The First Berserker: Khazan Achievement Guide: 100% Roadmap

The First Berserker: Khazan puts you in the boots of a disgraced general clawing his way back through 15 boss fights and a web of bonus missions, and its 57 achievements reward both raw combat progress and thorough side-content completion. The trickiest part isn’t any single boss, it’s the Standing Alone achievement, which is voided the moment you summon help, and the two mutually exclusive endings that determine which ending-specific achievements you can get on a given save. This guide covers every achievement in unlock-rate order, with the boss order, ending requirements, and bonus mission details you need for a clean run.

Quick Stats

Total Achievements: 57
Estimated Completion Time: 50-70 hours
Difficulty: 8/10
Online Required: No
Missable Achievements: Standing Alone is the main one to plan around, since summoning any Spirit of Advocacy voids it for that save; the two endings are also mutually exclusive per playthrough unless you use New Game+ or a save backup

Achievement List by Category

Boss Fights

Ruler of the Frozen Mountain
Netherworld’s Phantom of Combat
Berserk Dragon’s General
Fallen Guardian
Origin of the Mutation
Slayer in the Citadel
Consumed by Chaos
No Turning Back
Desperate Escape
Return of the Witch
Hermit
Bloodthirsty Fiend
Traces of Two
Hismar the Berserk Dragon
Reese’s Past

Endings

The Challenger’s Journey
The Expert’s Journey
Standing Alone
Ozma’s Past
THE FIRST BERSERKER
A New Path

Bonus Missions & Story

Human Xilence
Trial of the Sword
Tragedy of Pell Los
The Order
The Hidden Laboratory
Tool of the Netherworld
Faded Memories
Undying Loyalty
The Bard’s Lamentations
Countless Tales

Combat Basics

Combat Essentials
Finishing Strike
Ambush
Skilled Combatant
Piercing Power

Character & Equipment Systems

Upgrade Stats
Tears of the Soul
Fully Equipped
Soulstone Unleashed
Remnants of the Soul
Indomitable
Kaleido
Artisanship
Skilled Blacksmith
Blacksmith’s Resolve
Resourceful Merchant
Merchant’s Wisdom
Pact
Awakened Ghost
Wandering Soul

Collection

Traces of a Stranger
Special Scroll
Danjin’s Jars
Jar Enthusiast
Agent of the Netherworld
Linon’s Beast

Achievements by Category (Detailed)

Boss Fights

Ruler of the Frozen Mountain

Unlock Rate: 90.1% (Common)

Requirement: Defeat Yetuga

How to Unlock: Defeat Yetuga, the ruler of the frozen mountain, at the end of Mount Heinmach. This is the first boss in the game.

Tips: Yetuga attacks with thrown rocks and freezing breath, so keep your distance during the wind-up and close in only when it finishes an attack string.

Netherworld’s Phantom of Combat

Unlock Rate: 84.8% (Common)

Requirement: Defeat Blade Phantom

How to Unlock: Defeat Blade Phantom, an amalgamation of ghosts serving Charon, at the end of the Stormpass. This is the second boss in the game.

Tips: Blade Phantom drops set pieces for the Soul Eater Set along with Netherworld Mineral, so this fight is worth revisiting later if you’re building toward a specific gear set.

Berserk Dragon’s General

Unlock Rate: 76.9% (Common)

Requirement: Defeat Viper

How to Unlock: Defeat Viper, a leader among the dragonkin who wields a scale from Hismar, at the end of the Embars Ruin. This is the third boss in the game.

Tips: Viper mixes magic with a thrown double-bladed swordstaff, so stay mobile to avoid getting caught by ranged strikes between melee exchanges.

Fallen Guardian

Unlock Rate: 70.4% (Common)

Requirement: Defeat Volbaino

How to Unlock: Defeat Volbaino at the end of Phraugh Village. This is the fourth boss in the game.

Tips: This fight is one of the more commonly recorded difficulty spikes on higher difficulties, so don’t hesitate to farm a level or two beforehand if you’re struggling.

Origin of the Mutation

Unlock Rate: 65.7% (Common)

Requirement: Defeat the fifth story boss

How to Unlock: Continue through the story to defeat the game’s fifth major boss encounter.

Tips: This falls in the mid-game story progression, so treat it as a natural checkpoint for reassessing your gear and skill point allocation.

Slayer in the Citadel

Unlock Rate: 61.6% (Common)

Requirement: Defeat the sixth story boss

How to Unlock: Continue through the story to defeat the game’s sixth major boss encounter.

Tips: This continues the mid-game boss gauntlet, so make sure you’re keeping up with skill tree investments as you progress.

Consumed by Chaos

Unlock Rate: 56.1% (Common)

Requirement: Defeat the seventh story boss

How to Unlock: Continue through the story to defeat the game’s seventh major boss encounter, tied to the game’s Chaos corruption theme.

Tips: Chaos-corrupted enemies in this stretch of the game tend to hit harder but telegraph attacks more clearly, so patient blocking and dodging pays off.

No Turning Back

Unlock Rate: 51.6% (Common)

Requirement: Defeat the eighth story boss

How to Unlock: Continue through the story to defeat the game’s eighth major boss encounter.

Tips: The title suggests a point-of-no-return story moment, so expect a narrative shift alongside this fight.

Desperate Escape

Unlock Rate: 43.7% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Defeat the ninth story boss

How to Unlock: Continue through the story to the relevant escape-themed boss encounter or story sequence, potentially tied to escaping the Linon Mine area.

Tips: If this is an escape sequence rather than a standard boss fight, prioritize forward movement over engaging every enemy along the way.

Return of the Witch

Unlock Rate: 43.5% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Defeat Trokka

How to Unlock: Defeat Trokka, an apprentice of Ozma with a natural talent for water magic, whose jellyfish companion embodies both joy and rage.

Tips: Watch for Trokka’s water-based area attacks and keep your dodge timing sharp, since her magic covers wide zones rather than single targets.

Hermit

Unlock Rate: 40.9% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Defeat Bellerian

How to Unlock: Defeat Bellerian, a research-obsessed mage from the dark elves’ kingdom of Fennes.

Tips: Bellerian’s experiments can produce unpredictable summon-based attacks, so prioritize clearing any additional threats she brings into the fight quickly.

Bloodthirsty Fiend

Unlock Rate: 38.5% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Defeat Skalpel

How to Unlock: Defeat Skalpel, a former subordinate of Khazan turned corruptor, who carries a murderous general’s coffin housing a blood-thirsting demon.

Tips: This fight ties into the Traces of Two achievement and Undying Loyalty bonus mission content, so consider working through related side content around the same story point.

Traces of Two

Unlock Rate: 33.0% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Discover the fate of Princess Ilyna and Skalpel

How to Unlock: Complete the Crimson Trace and Last Sentinel bonus missions to discover the connected fate of Princess Ilyna and Skalpel.

Tips: Both bonus missions need to be completed for this to trigger, so don’t assume finishing just one is enough.

Hismar the Berserk Dragon

Unlock Rate: 34.9% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Defeat Hismar

How to Unlock: Defeat Hismar, the largest dragon alive and a major threat to the Pell Los Empire, at the end of the Capital City Vitalon. This is the fourteenth boss in the game.

Tips: This is one of the game’s largest-scale boss encounters, so expect a longer, multi-phase fight and bring your best healing items.

Reese’s Past

Unlock Rate: 30.5% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Discover the secrets of Reese’s past

How to Unlock: Defeat Reese at the end of the Great Temple, the fifteenth and final regular boss before the Ozma endgame, and follow the associated story content revealing her backstory.

Tips: This fight sits right before the endgame stretch, so use it as a checkpoint to make sure your build is ready for the final confrontations.

Endings

The Challenger’s Journey

Unlock Rate: 31.0% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Reach the ending

How to Unlock: Complete the main story and reach any ending by defeating Ozma.

Tips: This unlocks regardless of which specific ending variant you get, so it’s guaranteed on any completed playthrough.

The Expert’s Journey

Unlock Rate: 22.2% (Rare)

Requirement: Reach the ending after a difficult journey

How to Unlock: Complete the main story on a harder difficulty setting (Normal, renamed Expert after the June 2025 patch, or above).

Tips: Players have reported this and The Challenger’s Journey popping simultaneously when finishing on the harder difficulty tier, so you likely won’t need to refight the final boss separately for both.

Standing Alone

Unlock Rate: 19.7% (Rare)

Requirement: Reach the ending without summoning a Spirit of Advocacy

How to Unlock: Complete the entire game without ever summoning a Spirit of Advocacy (the white mist near boss entrances) to aid you in a boss fight. Summoning a Revenant of Adversity or using Phantoms does not affect this achievement, only Spirit of Advocacy summons count against it.

Tips: If you’re not confident you can clear every boss without help, consider a two-playthrough approach: play through once on a harder difficulty using Spirits of Advocacy freely, then do a second, faster playthrough on an easier difficulty without summoning any, specifically to bank this achievement. A developer patch has also reset summon history for players who already cleared the game, so if you’re returning to a save where you didn’t summon on a prior clear, defeating the final boss again may retroactively grant this.

Ozma’s Past

Unlock Rate: 19.9% (Rare)

Requirement: Discover the truth about Ozma

How to Unlock: Collect all 15 Golden Collection Items (Ozma’s letters, found throughout the game and trackable via Khazan’s Memories at any Blade Nexus), then complete the Charon’s Chains and Transcendental Sword bonus missions before reaching the Master of Chaos mission’s finale.

Tips: If this doesn’t unlock even after collecting all 15 items and reaching the True Ending, some players have reported needing to open and read each collected letter from the inventory rather than assuming pickup alone counts; try reviewing them individually if the achievement doesn’t trigger on its own.

THE FIRST BERSERKER

Unlock Rate: 16.2% (Rare)

Requirement: Reach ‘THE FIRST BERSERKER’ ending

How to Unlock: Collect all 15 Golden Collection Items and complete the Charon’s Chains and Transcendental Sword bonus missions. When you find Daphrona at the Corrupted Lounge Blade Nexus during the Master of Chaos mission, select the dialogue option “I must know the truth” to trigger this ending’s three-phase Ozma fight instead of the standard two-phase Chains Ending.

Tips: This is considered the game’s true/main ending and is required alongside all other collectibles for full completion. Make sure you’ve genuinely completed both prerequisite bonus missions before reaching this dialogue point, since missing either one removes the special dialogue option entirely.

A New Path

Unlock Rate: 21.1% (Rare)

Requirement: Embark on the second journey

How to Unlock: After finishing the game and defeating Ozma, choose to start New Game+ with all your existing equipment carried over.

Tips: Starting New Game+ resets any in-progress collectible achievements that weren’t finished, so make sure you’ve completed everything you want from your first playthrough (like Ozma’s Past and Agent of the Netherworld) before starting over.

Bonus Missions & Story

Human Xilence

Unlock Rate: 51.8% (Common)

Requirement: Allow Xilence to find peace at last

How to Unlock: Complete the Final Conquest bonus mission, resolving Xilence’s storyline.

Tips: This bonus mission becomes available after certain story milestones, so check in with relevant NPCs at The Crevice regularly if it hasn’t appeared yet.

Trial of the Sword

Unlock Rate: 36.9% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Overcome the trial of the sword

How to Unlock: Complete the bonus mission content tied to obtaining Charon’s Chains, which involves overcoming a specific trial of the sword challenge.

Tips: This is one of the two bonus missions required as a prerequisite for the game’s true ending, so prioritize it if you’re working toward THE FIRST BERSERKER achievement.

Tragedy of Pell Los

Unlock Rate: 36.8% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Learn the truth behind the Pell Los Empire’s fall

How to Unlock: Progress through the relevant story or bonus mission content revealing details about the tragedy that befell the Pell Los Empire.

Tips: This ties closely into the game’s central mystery about Khazan’s false accusation, so pay attention to notes and dialogue referencing the Empire’s history as you explore.

The Order

Unlock Rate: 34.4% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Complete the Centurial Order bonus mission

How to Unlock: Complete the Centurial Order bonus mission, given automatically after completing the Strange Melody mission.

Tips: Since this triggers automatically after a specific main mission, you shouldn’t need to seek it out manually as long as you’re progressing the main story.

The Hidden Laboratory

Unlock Rate: 34.0% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Unveil the mysteries of El Ravaca’s laboratory

How to Unlock: Complete the Remnants of Chaos bonus mission, uncovering the secrets of El Ravaca’s hidden laboratory.

Tips: This bonus mission ties into the game’s Chaos corruption lore, so it pairs thematically with other Chaos-related achievements like Consumed by Chaos.

Tool of the Netherworld

Unlock Rate: 33.7% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Complete a Netherworld-related bonus mission

How to Unlock: Progress through the relevant bonus mission or story content connecting Khazan to the forces of the Netherworld.

Tips: This likely connects to the Blade Phantom and Charon storyline threads, so following those NPCs’ dialogue options closely should surface this content.

Faded Memories

Unlock Rate: 33.5% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Learn of Andell and Seona’s story

How to Unlock: Complete the relevant bonus mission content revealing the story of Andell and Seona.

Tips: This is one of several character-backstory bonus missions, so check in regularly with NPCs at The Crevice after defeating each new boss to make sure you’re not missing dialogue triggers.

Undying Loyalty

Unlock Rate: 33.2% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Rescue the wrongfully accused subordinates

How to Unlock: Complete the Last Command bonus mission, rescuing subordinates who were wrongfully accused.

Tips: This ties thematically into Khazan’s own false accusation storyline, so it’s a meaningful side quest to complete rather than just a checklist item.

The Bard’s Lamentations

Unlock Rate: 27.0% (Rare)

Requirement: Learn about Digor’s hidden past

How to Unlock: During the Vitalon mission, talk to the bard character in each of his available locations: Embars, Skoffa Cave, Rephalan, Rovelion, and Vitalon.

Tips: You need to catch the bard at all 5 locations across the story, so if you skip talking to him in an earlier area, backtrack via fast travel before reaching Vitalon.

Countless Tales

Unlock Rate: 29.0% (Rare)

Requirement: Complete all bonus missions

How to Unlock: Complete every bonus mission in the game, including Birth of Evil (available through the Vitalon, Capital of the Empire Spectral Portal after completing Fall of the Empire).

Tips: This achievement has been reported as buggy if bonus missions aren’t completed in roughly the correct order, so follow a bonus mission checklist alongside your playthrough rather than doing them in a random sequence.

Combat Basics

Combat Essentials

Unlock Rate: 97.5% (Common)

Requirement: Use a consumable for the first time

How to Unlock: Pick up any consumable item as loot after defeating an enemy, then use it from your Inventory menu.

Tips: This unlocks within the first area of the game as soon as you use any healing or buff item.

Finishing Strike

Unlock Rate: 93.8% (Common)

Requirement: Use a brutal attack

How to Unlock: Land a Brutal Attack finisher on a staggered enemy.

Tips: Stagger an enemy through repeated hits or a parry, then use the finisher prompt that appears to trigger this early in the game.

Ambush

Unlock Rate: 93.5% (Common)

Requirement: Defeat an enemy using a breakfall

How to Unlock: Use the breakfall mechanic to recover from a knockdown and immediately counter-kill an enemy.

Tips: This unlocks naturally as you learn the game’s recovery mechanics during early combat encounters.

Skilled Combatant

Unlock Rate: 90.5% (Common)

Requirement: Learn a combat skill

How to Unlock: First available in Stormpass, spend Skill Points in the Skill Tree menu to learn any combat skill.

Tips: This is one of the earliest permanent progression unlocks, so spend your first Skill Points as soon as you have them.

Piercing Power

Unlock Rate: 90.0% (Common)

Requirement: Use the javelin

How to Unlock: Throw the javelin weapon at an enemy or environmental object.

Tips: Javelins are also useful for breaking Soulstones that are out of melee reach, so this pairs naturally with your Soulstone collection efforts.

Character & Equipment Systems

Upgrade Stats

Unlock Rate: 96.8% (Common)

Requirement: Upgrade a stat

How to Unlock: Spend stat points to upgrade any of Khazan’s core stats.

Tips: This is available from very early in the game, so spend your first stat points as soon as the option opens up.

Tears of the Soul

Unlock Rate: 95.6% (Common)

Requirement: Retrieve Lacrima using the power of the ghost

How to Unlock: Use Blade Phantom’s ghost-related ability to retrieve Lacrima from a defeated enemy or the environment.

Tips: This ties into the Blade Phantom pact mechanic, so it naturally follows after forming your Pact with Blade Phantom.

Fully Equipped

Unlock Rate: 90.0% (Common)

Requirement: Equip a piece of gear in every slot

How to Unlock: Equip a piece of gear (dropped by enemies as loot or found in chests) into every available gear slot.

Tips: This happens naturally within the first couple of hours as you loot gear from early enemies and areas.

Soulstone Unleashed

Unlock Rate: 81.6% (Common)

Requirement: Upgrade abilities by unleashing the power of Soulstones

How to Unlock: Talk to Daphrona in the Realm of the Immortals section of The Crevice and spend collected Soulstones to increase the effect of Netherworld Energy or Lacrima drop amounts.

Tips: Soulstones are the glowing red crystals you break throughout the world, so this naturally follows once you’ve gathered a handful and visited Daphrona.

Remnants of the Soul

Unlock Rate: 77.2% (Common)

Requirement: Have Oksana extract Lacrima

How to Unlock: Visit Oksana and have her extract Lacrima from your collected materials.

Tips: This is a straightforward NPC interaction once you’ve gathered enough Lacrima-related materials to make the visit worthwhile.

Indomitable

Unlock Rate: 43.3% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Augment gear

How to Unlock: Use the gear augmentation system to enhance a piece of equipment.

Tips: This system tends to open up a bit later than basic upgrades, so don’t worry if it’s not available in the earliest areas.

Kaleido

Unlock Rate: 45.6% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Have Oksana alter attributes

How to Unlock: Visit Oksana and use her attribute-altering service on a piece of gear or a character stat.

Tips: This ties into the Kaleido bonus mission content, so completing that questline naturally leads you to this interaction.

Artisanship

Unlock Rate: 53.9% (Common)

Requirement: Craft a special item

How to Unlock: Use crafting materials to craft any special item through the game’s crafting system.

Tips: This becomes available once you’ve gathered enough basic crafting materials from early exploration.

Skilled Blacksmith

Unlock Rate: 51.6% (Common)

Requirement: Have Qazumaka craft gear

How to Unlock: Visit Qazumaka the blacksmith and have him craft a piece of gear for you.

Tips: This is a simple NPC interaction once you have the materials needed for a basic crafted item.

Blacksmith’s Resolve

Unlock Rate: 62.6% (Common)

Requirement: Have Qazumaka dismantle gear

How to Unlock: Visit Qazumaka and have him dismantle a piece of gear you no longer need.

Tips: Dismantling unwanted gear is also a good way to recover crafting materials, so this pairs naturally with regular inventory management.

Resourceful Merchant

Unlock Rate: 61.4% (Common)

Requirement: Purchase an item from Duimuk

How to Unlock: Visit the merchant Duimuk and purchase any item from his shop.

Tips: This is available from your first visit to Duimuk’s shop, so it’s easy to knock out early.

Merchant’s Wisdom

Unlock Rate: 49.3% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Sell an item to Duimuk

How to Unlock: Sell any item to Duimuk from your inventory.

Tips: Selling off duplicate or low-value gear you’re not using is a simple way to trigger this.

Pact

Unlock Rate: 56.8% (Common)

Requirement: Form a pact with Blade Phantom

How to Unlock: After defeating Blade Phantom, form a pact with him through the associated story dialogue.

Tips: This follows directly from defeating Blade Phantom, so it unlocks as part of normal story progression shortly after that boss fight.

Awakened Ghost

Unlock Rate: 81.0% (Common)

Requirement: Wake a dormant ghost from its slumber

How to Unlock: Complete the Stormpass’ Phantom of Combat bonus mission.

Tips: This bonus mission becomes available in the Stormpass area, so check with relevant NPCs there if you haven’t encountered it yet.

Wandering Soul

Unlock Rate: 75.1% (Common)

Requirement: Summon a wandering soul of the rift

How to Unlock: Interact with a Spirit of Adversity (a glowing red silhouette) in any map area; the first one appears in Phraugh.

Tips: Defeating the resulting Revenant of Adversity also grants a resource used to summon Spirits of Advocacy before boss fights, so this is worth doing regularly throughout your playthrough regardless of this achievement.

Collection

Traces of a Stranger

Unlock Rate: 97.8% (Common)

Requirement: Discover a collection item

How to Unlock: Pick up any Collections-type loot item (marked with a distinct highlight) found throughout the world.

Tips: This unlocks within the first area, since collection items are scattered generously from the very start of the game.

Special Scroll

Unlock Rate: 77.7% (Common)

Requirement: Obtain a special scroll

How to Unlock: Find and pick up any Special Scroll collectible.

Tips: Special Scrolls tend to be tied to specific side content or hidden areas, so thorough exploration naturally turns these up.

Danjin’s Jars

Unlock Rate: 65.8% (Common)

Requirement: Find one of Danjin’s jarlings

How to Unlock: Find and collect any single one of Danjin’s jarling collectibles scattered throughout the game.

Tips: Jarlings are tracked alongside Soulstone collection in most collectible guides, so pursue both together during exploration.

Jar Enthusiast

Unlock Rate: 17.7% (Rare)

Requirement: Find all of Danjin’s jarlings

How to Unlock: Locate and collect every one of Danjin’s jarlings across all game areas.

Tips: Use a dedicated jarling location guide alongside your playthrough, since these are easy to miss without a specific checklist to follow.

Agent of the Netherworld

Unlock Rate: 15.7% (Rare)

Requirement: Destroy every Soulstone

How to Unlock: Locate and destroy all 100 Soulstones scattered across the game, breaking them with a melee weapon or javelin when they’re out of reach.

Tips: Soulstones only serve to increase Netherworld Energy or Lacrima drop rates through Daphrona, so there’s no downside to prioritizing full collection, and a dedicated Soulstone location guide speeds this up considerably.

Linon’s Beast

Unlock Rate: 47.8% (Uncommon)

Requirement: Complete the Escaping Linon Mine bonus mission

How to Unlock: Complete the Escaping Linon Mine bonus mission content, which involves a boss-type encounter within the mine.

Tips: This bonus mission appears to be tied to escaping a specific hazardous area, so prioritize forward progress over lingering to fight every enemy if you’re finding the section overwhelming.

5-Phase 100% Completion Roadmap

Phase 1: First Playthrough Decision Decide upfront whether you’re chasing Standing Alone on this save. If yes, avoid ever summoning a Spirit of Advocacy, though you can still use Revenants of Adversity and Phantoms freely. If the game proves too difficult without help, it’s better to summon and finish the game than not finish at all, planning a second playthrough later for Standing Alone instead.

P2: Story and Boss Progress Play through all 15 main bosses in sequence, forming your Pact with Blade Phantom after his fight and using Daphrona and Oksana regularly to build out Soulstone and Lacrima systems. This naturally covers most Combat Basics and Character & Equipment Systems achievements.

P3: Bonus Mission and Collectible Sweep Check in with NPCs at The Crevice after every boss fight to catch new bonus missions as they unlock, following a bonus mission checklist to avoid the ordering issues that can bug out Countless Tales. Simultaneously work through Soulstone, jarling, and Special Scroll collection using dedicated location guides.

P4: True Ending Prerequisites Before reaching the Master of Chaos mission, make sure you’ve collected all 15 Golden Collection Items (Ozma’s letters) and completed both the Charon’s Chains and Transcendental Sword bonus missions. At Daphrona’s dialogue in the Corrupted Lounge Blade Nexus, choose “I must know the truth” for THE FIRST BERSERKER ending and its three-phase Ozma fight.

P5: New Game+ and Standing Alone Cleanup After your first ending, start New Game+ for A New Path, carrying over your gear. If you didn’t manage Standing Alone on your first run, use this or a subsequent playthrough to clear the game without summoning any Spirit of Advocacy, taking advantage of your carried-over gear to make the run more manageable.

Conclusion

The First Berserker: Khazan’s achievement list rewards players who explore thoroughly and check in with NPCs after every boss rather than rushing straight through the main story. The genuine planning point is Standing Alone, since a single Spirit of Advocacy summon locks it out for that save, and the two endings fork based on a specific dialogue choice tied to completing both prerequisite bonus missions. Pace your bonus mission completion alongside the main story, save a backup before major ending decisions if you want flexibility, and full completion comes down to patience with the game’s brutal boss fights rather than any hidden trick.