The First Berserker: KhazanandAI Limitare twoSouls-like anime-styled action RPGsthat take you through challenging foes, intricate scenarios, and a complex leveling system. Both games follow protagonists who travel through bleak environments to accomplish their goals.
These titles are designed with a steep difficulty curve in mind, taking inspiration from games like Nioh and Code Vein. But which game gives the best Souls-like experience? Which of these two should you play for the engaging challenges and relieving victories?
8Anime-styled Graphics - Tie
Both games use anime as their ground for their visual identity, like Code Vein. Aside from the stylistic look of the characters, the environments also reflect this look, whether it’s overly stylized dark fantasy or dystopian future apocalypses.
If you like Souls-like games that look like anime, these two games deliver. This aesthetic is also well utilized in dynamic action, attacks, and the design of bosses and enemies.
7Audio And Music - The First Berserker: Khazan
The music of The First Berserk: Khazan immediately brings you into the setting’s dark and foreboding atmosphere. Traversing through stages gives you a dreary ambiance that ensures that you keep yourself on guard for ambushes, encounters, and any environmental elements you can shift.
Boss fights also have a booming soundtrack that sets you up for an adrenaline-filled clash between your skills and the boss’s ruthlessness. Many epic and cinematic moments throughout the game are carried by the soundtrack.
6Combat - Tie
Fighting enemies and beating difficult bosses are the bread and butter of ARPGs in the Souls-like genre. Both of these games follow different combat styles with a diverse arsenal of weapons, and they offer something special and satisfying. Khazan’s combat is a combination of the stamina-centric Nioh combat and the parrying skills you’d gain from Sekiro. This combination ensures that you’re able to maintain your stamina in battle while weakening your enemies for effective openings.
AI Limit is more akin to Dark Souls and Elden Ring, with a mixture of dodging and evasion. If you want to use magic, you have multiple spell options thanks to Arrisa’s left arm. They are as effective as your regular attacks and can help create openings in the fight. The result is a more relaxed combat since you won’t always be in the adrenaline of the fight.
5Boss Difficulty - The First Berserker: Khazan
The bosses and adversariesthat you face in The First Berserker: Khazan are ruthless. They are the penultimate test to each level you face and are a culmination of the skills you gained while navigating those levels. Because each area is a contained level in a similar way to Nioh, shortcuts are guaranteed to exist for you, so you could just sprint straight to the boss arenas for each attempt.
Because there are several anti-frustration features at your disposal, like summoning help andreclaiming lacrima with every failed attempt, it leaves room for the bosses to be tough as nails. Many of their attacks are difficult to evade, and most of them also have a viscous second phase that will be difficult if you don’t have any healing left. Perfect guards are the default instinct you’ll need to preserve your stamina, lessen damage, and create openings to exploit.
4Customization And Builds - Tie
A big element of Souls-like games is the freedom in creating your characters and forging the perfect build for your playstyle. Character customization doesn’t exist for either AI Limit or The First Berserker. Like Nioh and Sekiro, you’re playing protagonists: Arrisa and Khazan.
you may change Arrisa’s hairstyle and give both characters all kinds of armor sets and gear, but that’s mostly it. You can make Khazan and Arrisa either specialize in strength, vitality, or magical performance, depending on the way you wish to play.
3Story - The First Berserker: Khazan
The stories in most Souls-like games are mostly secondary to the intensive gameplay and dynamic customizations you can create. For these two games, The First Berserker: Khazan focuses more on worldbuilding for the narrative. From the scrolls that you can find are different levels to the compendium you have for enemies, the dark story of Khazan and his bloody crusade against his traitors is fully explored in this alternative take on his origins before the events of Dungeon Fighter Online.
As you progress through the story, you also gain access to Khazan’s memories, which all contain a synopsis and summary of his perspective throughout the journey. You feel like an active participant in the events of the world. In AILimit, there is little to discover. All you may know is that some mysterious Mud is destroying and populating the world with robotic monsters.
2Exploration- AI Limit
AI Limit has a very intricate open world that you may explore. Though it may not be on the same level as Elden Ring, it brings to mind NieR: Automata’s exploration in terms of depth and scale. Traveling around the ruins of Civilization outside Havenswell gives a great sense of atmosphere as you venture to the next location you need to be at.
Exploration in The First Berserker: Khazan is limited since it’s not an open world. It’s similar to Nioh: it has a series of really long and intricate levels with shortcuts that end with a boss fight.
1Conclusion - The First Berserker: Khazan
The First Berserker: Khazan is a tougher, more compact, and intensive experience that tickles the itch of any fan of the challenges brought in Souls-like games. Fans of Dungeon Fighter Online will also find a lot to enjoy in this spin-off, hoping to see other stories from that world become adapted or visited in future installments.
If you’re still unsure about a purchase of one of these games, The First Berserker: Khazan has a demo with the first two levels, introducing the weapons and skills you can use, and showing two major bosses.
