The First Berserker: Khazan’s next update, due this week, will bring in two new Boss Rush modes and more

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Developers Neople, under the supervision of publisher Nexon, have disclosed that the upcoming update for “The First Berserker: Khazan” will introduce some exciting new features.

In an upcoming update scheduled for May 15th, there will be two new game modes introduced and the option to customize your character’s appearance during the initial playthrough. These modes are called Great General’s Crucible and Berserker’s Bloodshed. In Great General’s Crucible, you’ll battle themed groups of bosses, with each completed set unlocking a new theme and designated gear. After finishing one theme, you move on to the next. The second mode, Berserker’s Bloodshed, allows you to use rewards earned from consecutive battles to grow stronger and tackle the final boss. Completing the first mode grants a special reward while the second offers powerful new weapons and additional perks.

In addition to details in the latest Steam blog post, upcoming enhancements include the introduction of skill and gear presets, as well as various user-friendly adjustments. The next update, scheduled for release towards the end of the month, follows this week’s one.

The debut title “The First Berserker: Khazan” will be launched on March 27, offering gameplay across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. At present, demos for all platforms are accessible, allowing players to transfer their saved data when they decide to upgrade to the full version of the game.

You can find all the update details and a trailer from publisher Nexon and developer Neople below:

Introducing the Next Update

The long-awaited May update is finally here!
When we wrapped up the preparation for the official launch and began designing new content, the very first keyword that came to our mind was “boss”.

Khazan is a mission-orientated game. You can always go back and fight the bosses that you defeated again, and you’ll still earn rewards. Want a tougher challenge? Unequip your gear or limit your skills to raise the difficulty as much as you’d like. But for this new content, we wanted to create a special challenge—something different from the usual approach.

We had a storm of ideas. Harder. Nastier. More punishing. The kind of challenge that not just anyone could take on. Then, one of our developers said:

“Yeah… I probably wouldn’t play that.”

And just to be clear—this person? (He’s our Lead Character Designer.)
Plays games over 4 hours a day, has earned platinum trophies in most action titles, and refuses to consider a game “complete” without one. They even love Boss Rush content. (And yes, we have more than a few people like that on our team.)

This was one of the hardest parts of designing Khazan and new content.

“Hardcore difficulty”
How do we determine the measure of a “hardcore” difficulty? What’s the point of content if no one can enjoy it? But then again, if it’s not a worthy challenge, which is at the core of our value, is it really the right call?

We knew we wanted something players could challenge themselves with. But we also knew it couldn’t just be hard for the sake of being hard. It had to be fun, something that’s tough but rewarding. A mode you’d be proud to conquer and eager to show off.

Taking all of this into account, we picked two ideas from our brainstorming session. Then came long hours of debate, testing, and refinement. And finally—we found one that made us go:
“This is worth the challenge.”
“This is something I’d be proud to tell others about once I clear it.”
And now, we’re excited to show you those two new modes.

Two new Boss Rush (Ultimate Challenge) modes are coming as part of this update.
Once you beat the game and see the ending, a new menu will appear on the title screen.
Because every boss in Khazan is deeply tied to the story, even showing the boss list would spoil things. That’s why this new boss rush content will only be available after completing the game. (We know there were boss spoilers in a previous patch note—rest assured, we’ll take every precaution to make sure that never happens again!)

The two Boss Rush modes differ in difficulty and progression, but I’ll give you a brief overview here.

  • “Great General’s Crucible” – Fight through groups of thematically organized bosses, unlocking the next theme each time you clear one. You’ll fight with designated specs (gear, level, skills, etc.), and completing all of them will earn you a special reward.
  • “Berserker’s Bloodshed” – Make your character stronger with rewards earned from consecutive fights, and push all the way to defeat the final boss. As a final reward, you can earn powerful new weapons and set items.
  • We’re really curious to see how you Berserkers will actually feel the difficulty, compared to how it was envisioned by the combat designers in our dev team. Please send us lots of feedback! (It’ll be a big help in fine-tuning the difficulty for future content.)

Also, Change Appearance will now be available even during your first playthrough. You can unlock it by completing the Blacksmith’s Heirloom mission.

For more detailed information, please check out the patch notes.

The expected update date is Thursday, May 15.
We’re almost done with the final phase to ensure the best possible quality. As I mentioned before, the update still needs to pass QA and platform certification, and if any stability issues or quality concerns arise, it might take a little longer.
I’d like to share just the fully locked-in contents with you, and I ask for your understanding where this is concerned. We’ll do everything we can to stick to the schedule we announced.

Introducing What Comes After the Next Update

Yes, that’s right! I’m about to introduce the update that’ll follow the May 15 (Thu) update I just described!

Regarding Shortcut Resets and Faster Boss Retry Improvements

Over the past month, we’ve worked really hard to find a way to improve this. But long story short… we concluded that it wouldn’t be possible. I do apologize. This issue stems from my failure to prepare for it in advance.

The improvement itself isn’t complicated or technically impossible. For example, we could simply adjust the reset conditions for each shortcut object. That way, like treasure chests, they would stay open when restarting the mission instead of closing again.

So, why do we think we won’t be able to improve it? Let me give you an example from the Embars mission. In Embars, there are huge structures you can interact with. Each interaction rotates them to block or open new paths. If we modify these objects, the mission will be reset when the updated objects are loaded.

The problem is that every player is at a different point in their progress. Applying a patch under these conditions would cause many players to be unable to continue their missions normally. (In the reviews we conducted, we found that this issue wouldn’t just affect complex missions like Embars or El Ravaca but most missions overall.)

We truly wrestled with this decision until the very end. “After the patch, should we reset all ongoing missions?”
But ultimately, we decided not to. There are three reasons why.

  • First, resetting ongoing missions would cause players to feel a huge sense of loss. For example, if I were fighting against Maluca or the final boss and suddenly received a patch that forced me to restart the mission from the beginning… I knew it would feel terrible.
  • Second, while resetting missions would improve stability, it wouldn’t change the fact that all content would have to be modified, requiring an enormous amount of testing. NG+ would also need to be thoroughly tested, which could cause significant delays to new content updates.
  • Third, even if the reset worked normally, we would still have to thoroughly verify all potential risks, such as save file corruption or progression errors.

In conclusion, although we tried our best to improve shortcut resets and faster boss retries, we won’t be able to implement them this time. If we had been able to prepare for this before release, it could have been handled much more easily… It’s something I deeply regret. I sincerely apologize.

Instead, we plan to add the following quality-of-life features to minimize inconveniences.

  • New items added to allow fast traveling to the Crevice or the last Blade Nexus you interacted with: We’ll be adding items that let you instantly move to the Crevice or to the last Blade Nexus you interacted with. These will be provided as permanent items, not consumables.
  • Added teleport between from one Blade Nexus to another: You’ll be able to freely move from one Blade Nexus to another activated in the same mission. Interacting with a Blade Nexus will display a list of available destinations.
  • After clearing certain missions for farming purposes, you will now start right in front of the Spectral Portal before entering that mission. You’ll no longer have to travel long distances through the Mortal World for a quick retry.

This update will include various changes, such as a buff to Phantom Form Mode.
We’ll share more detailed information in the next Dev Note.
 

We are currently targeting a late May to early June release for this update.

 

Introducing What Comes After the Next Two Updates

Yes, that’s right! This is a preview of the update that will follow the late May update I just explained above.
Since there’s still a bit of time left, I’ll keep it brief for now.

  • [Balance Adjustment] Skill balance adjustments for Dual Wield, Greatsword, and Spear
  • [Balance Adjustment] Adjustment to set effect configurations
  • [New System] Skill Presets
  • [New System] Gear Presets
  • [New System] Increase Gear Grades
  • [New System] Change Weapon Scaling
  • [QoL] New Sorting Option: Sorting Items by Name
  • [QoL] Storage Expansion
  • And… More Special Contents Coming

 

We are currently targeting a mid-June release for this update.

 

Regarding Update and Development Progress

In this Developer’s Update, I want to address some questions that have been coming up about the timeline for Feature A and Improvement B. While we appreciate your enthusiasm, it’s important to note that issues that initially seem straightforward can become more complex during our review process. Moreover, there are platform-specific challenges on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation which add to the complexity.

However, one thing remains constant: our primary goal is to ensure a stable gaming environment for you in Khazan. We prioritize resolving critical issues promptly and work tirelessly to make necessary quality-of-life updates, aiming to create a smoother and more enjoyable experience for everyone. These improvements are given almost equal importance as new content development.

I want to express my gratitude to all of you who have shared your feedback on Discord. We will continue striving to incorporate your valuable insights and deliver an even better gaming experience.

I eagerly look forward to sharing our first new piece of content with you. Thank you for your patience and support.

Best regards, Junho Lee

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2025-05-12 13:46