Draft:The First Berserker: Khazan

The First Berserker: Khazan is an action game played from a third-person view where you play as the main character Khazan. As the title suggests, the game places a heavy emphasis on an aggressive playstyle. Players must manage their stamina while simultaneously whittle down their opponent's stamina. Depleting the enemy stamina will leave them open to a Brutal Attack. Executing Brutal Attacks will do significant damage and award the player with replenished stamina and other awards depending on their upgrades such as additional health and Fury Points. The player also has an fixed amount of healing items called Netherworld Energy to recover health.

The game has 3 main weapon types to choose from: The well-balanced dual-wield axe and short-sword, slow and heavy great sword, and the extremely agile long-range spear. Along with Health and Stamina, the Player also has a bar called Fury. Fury allows the Player to enact special attacks. Fury is gained through successful attacks, blocks, parries, counter-attacks, and dodges.

The game has two currencies: Coin and Lacrima. Coin is used for human shopkeepers, while Lacrima is used for supernatural shopkeepers and used to level up the Player. Upon death, the Player will lose all the Lacrima they have and must retrieve them at the last place of death. Failure to retrieve them before dying will lead to all the lost Lacrima to disappear.

The game is fairly linear. Each level is a straightforward with various enemies in your path, with a final boss at the end. As you progress the level, you can unlock new checkpoints or shortcuts. Throughout the levels, there will be items dropped by enemies or hidden from plain sight. These items range from new weapons, armor, or crafting material. Most of the levels must be played in order, there are some bonus levels that can be unlocked if certain conditions are met that can be played at the player's convenience.

Enemies come with 3 types of stamina: Human Stamina, nonhuman Stamina, and Frenzy Stamina. Human Stamina only exists with Human enemies and has a white color. Their stamina regenerates when no action is being done, but depletes when attacking or being attacked. This is similar to the Player's own stamina. Nonhuman stamina is for nonhuman enemies such as animals, undead, Dragonkin, or demons. Nonhuman stamina has a purple color. Their stamina only depletes when they take damage and can only regenerate after you execute a Brutal Attack or if they go into Frenzy. Frenzy stamina appears in special monster enemies and takes on a red color. Enemies that are frenzied have similar attributes to the nonhuman stamina where it can only deplete after taking damage, however they take significantly less damage and cannot be stunned until their stamina is depleted.

In between Levels or at any time at a checkpoint, the Player may enter The Crevice. The Crevice is a non-combat player hub where most of the NPC's you have encountered will reside and aid you on your journey. The Crevice is split in two parts, the Nether World and the Mortal World. The Nether World is where supernatural NPCs reside such as The Blade Phantom and Naphrona. This is also where the Player has the option to return to previously finished levels. The Mortal World of the Crevice is where all the mortal NPCs reside such as The Blacksmith, the Shopkeeper, and The Jar Enthusiast.

The game has RPG elements where the Player not only chooses what 3 weapons to use, but also the special effects of each weapon and armor equipped. Weapons and Armor each have their benefits and drawbacks, with overall advantages increasing depending on the level and rarity class of the item. There are also Weapon and Armor Sets, which grant bonus attributes when equipped all together. Players are encouraged to mix and match items to suit the playstyle of their choice. Weapons and Armor can be either found in the levels, bought with Coin from The Shopkeeper, or crafted by the Blacksmith using Coins and materials.

The game has a type of summon called The Spirit of Advocacy. This is very similar to Summons and Invasions most commonly seen in Soulslike games like Dark Souls or Elden Ring. Where this differs is that these are not actual players, but NPCs that serve as a mini-boss in the middle of the level that you can challenge at any time. Successfully defeating the mini-boss will reward the player a special item called the Lacrima of Circulation. The Player can use this special Lacrima to summon The Spirit of Advocacy to aid them against a Boss. They can also save up on Lacrimas of Circulation to upgrade their Spirit of Advocacy to do more damage or have more health.

General Khazan, a former hero of Pell Los Empire, was branded a traitor to the Empire along with his best friend Ozma. His sentence was the severing of his tendons and his exile. As Los Pellos soldiers escort him through Mount Heinmach, a ghost seeks a host to exist in the mortal world, and sees Khazan as a candidate. The ghost creates an avalanche, freeing Khazan from his chains and possesses him. While his wounds healed, Khazan struggled for control of his own body while he tries to traverse the mountain range, fighting wildlife and Pell Los soldiers. He eventually passes out from exhaustion, and is found by Quimuk, an elderly shaman of the Bantu Tribe. Quimuk takes him to an ancient warrior's trial to face the ghost that possesses him. Khazan eventually meets the ghost face-to-face, revealing itself to be The Blade Phantom, a culmination of warriors who died in combat. Khazan defeats the Blade Phantom, but instead of expelling it, Khazan offers a truce in exchange for the Phantom's powers. The Phantom tells Khazan it's goal in the mortal world: there has been an imbalance of souls entering the Netherworld, and his master Charon has sent him to find and stop the cause. Khazan must help the Blade Phantom restore balance to the mortal world and in return, it will help him with his revenge against the Emperor and all who betrayed him.

Khazan travels across the Pell Los Empire, searching for those who betrayed him, while fighting supernatural creatures that do not belong in the mortal world. He joins with new allies such as his former soldier Tristan, shield maiden Elamein, blacksmith Qazumaka, and Netherworld messenger Naphrona. Khazan eventually finds out his best friend Ozma the Mage was executed, and that a forbidden type of magic called Chaos is the source of the imbalance of souls entering the Netherworld. While Khazan was investigating a Chaos laboratory, Elemain was abducted. As Khazan tries to shut down the machine imprisoning her, it was too late and Elemain was possessed. With no choice, Khazan has to kill her. While rescuing his former soldiers, one of them revealed that Ozma faked his execution and was in fact working with the Emperor. Enraged, Khazan turns focus to seeking Ozma instead of the emperor. Meanwhile, Ozma betrays the Emperor, killing him, and destroys the Capital.

While en route to the Capital, Khazan meets a dark elf necromancer named Bellerian. She said she used to work with Ozma on the research of Necromancy and Chaos magic. When Ozma went mad with power and resorted to kidnapping innocent people for test subjects, she fled into hiding. She also confirmed it was Ozma that orchestrated the trap that lead to Khazan's arrest and betrayal. Now knowing Ozma is the mage causing chaos magic across the mortal realm, The Blade Phantom exclaimed his goal and Khazan's are now one in the same. Near the capital, Khazan faces off against a chaos-corrupted Reese, a priestess who was a childhood friend of Khazan and Ozma's lover. As he defeats her, her final words to Khazan were to save Ozma.

Finally at the capital, Naphrona asks Khazan what he will do once he faces Ozma. These choice will result in three different endings:

• Ending 1 Choosing "I will have my revenge" will result in the default ending. After defeating Ozma after 2 phases, the kingdom collapses. Khazan returns to Ozma's home and mourns the death of Reese. The Blade Phantom tells Khazan that their contract is not yet complete as there is still chaos in the mortal realm, and Khazan begrudgingly complies.

• Ending 2 Choosing "I want to speak to him" will result in the good ending. To unlock this option, you must complete the side missions that unlock The Blade Phantom's sword and the Charon's chains. In the fight against Ozma, Khazan hesitates, which allows Ozma to initiate a third phase. Equipped with the chains and sword, Ozma is defeated. He sheds a tear, apologizes to Khazan, and dies in his arms. Khazan returns to Ozma's home and mourns the death of both Reese and Ozma. The Blade Phantom tells Khazan the same thing as the previous ending, but it ends with Khazan saying sorry to Ozma.

• Ending 3 Choosing "I want to know the truth." will result in the true ending. To unlock this option, you need to fulfill the previous requirements along with finding all the 3 disc fragments to complete the bonus mission involving how Reese died. In the fight against Ozma, the same events will occur in ending 2, only Ozma will get a burst of chaos energy and call for the end of the world before exploding. Khazan will return to Ozma's home and find the source of Ozma's motivation. Before the events of the game, a supernatural being in the form of a single eye showed Ozma the power of Chaos magic, and he studied it in the hopes it could help him defeat Hismar the dragon that plagued the Empire. Khazan and Ozma eventually do slay Hismar and were made heroes. One day, the Emperor demanded Reese be made his concubine. She refused and fled into hiding, but was eventually found and executed. Enraged, Ozma retaliated and was arrested. While carted through the streets in chains, the citizens of the kingdom called him a traitor despite being the hero that saved them from the dragon. Brokenhearted and ridiculed, Ozma viewed humanity itself as a great evil, and orchestrated the plan to destroy humanity with the use of Chaos magic. Knowing that there is still a being out there that gave Ozma the knowledge of Chaos magic, Khazan proclaims his revenge is not yet complete, and unites with the Blade Phantom.

The Creative Director Junho Lee highlighted that the game is deeply rooted in the DNF universe, “The whole development team are huge lovers of the original DNF universe. We’re servicing and developing the original at the same time, and we’re thinking of releasing more content based on the IP like comics, anime, novels.”{{Cite web |last=Woods |first=Sam |date=2024-10-09 |title=The First Berserker: Khazan Interview - "Are The FromSoftware Games The Biggest Inspiration? We Say No" |url=https://www.thegamer.com/the-first-berserker-khazan-tokyo-game-show-2024-interview/ |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=TheGamer |language=en}} The game's difficulty and medieval fantasy melee-combat has drawn connections to some of FromSoftware's titles, however JunHo Lee also explained "guess that's the way a player can actually feel [that it’s a Soulslike], especially for the very first session of the game,” he says. “But at the same time, are the FromSoftware games the biggest inspiration? We probably say no."{{Cite web |last=Woods |first=Sam |date=2024-10-09 |title=The First Berserker: Khazan Interview - "Are The FromSoftware Games The Biggest Inspiration? We Say No" |url=https://www.thegamer.com/the-first-berserker-khazan-tokyo-game-show-2024-interview/ |access-date=2025-04-24 |website=TheGamer |language=en}}

Art Director Kychul Lee discussed the game's unique visual style, “Instead of the typical photorealistic graphic approach that a lot of 3D games take these days, we've gone for the cartoon rendering graphic because it's more evocative. People can look at that and connect to the game even better because it's more evocative, it's more emotional.”{{Cite web |last=Woods |first=Sam |date=2024-10-09 |title=The First Berserker: Khazan Interview - "Are The FromSoftware Games The Biggest Inspiration? We Say No" |url=https://www.thegamer.com/the-first-berserker-khazan-tokyo-game-show-2024-interview/ |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=TheGamer |language=en}}

Junho Lee spoke to Game Rant about development of the story, "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."{{Cite web |last1=Karoglou |first1=Matt |last2=Duckworth |first2=Joshua |date=2024-08-29 |title=How The First Berserker: Khazan Straddles the Line of Being a Soulslike |url=https://gamerant.com/first-berserker-khazan-soulslike-mechanics-inspirations/ |access-date=2025-04-24 |website=Game Rant |language=en}}

{{Video game reviews

|MC=(PC) 83/100
(XBSX) 79/100
(PS5) 78/100

|DT=3.5/5{{Cite web |title=The First Berserker: Khazan review: a competent Soulslike that’ll test your patience |url=https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/the-first-berserker-khazan-review-xbox-series-x/ |last=Yang |first=George |date=2025-03-24 |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=Digital Trends}}

|GSpot=8/10{{Cite web |title=The First Berserker: Khazan Review - A Souls-Like That Packs A Punch |url=https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/the-first-berserker-khazan-review-a-souls-like-that-packs-a-punch/1900-6418346/ |last=Wakeling |first=Richard |date=2025-03-24 |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=GameSpot}}

|HCG=3.5/5{{Cite web |title=Review: The First Berserker: Khazan |url=https://hardcoregamer.com/review-the-first-berserker-khazan/ |last=Beck |first=Adam |date=2025-03-24 |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=Hardcore Gamer}}

|IGN=8/10{{Cite web |title=The First Berserker: Khazan Review |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/the-first-berserker-khazan-review |last=Carson |first=John |date=2025-03-31 |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=IGN}}

|PCGUS=80/100{{Cite web |title=The First Berserker: Khazan Review |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-first-berserker-khazan-review/ |last=Martin |first=Sean |date=2025-03-24 |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=PC Gamer}}

|PSQ=6/10{{Cite web |title=The First Berserker: Khazan Review |url=https://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/ps5/the-first-berserker-khazan |last=van der Velde |first=Issy |date=2025-03-24 |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=Push Square}}

|SN=7/10{{Cite web |title=The First Berserker: Khazan review: Parry, die, repeat |url=https://www.shacknews.com/article/143688/the-first-berserker-khazan-review-score |last=Broadwell |first=Josh |date=2025-03-28 |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=Shacknews}}

|VG247=4/5{{Cite web |title=The First Berserker Khazan review: a love letter to going all-out, bold action, and re-using bosses |url=https://www.vg247.com/the-first-berserker-khazan-review |last=Makar |first=Connor |date=2025-03-24 |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=VG247}}

}}

The First Berserker: Khazan received "generally favorable" reviews, according to Metacritic.{{Cite web |title=The First Berserker: Khazan Reviews |url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/the-first-berserker-khazan/ |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=Metacritic}}

As of April 23, 2025, the game was ranked "Very Positive" on Steam, with 88%-96% of player-reviews being positive.

{{clear}}

{{Notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{Drafts moved from mainspace|date=April 2025}}

Category:Draft articles on video games