the test play, there was a brief explanation of the world view and controls!
The game is a "soul-like" game, a genre known as a "death game" that has been attracting a lot of attention in recent years due to the rise of popular games.
The basic actions are "attack," "parry," and "evade," each of which consumes energy. When energy is depleted, the player is unable to move for a certain period of time, which can be fatal on the field. If you are attacked in this state, you will lose all your energy, even if you are a small fry.
Just parry can also be performed by timing the parry well to suppress the drain of energy. The key to success in this game is how well you use your energy!
In this trial, we were able to play the "Mission" mode, where you can enjoy the early stages of the story, and the "Boss Challenge" mode, where you can battle bosses!
The mission mode begins with the main character Kazan, who is being held captive in a state of disarray, traveling in a horse-drawn carriage through the snowy mountains.
From the very beginning of the scene, hats off to the quality of the graphics. Even the detailed decorations of the soldiers' equipment and carriages were intricate and immersive!
The most impressive part of the game was the snow and the blood. Kazan's footprints are left behind after he passes by, and the blood stains follow the footprints.
In battle, Kazan's operability is quite good, and even I, who am not very good at games, was able to play comfortably enough to manage to defeat the enemies in the early stages of the game! However, the mid-boss battles are too difficult to beat unless the player is diligent in "learning enemy action patterns," which is one of the most appealing aspects of action games. The level design of the game was also pleasant to touch, as it was difficult, but the player managed to beat the enemies by doing his/her best.
There is also a system that allows players to strengthen themselves, and if they accumulate a certain number of "Lacreama" items, which can be obtained by defeating enemies, they can strengthen Kazan's abilities with points called Oniken (devil's sword). Lacreama will be lost if you are killed by enemies, so the key to success is to remember to strengthen the Oni Sword when you find it!
After playing the story mode, I tried to play the boss challenge mode, but unfortunately time ran out. The 30 minutes of play time went by in a blink of an eye... I am definitely going to purchase the game when it comes out!
The First Berserker: Khazan is scheduled for release in early 2025. The closed beta test will begin on Friday, October 11, 2024! Check it out if you are interested!