With the game just released, the developer of The First Berserker: Khazan has already released the first balance patch, changing quite a bit, actually.
The official developer note on the blog has all the details, but one of the main parts is that “easy mode” has been tuned to make it easier. Junho Lee, Creative Director of The First Berserker: Khazan says: “I’ve often heard from fellow game developers that they take a “long break” after launching a game—but for us, things have only gotten more hectic since we went gold.
When the embargo lifted at midnight on the 25th, a flood of reviews started pouring in, and I’ve been reading each and every one of them with care. I was truly happy to see the positive responses—it felt like our team’s hard work was being recognized. At the same time, the critical feedback has made me reflect deeply on how we can continue improving the game.”
The major changes are listed below, though we’ve omitted the “We have slightly reduced the difficulty of Viper and Maluca” boss balance section, in case of spoilers.
The First Berserker: Khazan balance adjustments
“At the core of The First Berserker: Khazan lies the value of challenge and the sense of accomplishment that comes with overcoming it. To uphold that value, we’ve consistently focused on designing fair combat, creating monsters that feel genuinely worth facing, and delivering a level of satisfaction and reward that matches the effort required to defeat them. To that end, we’ve conducted extensive internal testing, as well as multiple rounds of external testing—including the first and second FGT, TCBT, offline playtests, and an online DEMO.
Throughout these stages, we received quite a number of player feedback, which we’ve carefully reviewed, discussed, and used to improve the game. Even after the start of Early Access, we continued to analyze gameplay logs, in-game data, and direct player feedback. Based on these insights and thorough discussions within the team, we’ve decided to implement several balance adjustments.”
Skill Balance Adjustments
Greatsword – Increased damage of the “Brutal Attack” skill
“We’ve taken into account that, especially in the early stages of play, it can be difficult to fully capitalize on the exhausted state when using the greatsword. Additionally, one of the weapon’s key strengths—its high stagger potential—wasn’t having much influence outside of the Brutal Attack skill.
To address this, we’ve increased the damage of Brutal Attack so that even if players can’t execute long combos during the exhausted state, they can still enjoy the satisfaction of landing a powerful, heavy-hitting blow.
As players become more skilled with the game, they’ll be able to string together combos within the duration of an enemy’s exhaustion—and when they do, the greatsword can deal significantly higher damage compared to other weapons. We see this as a reward for those who have mastered the weapon.”
Spear – “Phantom: Heatwave” Resource Cost Adjustment
“As a dev team, we strive to avoid nerfing character performance whenever possible, focusing instead on positive adjustments. However, with the official launch approaching, we came to the conclusion that a slight downgrade was unavoidable—and we sincerely apologize for this.
The spear’s signature guard skill, Phantom: Heatwave, triggers a Brink Guard against all incoming attacks during its activation period. Because it could be used by consuming just one Spirit with virtually no additional cost, we determined the skill’s overall efficiency to be somewhat excessive. Furthermore, when combined with effects such as “Spirit gained when performing a brink guard,” it became possible to use the skill repeatedly with effectively no resource expenditure, which we felt was too generous. As a result, we’ve slightly increased both the Spirit cost upon activation and the Stamina cost when a Brink Guard is triggered.
That said, this adjustment does not render spear combos or playstyles ineffective. When used efficiently, the skill still performs at a very high level. We ask for your understanding, as this change was made to prevent situations where simply spamming the skill could allow players to nullify nearly all incoming attacks indefinitely.”
Improved Benefits for Easy Mode
“Although we offer various difficulty adjustment options, we received a great deal of feedback from players who still found themselves unable to overcome certain challenges—even after switching to Easy Mode as a last resort. To address this, we’ve made some changes to the benefits provided in Easy Mode. These adjustments are designed to provide a clearer sense of support for players who choose this option, without significantly affecting the experience of those playing on Normal difficulty. We hope these enhancements allow more players to enjoy the game without compromising the core challenge and satisfaction that Khazan is built around.
- Reduced health and stamina damage taken – especially helpful for players who prefer a guard-based playstyle.
- Increased damage dealt to enemies
Even small decisions like these can have a significant impact on the overall player experience. That’s why we’ve put a great deal of thought into every adjustment and made these changes with care and intention. We’re sincerely grateful to everyone who took the time to share their thoughtful and valuable feedback with us. We hope you’ll enjoy the full release of Khazan, where you can experience the thrill of challenge and accomplishment—and follow the journey of the great general Khazan as he transforms into a berserker, growing stronger through fierce combat and hard-fought battles.”
The team also adds that it’s preparing free DLC scheduled for May, and other improvements are coming as early as next week.
The First Berseker: Khazan is out now for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X.
