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Decorated game studio FromSoftware and its president, Hidetaka Miyazaki, have racked up a reputation for games that push players to the limit, due to their excruciating difficulty, which has no recourse for change.
The studio has followed this strategy for all of their games to date, such as the iconic Souls series,Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Bloodborne, Elden Ring, andArmored Core 6. And according to an interview, Miyazaki doesn’t intend on easing up anytime soon.
Hidetaka Miyazaki Levels The Playing Field For Players
In an interview withGameSpotaround the release of Sekiro, Miyazaki revealed why he’s chosen to stick with the fixed difficulty creative choice all these years:
We don’t want to include a difficulty selection because we want to bring everyone to the same level of discussion and the same level of enjoyment. So we want everyone … to first face that challenge and to overcome it in some way that suits them as a player.
“We want to make it as spicy as possible”: Reason Behind Hidetaka Miyazaki Increasing the Difficulty With Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro is Pure Sadism
The renowned auteur’s approach to game design is clearly centered around putting players on a level playing field. FromSoftware games are made around asingular harsh difficulty, and they leave it up to players to find the path of least resistance.
While this may sound like a chore, it makes their game so much more engaging. It’s no secret that the average FromSoftware game can take hundreds of hours to complete, but every single one of those hours is incredibly well invested.
Challenging They May Be, But The Feeling Of Success Is Worth It
Miyazaki also aims to create a feeling of success shared by everyone who plays. Adding on to his prior answer, he said:
We want everyone to feel that sense of accomplishment. We want everyone to feel elated and to join that discussion on the same level. We feel if there’s different difficulties, that’s going to segment and fragment the user base. People will have different experiences based on that [differing difficulty level]. This is something we take to heart when we design games. It’s been the same way for previous titles and it’s very much the same with Sekiro.
“We just want them to get past the first step”: Hidetaka Miyazaki Realised His Mistake with Demon Souls and Made Sure Dark Souls Didn’t Repeat It with the Simplest Solution
Despite the similarities to FromSoftware’s priorDark Soulsseries andBloodborne, Miyazaki saidSekiroisn’t part of the Soulsborne series, as it took adramatic turnby ditching custom character creation, and instead leaned harder into the action-adventure aspect.
Published by Activision,Sekiroreleased on PS4, Xbox One, and PC in 2019. The game’s departure from the traditional Souls format paid off beautifully, as the medievalJapan setting, fixed protagonist, and elevated difficulty garnered heavy critical and commercial acclaim, winning it the 2019 Game of the Year award.
“It stands for a lot of things”: Elden Ring’s Best Mechanic was Inspired Years Ago By 1 Dark Souls Feature that was a Favourite of Hidetaka Miyazaki
The single-difficulty approach, while maybe not for everyone, rewards players with a feeling of success, for those who stick with it. FromSoftware and Hidetaka Miyazaki will stick to their vision of making challenging games, and we couldn’t be happier.
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Content Writer
Articles Published :247
A lifelong gamer, lover of cars, and Master’s student of Automotive Journalism, Viraaj Bhatnagar is a gaming writer at FandomWire who aims to be one of the greats. When he’s not hunched over on his laptop typing out copy, he can be found lapping circuits in Gran Turismo or slaying draugr in God of War.
