The First Berserker: Khazan’s devs don’t think of the game as a soulslike, but rather a 3D successor to Dungeon Fighter Online for consoles 

The First Berserker: Khazan is a “hardcore” action RPG currently in development by Dungeon & Fighter developer Neople (owned by Nexon). The title’s grueling bosses and technical gameplay have been earning it comparisons to soulslike games, but its developers don’t think of it as belonging to the genre. 

Talking to GameWATCH in a recently published interview, Neople’s CEO Myung-Jin Yoon and Khazan’s creative director Junho Lee say that they don’t consider their upcoming game to be a soulslike. Although there may be similarities, Khazan is first and foremost a successor to Neople’s nearly 20-year-running RPG Dungeon Fighter Online. The developers consider it to be a “What if” project that transposes the essence of Dungeon Fighter Online into a full price, 3D console game. 

As such, the battle system, combos, weapons and skills of The First Berserker: Khazan were designed to echo the uniqueness of Dungeon Fighter Online, rather than soulslike games. Dungeon Fighter Online was notoriously difficult at the time of its initial launch but has mellowed through the years. 

With The First Berserker: Khazan, Neople are determined to keep things challenging. Although they are experimenting with ways to make the game less punishing in response to user feedback on playtests, they do not intend to make it easy. One of their goals is to give players a sense of accomplishment upon overcoming difficulties. 

The First Berserker: Khazan is scheduled to launch in early 2025 for the PC (Steam), PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.