The First Berserker Khazan update overhauls the punishing soulslike's difficulty

A new The First Berserker: Khazan update is on the way that completely revamps the brutal soulslike's difficulty settings. Developer Neople's intense anime action game has proven a winner so far, with Steam reviews delivering an 89% score, but it's already earning itself a reputation as a notoriously tough challenge. Now, it's about to become a lot more approachable - but don't worry if you prefer to be pushed to your limit, as creative director Junho Lee assures that the patch will also introduce a new ultra-hard mode.

The First Berserker: Khazan is a rewarding blend of the parry-driven action of Sekiro and the mission-based structure of Nioh - Dave's The First Berserker: Khazan review notes that fans of those games will find plenty to love here. If you've found it to be a little too much to handle, however, that's all about to change. The First Berserker: Khazan June update will make one of 2025's best soulslikes more accessible in several ways. Firstly, a new combo tutorial will give a dedicated, guided way to practice and learn your skill combos, which are often essential to optimize your damage output.

Next is the difficulty revamp. The current 'easy' setting is being renamed to 'normal' and will now be the default option when you begin a fresh playthrough. The previous 'normal' mode will instead be called 'challenge.' Alongside this comes a new choice, 'beginner,' which includes "added conveniences to help players who are new to action games learn Khazan's combat system in a more comfortable and less stressful way." You're free to change this later on if you decide you're ready to step it up a notch.

Already a hardened veteran, forged in the fires of Khazan's ultimate challenge mode? You'll want to try the new 'hardcore' difficulty, which only unlocks after you finish a playthrough on the current highest setting. This mode hides monster health and stamina meters, and disables many of the support systems such as Spirit of Advocacy, Phantom Form, and the ability to change attributes. Lee calls it the toughest difficulty yet, with "its own balance settings and a unique camera lock-on perspective, offering a fresh and intense way to experience Khazan."

The June update also includes some very welcome quality-of-life upgrades. There are new skill and gear preset systems, the ability to sort your inventory in alphabetical order, and a dramatic storage capacity increase from 100 up to 500 total slots. Crafting materials for set items will now be a guaranteed reward from main-mission boss fights, and the drop rate of Augment of Wisdom has been boosted.

Because of the dramatic difficulty differences from launch, Neople has made the decision to suspend the Khazan demo for now as it no longer represents the full-game experience. Addressing the team's general patch philosophy, Lee explains "We believe that game design isn't something set in stone. It's something we shape and refine together with our players. That's why the most important question we ask ourselves when reviewing feedback is 'Does this expand the Khazan gameplay experience?'"

He brings up the recent nerf to the Trance spear build, noting that it "was widely seen as the only viable option while other styles were considered inefficient or not worth using." As such, the gap between it and other weapons and skills was considered too large. "Even though this might be less fun for existing players, we made the decision because we believe it is more important to provide new players with an experience and environment where they can explore various playstyles and carve out their own paths.

"We realize no balance patch can be perfect. Even so, we've done our best to find the most reasonable middle ground," Lee concludes. "We'll keep pushing forward in every way we can to make this game even better. Thank you, truly, for your unwavering love and support for Khazan."

Looking to keep the adrenaline coursing through your veins? Here are the best hack and slash games on PC today. We've also picked out the best single-player games in 2025 for plenty more memorable adventures.

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