Developer Neople’s upcoming action RPG The First Berserker: Khazan is yet another ambitious project coming from under the umbrella of parent company Nexon. The First Berserker: Khazan builds off the foundation of DNF Duel to provide players with an action RPG featuring a heavy emphasis on the “action” part of the equation. While Khazan is a character that features prominently in the Dungeon & Fighter universe, Nexon’s The First Berserker: Khazan is meant to give players some important insight into his background and motivations.
At Gamescom, Game Rant spoke with Khazan‘s executive director and creative director regarding the game’s mechanics, stylistic influences, and narrative connections to Neople’s popular DNF games. The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
The First Berserker: Khazan Represents a Bold New Chapter in the DNF Franchise
Q: Can you start by introducing yourselves to readers?
Myeong-jin: My name is Yoon Myeong-jin. I’m the executive director of Khazan and CEO of Neople.
Jun-Ho: My name is Lee Jun-Ho. I’m the creative director of Khazan. Thank you for your time.
Q: How do the more “hardcore” elements of The First Berserker: Khazan’s gameplay relate to the main character’s story?
Jun-Ho: The main character, Khazan, is the great general in the Dungeon & Fighter universe. In the original story, he gets accused of treason by the Empire and is sent into exile and dies. In The First Berserker: Khazan, he still gets sent into exile but is somehow able to survive.
The story of how he survives will unfold as players play the game. The story is really about uncovering the conspiracy behind his exile while also incorporating the drama of his quest for revenge. Khazan sacrificed everything in service of the Empire, and the Empire in turn sacrificed Khazan. The story of the revenge is shown through the art, the game’s mechanics, the battle, and the action; all of these elements try to support the story.
Q: What would you say the role of The First Berserker: Khazan is in the overall DNF universe?
Myeong-jin: In the Dungeon & Fighter universe, we have a very important class called Slayer. These Slayers have red Ghost Arms, and players might wonder where they came from. In The First Berserker: Khazan, it is explained why the Slayers have these arms. In The First Berserker: Khazan, players get to witness how the disease that causes the Ghost Arm is invented. There are so many incidents that happen in the DNF universe and the one that involves Khazan is also a very critical one.
Through this game, we’re trying to explain what happened there and tell the story. Dungeon & Fighter has been active for a really long time, but we’re still trying to reach Western markets and introduce them to the game. We believe that Khazan is a great starting place.
Q: Neople is calling The First Berserker: Khazan a “hardcore action RPG” versus a full-blown Soulslike. What do you think are the defining differences between this game and the traditional Soulslike formula?
Myeong-jin: Is Khazan completely different from other Soulslikes? Probably not. There are a lot of similarities between the two, and while we hope that there’s not too clear of a line that can be drawn between them, we wanted to pay homage to the original franchise (Dark Souls). With the very pressuring monster battles, it may be a little similar to Soulslike games.
Once you progress in the game, in the later parts, you have so many skills — you have things that will encourage you to grow Khazan beyond what players are used to in a Soulslike. There are lavish combos that pay homage to DNF, so I think that’s a clear differentiating point compared to Soulslike games.
Q: In action RPGs, builds are always very important. Some games offer a wide variety of builds versus build depth. When it comes to that balance, build variety versus build depth, what is the approach of The First Berserker: Khazan?
Jun-Ho: We achieved both variety and depth when it comes to basing builds around weapons and gear. In terms of variety, each weapon has its own characteristics. You have two-handed weapons like great swords, which have high weight and are slow but also powerful. Spears are fast, making a flurry of attacks possible, and so on. I know players enjoy the game in different ways, and we try to design the game in a way that they can find the build they like and also test that build and try different builds as well.
Internally, within the team at Neople, we have action game lovers, we have console game lovers, so we were able to identify that players have all different styles. Sometimes they like being more proactive in their playstyle, while other times they prefer a heavy one-hit that can eliminate the enemy at once. We believe that there’s no set answer to “What is the right style to play the game?”. We try to incorporate both variety and depth into the builds so that players can enjoy the game in a way they love.
Q: Were there any specific guiding principles at play when it came to designing The First Berserker: Khazan’s bosses?
Jun-Ho: What we thought was very important when designing the bosses was this feeling that Kazan needs to go into the fight and win that battle with an imposing foe. That kind of narrative element was very important when it came to designing the boss battles. That includes the look and feel of the boss, but also the incorporation of a justification for each battle.
It’s about facing challenges, overcoming those challenges, and achieving victory over the boss enemies. We wanted it to be challenging but not have the player feel like they can’t win, and part of getting players to want to overcome that struggle comes through in the narrative justification for each battle. With each boss battle, there will, of course, be both failures and successes.
Even in defeat, we didn’t want the player to give up. It was important for us to make sure that the visibility of attacks was factored into each boss’ design so that the player could read and learn their patterns. That way, when they do win, it’s not just due to a stroke of luck, and if they lose they’ve learned more about the boss’ patterns to help them next time.
The First Berserker: Khazan is scheduled to release in 2025.
