Of all the Soulslikes coming up on the horizon, few of them have captured attention like Neople and Nexon’s action RPG The First Berserker: Khazan, a grimdark take on the Dungeon and Fighter universe, and a game that has looked consistently promising with its pre-release showings. From the promise of crunching and challenging combat to its striking, stylized art tyle, to the strong impression it has made with pre-release previews, The First Berserker: Khazan has plenty going for it that makes it one of 2025’s more prominent releases. Recently, we had the chance to speak with its developers about its combat, approach to difficulty, level design, and more. You can read the full interview below.
"While many hardcore action RPGs and Soulsborne games lean toward surreal, complex art with high-end design and graphics, we aim to bring an animated and anime-inspired style to Khazan."
The First Berserker: Khazan’s stylized art style is one of its most instantly eye-catching elements. How did you land on this look for the game?
As a longtime console game enthusiast, particularly in action RPGs, I have long envisioned a game with a style like Khazan’s. Since childhood, I’ve been a fan of this genre, and that passion deeply influenced my approach to developing this game. Our goal of evolving the Dungeon and Fighter (DNF) Universe and expanding it globally with a console launch inspired us to create a fresh new art style for the IP. While many hardcore action RPGs and Soulsborne games lean toward surreal, complex art with high-end design and graphics, we aim to bring an animated and anime-inspired style to Khazan. This choice stays true to the DNF aesthetic while also refreshing the look for Western audiences who may be less familiar with the universe. We aim to achieve a cinematic quality for Khazan that is often found in mature-audience animation, focusing on two primary elements: bold, gritty, and intense battle scenes, paired with high-quality cartoon rendering to immerse players in a dark, atmospheric setting. We also believed that this animation style would better express the ultimate combat feeling we pursue and the action scenes that Khazan unfolds. Through this approach, we hope to engage a global audience by delivering intense battles with detailed, cel-based animation.
How heavily will The First Berserker: Khazan emphasize its story and storytelling?
The First Berserker: Khazan is a work fundamentally structured around its story. We designed all content, systems, and gameplay to revolve around the narrative. Furthermore, the protagonist Khazan is a hero who becomes the ancestor of the Slayer class, one of DFO’s signature classes. He is one of the most crucial figures in the DFO universe and its grand narrative. In the original Dungeon and Fighter, Khazan is exiled and killed, but in The First Berserker: Khazan, the whole story is reconstructed as Khazan dramatically survives the expulsion process. Through this, players familiar with the original can experience a new aspect of the universe, while new players who don’t know the original can enjoy the gameplay and story without any prior knowledge. Starting with The First Berserker: Khazan, the Dungeon and Fighter Universe will continue to expand.
It looks like the game will adopt a level-based structure. With that in mind, what can you tell us about how heavily it will emphasize exploration? Should players expect anything specific in how they traverse the world?
Yes, it leans towards a closed-level design. While we chose a linear structure, we made various efforts to incorporate the joy of adventure and exploration throughout the game. Speaking just about level and world play, we’ve placed various routes and hidden elements, and sometimes there are powerful enemies or traps. Through these elements, players can obtain important set items, crafting recipes, and various power sources for Khazan. Moreover, we wanted Khazan’s journey to be more than just a revenge story – we wanted players to uncover different aspects of past events through this adventure and exploration. In particular, players can obtain key items related to the director’s true ending among various possible endings.
"We wanted Khazan’s journey to be more than just a revenge story – we wanted players to uncover different aspects of past events through this adventure and exploration. In particular, players can obtain key items related to the director’s true ending among various possible endings."
What can you tell us about your approach to designing enemies and bosses? How much variety should players expect from the game on this front?
We consider adventure, challenge, and a sense of accomplishment as the core elements of gameplay. While challenges inevitably involve failure, we believe that failure should lead to another attempt, and it is important to ensure that the process remains enjoyable. Therefore, we have provided clear feedback at every stage of decision-making during challenges. Our goal is to lead players to face various enemies, learn their patterns, resist their attacks, and ultimately grow both the player and the character, Khazan.
Additionally, we designed a game in which players can take different moves in terms of strategy and tried to provide clear feedback or accomplishment for each attempt. Some attacks must be better defeated with guards, yet in others, players will defend certain attacks more effectively with dodge. They can sometimes even dodge an attack simply by going past, although the direction of walking is essential in this case. To sum up, combat in Khazan is meant to allow players to defeat each attack and defense with their own techniques. Players are able to mix up different weapons, items and skills to define their own paly style to defeat the boss monster once they reach a level where they can see and respond to the enemy patterns. We believe there will be as many defeat strategies as the number of players.
Combat content such as bosses and enemies, as well as elements like level design, were created to allow for progressive new challenges that match the various states and levels of both the player and Khazan. The main mission bosses all have strong personalities and various ways to defeat them. Beyond encountering different bosses, players can discover new aspects each time they challenge a boss.
Furthermore, while you may encounter bosses in sub-missions that are similar to some main bosses, we designed these encounters to provide new experiences and challenges from a gameplay perspective.
How expansive will The First Berserker: Khazan’s progression and customization systems be? How heavily will the game emphasize build diversity?
The weapons in The First Berserker: Khazan are comparable to that of characters in other games. Dual Wields, Greatsword, and Spear can be simply seen as three different play styles, but they are more distinguishable from one another in terms of attack power, speed, range, pace, as well as attack and defense techniques. The skill tree system once again details them down furthermore. We believe our players have unique preferences when it comes to gameplay, so the system is built to satisfy all different styles. The First Berserker: Khazan aims for adventures, challenges, and character development. It is a game that allows players to develop their own styles. It isn’t about gamers selecting a weapon from a variety and confirming their choice of battle style. By selecting a weapon, they will decide the general combat style and using different actions provided by the skill tree system, they can search for and develop their preferred combat style while also enhancing it with various options, set effects for each gear, and different item combinations. By combining these elements, players can enjoy the game with various appearances and builds.
Will the game feature difficulty options?
While we originally stated that there are no plans for difficulty options, we are now testing a mode with lowered difficulty within the team. Our primary goal was for players to become fully engaged with the character and sympathize with his difficult circumstances; however, there were requests for difficulty settings. It is still unclear whether there will be an easy or story mode, but we want to encourage more players to participate in the game and discover its fundamental fun. Details are being tested and reviewed, and we plan to do several internal tests before real deployment.
"It is still unclear whether there will be an easy or story mode, but we want to encourage more players to participate in the game and discover its fundamental fun. Details are being tested and reviewed, and we plan to do several internal tests before real deployment."
Roughly how long will an average playthrough of the game be?
Since the game isn’t completely linear and includes elements of adventure and exploration, along with various farming and build options, and because the gameplay time can vary significantly depending on player skill and choices, it’s difficult to specify an exact playtime. However, as a single-package game, we have prepared a substantial amount of content, and based on the development team’s standard playthrough, the time required to reach the true ending is quite substantial.