The First Berserker: Khazan - PC performance graphics benchmarks of Graphics Cards and Processors
We have tested the latest game The First Berserker: Khazan on maximum graphics settings with GeForce RTX and Radeon RX series video cards. We also evaluated the performance and quality of the game's graphics during our tests.
| THE GRAFICAL PART |
This subsection of our review highlights the main graphical aspects of this game. Particular attention is paid to the version of the graphics engine used, the version of the API used, graphic settings and the quality of development of the main visual aspects.
| Supported OS and Graphics API |
The First Berserker: Khazan offers an atmospheric adventure in a fantasy world, designed for 64-bit systems running Windows 10 or 11. The game requires installation on an SSD for stable performance and uses DirectX 11 or 12 depending on the capabilities of the system. Below are the system requirements and a brief description of the differences between minimal и maximum graphics settings (while maintaining the main visual advantages of the game).
The First Berserker: Khazan System Requirements
Minimum system requirements
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Operating system: Windows 10 (64-bit, version 22H2)
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Processor: Intel Core i3-6300 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
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Memory: 12 GB
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Video card:
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
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AMD Radeon RX 580
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Intel Arc A580
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DirectX: Version 11
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Disk space: 70 GB (SSD required)
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Extra charges: Suitable for low graphic settings
Recommended System Requirements
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Operating system: Windows 11 (64-bit, version 21H2)
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Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600
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Memory: 16 GB
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Video card:
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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
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AMD Radeon RX 5700XT
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Intel Arc A750
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DirectX: Version 12
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Disk space: 70 GB (SSD required)
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Extra charges: Suitable for High graphic settings
| DEVELOPMENT HISTORY |
The First Berserker: Khazan is a hardcore role-playing game from the South Korean studio Neople, previously known for the popular online action game Dungeon Fighter Online. The project was officially announced in 2023, and the full release took place on March 27, 2025 on PC and current-generation consoles. Development began much earlier - the first internal developments appeared back in 2020. The Neople team set a goal to create a single-player game with a deep combat process and cinematic presentation, using the DNF universe as a setting.
The peculiarity of the approach was that Khazan became a prequel, the action of which unfolds 800 years before the events of Dungeon Fighter Online. The game focuses on the story of a character named Kazan, a great warrior, unjustly accused of betrayal and exile. The development was carried out on the studio's own developments, but also taking into account modern trends in the soulslike genre. The creators were inspired by FromSoftware projects, in particular, Sekiro and Elden Ring.
The game has been showcased several times at Korean and international exhibitions such as G-Star, where it received positive reviews for its combat system and visual style. During development, a number of internal tests were conducted to balance the combat mechanics, control response, and optimization for different platforms. The developers emphasized high difficulty and a minimalist approach to the user interface, which should enhance immersion.
| GRAPHICS |
The graphics in The First Berserker: Khazan are made using 3D cel-shading, which gives the game a visual style close to anime and manga. This approach allows the game to convey the drama of the events while maintaining sharp contours, high readability of animations, and a visual identity with Korean illustrations. The overall art style of the game refers to dark fantasy and is visually reminiscent of works such as Kentaro Miura's Berserk.
Despite the stylized presentation, the game uses modern rendering: realistic lighting, elaborate material shaders, reflections and dynamic shadows. However, critics note that when the camera is close, limitations in texture and geometry detail are visible, especially in secondary objects and the environment. The graphics emphasize the atmosphere of the world, but do not aim to achieve photorealism.
The visuals in combat are built around readability: bursts of energy, blade marks, parries, and dodges are highlighted with bright colors and particles. The game tries to maintain a stable frame rate, especially on consoles, where two modes are available: performance (60 FPS) and quality (higher detail at 30 FPS). On PC, players have access to a wide range of graphics settings, but ray tracing and scaling technologies like DLSS/FSR are not available at launch.
| GAME ENGINE |
The First Berserker: Khazan was developed on Unreal Engine 4, a proven and flexible solution that Neople adapted to the needs of a single-player RPG with an emphasis on dynamic battles. The engine allowed for the implementation of responsive combat mechanics, a precise parry system, and flexible enemy behavior settings. Thanks to the well-developed UE4 architecture, the developers achieved high stability and fast response with minimal input lag, which is critical for hardcore gameplay.
Special attention was paid to the verticality of the levels. The engine supports three-dimensional movement, including jumping, climbing and jumping off of elevated surfaces. These elements are actively used in the design of levels and bosses. The artificial intelligence of opponents is built on behavior patterns and triggers, which makes battles unpredictable on the first playthrough, but repeatable when learning patterns.
UE4 allowed the studio to integrate modern visual effects, but it also limited the use of newer technologies available in Unreal Engine 5. In particular, the game lacks ray tracing, Nanite and Lumen. However, thanks to a well-optimized implementation of standard UE4 tools, the game demonstrates stable operation both on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, as well as on mid-budget PC configurations. Fast scene loading and high scalability of the engine ensure smooth gameplay on all platforms.
As such, The First Berserker: Khazan takes full advantage of Unreal Engine 4, offering a balanced combination of visual style, technical stability and deep combat mechanics.
| QUALITY |
Minimum settings
In this mode, textures and models have a lower resolution, and lighting and shadow effects work in a simplified form. The density of environmental details is reduced, so distant objects appear less detailed. Volumetric effects (fog, smoke) and other post-processing elements can be displayed in a reduced form, preserving the basic atmosphere of the world, but without deep visual immersion.
Maximum settings
At high settings, the game includes improved models, higher-resolution textures, and more detailed lighting with detailed shadows. The drawing distance increases significantly, the environment looks more alive due to additional objects and effects (dense vegetation, realistic weather conditions). Advanced post-processing is activated (glare, saturated colors, realistic fog), enhancing the depth and cinematic quality of the picture.
| TEST PART |
Below you will find a table of equipment that was kindly provided by our sponsors: GIGABYTE, ASUS, Kingston и Deep Cool. It reflects the list of motherboards, video cards, memory modules and cooling systems used in the tests, and also indicates the current configuration of the operating system and drivers.
| Test configuration | |
| GIGABYTE | |
| motherboards | |
| ASUS | |
| motherboards | |
| Video Cards |
ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC |
| KINGSTON | |
| RAM |
16 GB DDR4 4600 CL19 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR4 3600 CL16 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR4 4000 CL18 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 5600 CL40 Kingston Fury Beast 32 GB DDR5 6000 CL30 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 7200 CL36 Kingston FURY Renegade |
| Storage devices |
Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD |
| Deep Cool | |
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Cases and cooling |
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| Software configuration |
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| Operating system | Windows 11 24H2 |
| Graphics driver |
Nvidia GeForce/ION Driver Release 572.83 WHQL AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 25.3.2 |
| Monitoring programs | MSI Afterburner 4.6.6 Beta 5 Build 16555 |
All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality using MSI Afterburner. The purpose of the test is to determine how video cards from different manufacturers behave under the same conditions. Below is a video of a test segment from the game:
Our video cards were tested at different screen sizes 1920x1080, 2560x1440 и 3840x2160 with Ultra High graphics quality settings without upscales.
| TEST GPU |
In the video card test, the default resolution is 1920x1080; other resolutions are added and removed manually. You can also remove and add any positions of video cards. You can also select any of our test processors from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the given video card tests (by default, the most productive solution is selected). The test is carried out on the most powerful CPU in this game and is scaled to other processors, taking into account their testing on NVIDIA and AMD video cards.
- Max
When resolved 1920x1080:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
When resolved 2560x1440:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
When resolved 3840x2160:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the Radeon RX 6800 or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti level.
| VIDEO MEMORY CONSUMPTION |
Testing of video memory consumed by the game was carried out by the program MSI Afterburner. The indicator was based on the results on video cards from AMD and NVIDIA with separate screen sizes 1920x1080, 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 with various anti-aliasing settings. By default, the graph displays the most current solutions. Other video cards are added and removed from the chart at the request of the reader.
- Max
GameGPU
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 3 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 3 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 4 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 4 GB
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 3 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 4 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 4 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 5 GB
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 4 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 5 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 5 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 5 GB
| CPU TEST |
Testing was carried out at a resolution of 1920x1080. In the processor test, you can remove or add any processor positions. You can also select any tested video card from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the given processor test results (by default, the most productive solution from NVIDIA is selected). Testing takes place on the most powerful NVIDIA and AMD video cards and scales to low-end models.
- Max
When using NVIDIA video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Processors for comfortable FPS (at least 60 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3300
- Intel Core i3-10100
When using AMD video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Processors for comfortable FPS (at least 60 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3300
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Max
Loading and using streams:
- Maximum load: The game can load up to 12 streams.
- Optimal loading: Uses up to 8 threads as efficiently as possible.
| RAM TEST |
The test was carried out on the basic configuration of Core i 9 13900K with 32 GB DDR5 6400 MHz pre-installed memory. All used RAM was taken as an indicator. The RAM test on the entire system was carried out on various video cards without launching third-party applications (browsers, etc.). In the graphics, you can add and remove any resolutions and video cards as desired.
- Max
GameGPU
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
| SPONSORS TESTS |
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