The First Berserker: Khazanis an upcoming action RPG with soulslike elements, one set in the existingDungeon & Fighteruniverse. That wider universe is a key part ofThe First Berserker: Khazan’s story, and it’ll be important to understand when trying to piece together the bigger picture.
First announced as a 3D title intheDungeon & Fighterseriesback in 2018,The First Berserker: Khazanis slated to finally release on March 27. The game will follow Khazan, theDungeon & Fighteruniverse’s God of Destruction, in a story set when the wrathful god was merely mortal. However, the game takes a diverging path from the mainline series where Khazan dies in exile from the Pell Los Empire; in this timeline, Khazan escapes and survives—setting up a new path for the character.
The Story of Neople’s Upcoming Game - The First Berserker: Khazan
A Basic Synopsis of The First Berserker
Fans can expectThe First Berserker: Khazanto throw them back 800 years before the events ofDNF, back when Khazan was a general in the Pell Los Empire. At this time, he was friends with the great mage Ozma—another character who will be familiar to followers of the franchise—and would team up with them for many an adventure. Their conquests included the defeat of Berserk Dragon Hismar, a terror upon the Pell Los Empire, which won them great respect and adoration from the empire’s people. However, they both eventually die and rise as gods. The First Berserker: Khazan puts players into the shoes of the mortal Khazan, not the god.
The First Berserker’s Multiverse Split
In the typicalDungeon & Fighterstoryline, Ozma makes a deal to become the God of Chaos and raises Khazan up to be the God of Destruction. Khazan, now divine, disagrees with Ozma’s plot to wreak vengeance against the world and strikes out on his own. Despite not wanting to destroy the world with Ozma, though, his rage is boundless—manifesting throughout the world in the form of Khazan Syndrome. Now a multiverse, however, Khazan escapes his exile and fights his way back to life.
However,The First Berserker: Khazan deviates from this lore. In a Q&A with the development team, they go into some depth about why they chose to reconstruct Khazan’s story this way.
“Among the numerous DNF characters, Khazan’s deeply emotional narrative is the biggest reason as to why we decided to develop First Berserker:Khazan, noting that such in-depth narratives can lead to empathy and give them a sense of immersion.”
In Neople’s upcoming title, the story takes a different path when Khazan first goes into exile, escaping following an avalanche. He goes on to make a pactThe First Berserker’s Blade Phantom, with Khazan drawing upon the Phantom’s strength to enact his vengeance, something he never got to do in his original story. This makesThe First Berserkera multiverse plot, splitting from the original timeline. It’s unclear, as of now, whether things will turn out the same way—with Khazan and Ozma being executed and rising again as gods. What is clear, however, is that Khazan will go out swinging in a way he didn’t in his original backstory.
