Nexon subsidiary Neople is working onThe First Berserker Khazan, a key figure within the Dungeon & Fighter (mostly known as DNF) universe, which, according to Nexon, has over 800 million players worldwide.
This won’t be another live service game, asThe First Berserker Khazanis a single-player game that emphasizes combat. While not outright marketed as a Souls-like game, what’s been revealed recently should delight Souls fans looking for the next big challenge.
The First Berserker Khazan’s Combat Relies on Three Key Pillars
In an exclusive eight-minute combat overview byGame Rant, Nexon revealed that the action-RPG identifies attacking, dodging, and guarding as the three core pillars of combat—something that Souls fans will be quite familiar with.
In The First Berserker Khazan, guarding consumes more stamina than dodging. However, performing a “perfect guard” move (guarding as an attack is about to land) will consume less stamina and even minimize any stun effects.
While dodging consumes less stamina, timing the invisibility frames' sweet spot will require a more in-depth knowledge of the moveset and fast-enough reflexes.
Same as in most Souls-like games, you can’t just spam the attack button to snuff out enemies, as your stamina will get depleted quickly if you do that. If Khazan runs out of stamina, you’ll enter a state of exhaustion, leaving you vulnerable to attacks. This stamina crutch isn’t just exclusive to Khazan, as enemies will also have it, too. This means you can bait an enemy into attacking you repeatedly to deplete their stamina and then unleash your attacks once they’re exhausted.
Not Every Enemy Has a Stamina Bar
There are also enemies in the game that will be fortitude-based, and these monsters won’t have a stamina bar to keep track of. Players looking to exhaust these enemies will need to attack them until their fortitude is depleted. Unlike the stamina bar, fortitude does not replenish over time.
So far, so good. Neople seems to be hitting the right notes in offering action fans another challenge to conquer. Like in other Souls-like games,players can expect intimidating bossesthat should take multiple tries to vanquish.
While The First Bersker Khazan might be based on an existing property, prior knowledge of the DnF universe isn’t required to understand what’s happening. According to Nexon, the game’s story is about “In the 89th year of the Pell Los Empire, the Great General Khazan is falsely accused of treason and banished to the snowy mountains. Having narrowly escaped death, Khazan embarks on a quest for vengeance. Witness his growth as he uncovers the conspiracies that led to his downfall, masters lost combat skills, and unveils the truth about the empire.:
The First Bersker Khazan will be released on March 27 on the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Check out ourThe First Berkser Khazan’s character customization deep dive, andour interview with the developersabout the action-RPG.
