One of the big upcoming souls-like games is The First Berserker: Khazan. I got some hands-on time with the title at the Tokyo Game Show 2024. I also got to sit down with the game’s creative director, Junho Lee, and art director, Kyuchul Lee, to discuss the game’s connection to the nearly 20-year-running Dungeon Fighter Online, the art style transition from 2D to 3D, and the game’s punishing difficulty.

Like with 2022’s DNF Duel, The First Berserker: Khazan is a Dungeon & Fighter franchise game. However, rather than being a 2D beat ’em up or an Arc System Works 2D fighter, Khazan is a souls-like 3D action game. “This is our first console game as a developer. We’ve done mobile games in the past but Khazan is our attempt to expand the IP into the console market as a 3D action game,” Junho Lee began. “We’re lovers of action games, you know? So we’ve looked at a lot of games and thought about how to blend all these great features into our game, Khazan.”

But what particular titles inspired Khazan? “There were numerous games, 3D action games—hunting games like Monster Hunter—were an inspiration.” Junho Lee told me. “The Fromsoft Dark Souls series, Sekiro, Nioh, Bloodborne—you name it. Ghost of Tsushima was also an inspiration.”

Of course, the biggest inspiration was not one of gameplay, but one of lore. The First Berserker: Khazan is more than just a side story to Dungeon Fighter Online. “We wouldn’t just call it a simple ‘crossover.’ It’s more about tapping into the story of the original game in a bit more detail. The narrative concept of Khazan is that the story is set 800 years before [Dungeon Fighter Online]. Khazan as a character is a legendary figure that has only been talked about in the original game,” Junho Lee explained. “In developing Khazan, we got a chance to dive in deeply and talk about these untold stories in a lot of detail—and expand the world of Dungeon & Fighter.”

Of course, going from 2D to 3D is no simple task. “With side view games, you’re only allowed to move from side to side. Your safe spaces are limited if you think about how the characters move, but with 3D games, you’re using all three axes for movements and actions,” Junho Lee continued. “The camera follows Khazan and has the players look at where Khazan is looking—which is also a device for better immersion in the game. […] We also wanted to create more advanced action in the Khazan project and wanted dodging and different actions of the game to be more realistic.”

Visually, the 3D update is a love letter to classic Dungeon Fighter Online fans. “The original game is portrayed in pixel art,” Kyuchul Lee explained. “Players have seen illustrations [of their favorite characters] but at the same time, players have had a high demand for 3D raids and battles in the game. That’s been a constant request from our existing players.”

“We’ve done so many tests to make that a reality,” Kyuchul Lee continued. “Our previous project before Khazan [DNF Duel], was another attempt to create 3D battles and 3D graphics [though presented on a 2D plain] and we thought a lot about how to portray the tone and manner of the Dungeon & Fighter franchise in 3D—but at the same time meet the quality and detail needs of our existing players.”

That said, with its souls-like gameplay and the recent success of games like Elden Ring and Lies of P, The First Berserker: Khazan has attracted many fans outside of those who have played the Dungeon & Fighter games. After industry events like gamescom, where players tried out the game for the first time, even veteran soulsborne players were surprised at the difficulty they encountered. Junho Lee agrees that this is the case, but that the demo might be painting an unfair picture of sorts.

“It’s a hard game, but the word ‘difficult’ as well as the feeling are quite relative, I believe—and especially with the demo build you played,” the creative director explained. “It has limited gameplay. […] In the full build of Khazan we have a leveling system, an [equipment] farming system, and a skill tree that players can utilize to overcome any difficulties or situations that would otherwise be a dead end. […] So without this content the game is going to be quite harsh and, in some ways, the difficulty may not be fully justified—or is just way more unreasonable.”

However, it’s not like Junho Lee and his team expect players to “git gud.” They’re constantly balancing the game, searching for the perfect sweet spot. “We monitor the gameplay a lot. We also gained a lot of feedback from the players [at public events] and we figured out maybe some parts of the game have a difficulty level that maybe not quite appropriate for our target players,” He continued, “Ultimately, some of our players will be used to playing action games. Some of them are not going to be. We need to have all players go through the challenges and feel the sense of achievement by overcoming these difficulties—and we’re talking a lot about finding the right difficulty for every player that encounters Khazan.” Of course, this is easier said than done. Currently, the team is discussing internally whether or not to place a difficulty selector in the game.

Personally, I spent around 45 minutes with the game. While it took me around 25 minutes and a dozen tries, I beat the boss (a giant white ape). Once I discovered parrying was the key to the fight, it was all down to pattern recognition—and each time I faced the boss I steadily got closer to victory. It felt like this was the only way to fight as dodging and blocking normally chew through your stamina bar quickly and leave you defenseless and immobile for several seconds once it’s depleted.

“You need to find the right timing with the parrying. The timing is important,” Junho Lee agreed. “But at the same time, we thought that it would be a good starting point for defense for players to learn how to defend against the [boss] monster. […] That’s why we put that in the demo build. As you progress in the full build—the release version of the game—you’ll have different ways to defend. You’ll have the options of avoiding, counter-attacking, or finding the right position to respond [to the attack].” And if even all that isn’t enough, Junho Lee assured me there will be some ranged attack options in the final game—which should allow for some additional play styles if nothing else.

The First Berserker: Khazan is scheduled for release on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC sometime in 2025. A closed beta test will be happening in mid-October.