The famously challenging dark-fantasy epic Elden Ring was the world’s second bestselling game in 2022, and the release of its expansion Shadow of the Erdtree last Friday once again has everyone arguing about whether it’s too difficult. Every single FromSoftware-developed game since 2009’s Demon’s Souls has inspired this discourse, and I’m not going to get into it because it’s neither interesting nor particularly consequential: these games are what they are, and you can either get on board or, quite justifiably, walk away.
This vision is passed right down from the game’s director, Hidetaka Miyazaki – also the president of FromSoftware since 2014, having made his (and the developer’s) name with Dark Souls in 2011. It’s harsh, sure, but there’s also an element of faith and encouragement in this approach to game design: Elden Ring and his other games trust that if you just persevere, and call on other players for help, you will eventually triumph, and it will feel all the sweeter.
Miyazaki is an interesting character and one of the most influential artists in games, and indeed in entertainment; he made Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people last year. I first interviewed him in 2010, shortly before the release of Demon’s Souls in Europe, and following his career has been one of the highlights of mine. I interviewed him again in Los Angeles recently, and it might comfort some of us to know that playing his games is sometimes tortuous for him, too.
“Leading up to the release of any game, I’ll be very hands-on playing it and getting as much time on it as much as possible,” he told me. “But after the release, I tend to not want to touch it, because I know I’m going to either find things that I left on the table or issues that will bug me. And once I become a player, I’m powerless to do anything significant to change it. So once a game is out in the wild, I tend to not play.
“But in preparation for Shadow of the Erdtree, I played through the main story of Elden Ring. I want to preface this by saying I absolutely suck at video games, so my approach or play style was to use everything I have at my disposal, all the assistance, every scrap of aid that the game offers, and also all the knowledge that I have as the architect of the game … the freedom and open-world nature of Elden Ring perhaps lowered the barrier to entry, and I might be the one who’s benefiting the most from that, as a player, more than anyone else.”
I was greatly amused by the image of Miyazaki, controller in hand, tormented by the very world he wrought (and all its imperfections, which only he would notice). That’s true commitment to his game design philosophy of improvement through failure – a creed that seems to permeate his whole life. Miyazaki is an extremely hands-on director and all of his games bear the unmistakeable imprint of his influence, but he has also been attempting to pass down his knowledge and artistic approach to others at FromSoftware in the 10 years that he’s been its president – ensuring that they, too, have room to fail.
“Budgets, scale, scope, everything has grown to a point where room for failure isn’t tolerated as much as I think it was in the past,” he told me. “FromSoftware has its own way of hedging risks, so to speak, in that most of our projects have a partner who is financing the project … From a business management perspective, we’re not betting everything on any one single project. At the same time, you have to find the right project to allow for failure: whether it’s smaller in scope or scale, or it’s a small module within something bigger, there needs to be room for that. I think that’s where a lot of young game directors will be challenged and will be able to learn from it. Making sure you understand and identify where those pockets of failure can be allowed, is how we try to grow our talent.”
Miyazaki views Elden Ring as a “turning point” for FromSoftware: “Before and after Elden ring, there’s going to be a clear difference … you could see that in [2023’s mech game] Armored Core VI, I would say.” He hopes that we will soon be seeing games from other directors at the company, not just himself. “Where FromSoftware is right now, in terms of scale, I would say Elden Ring is really the limit. We’ve tapped every resource and talent that we have access to … scaling it even bigger, I’d have my concerns. Perhaps having multiple projects is the next stage, where some of the other younger talent can have the opportunity to manage and direct game design for a smaller project.”
Shadow of the Erdtree is the end of Elden Ring for now – Dark Souls is an exception to the rule, but generally Miyazaki does not make sequels. Demon’s Souls, Sekiro, Bloodborne and now Elden Ring all stand as self-contained works, and you get the impression that he likes it that way. But, interestingly, he wouldn’t mind someone else doing more with The Lands Between – in a different medium.
“I don’t see any reason to deny another interpretation or adaptation of Elden Ring, a movie for example,” he told me. “But I don’t think myself, or FromSoftware, have the knowledge or ability to produce something in a different medium. So that’s where a very strong partner would come into play. We’d have to build a lot of trust and agreement on whatever it is we’re trying to achieve, but there’s interest, for sure.”
If any Souls-nerd readers work for arthouse movie production companies, consider this your chance to pounce.
What to play
And now for something completely different, as they say: Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is out this week, a welcome blast from the past (I reviewed it for IGN, back in the day). Originally released in 2013 on the Nintendo 3DS, this wonderfully characterful spooky caper is better than any Ghostbusters game ever made.
Mario’s bumbling, cowardly younger brother has five detailed diorama mansions to purge of ghosts and secrets. The animation is peerless here – every ghost oozes personality along with all the ectoplasm, and Luigi himself is an underrated star of slapstick comedy.
Available on: Nintendo Switch
Estimated playtime: 12 hours
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What to read
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Remember Paradox’s upcoming competitor to The Sims, Life By You? It was due to come out this month, but it was indefinitely delayed a few weeks ago, and then abruptly cancelled – and now its developer has been shut down. The Sims has gone decades unchallenged in the life-sim genre: perhaps now it will remain so for a decade more.
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The vastly popular streamer Dr Disrespect – real name Guy Beahm – was permanently banned from Twitch back in 2020 (he has since been streaming on YouTube). For years, nobody knew why – but now The Verge reports that he was caught sending inappropriate messages to a minor using Twitch’s Whispers chat system, as claimed by two former Twitch employees. After Midnight Society, a studio cofounded by the streamer, cut ties with him on Monday night, Beahm, 42, released a lengthy statement on X admitting to “casual, mutual conversations” with a minor, but strongly denying any criminal wrongdoing. One of his sponsors, Turtle Beach, has also dropped him.
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The Ringer put out this banger of a feature about the fleeting multiplayer connections forged by games such as Elden Ring and Dragon’s Dogma, from regular Guardian games contributor Lewis Gordon.
What to click
Question Block
I’m going to shamelessly exploit the format of the newsletter to get in one last quote from Hidetaka Miyazaki, the answer to a question I had always wanted to ask him:
“When we talk about artistic inspirations, we often ask about things: movies, books, games, visual art. But often it’s the people in our lives who inspire us. Is there a person in your life like that, someone whom you respect?”
His reply: “One that comes to mind is the previous president of FromSoftware, [Naotoshi] Zin-san. He directed the first game FromSoftware produced, which was [bleak medieval action game] King’s Field, close to the launch of the PlayStation 1. I really like his world building and way of thinking, his approach to things. So even now, when we catch up or have a chat, there’s always some learning there for me. Of course, I’ve never told him to his face that I respect him and I feel this way, so if this interview gets somehow translated back in the Japanese and he sees it, I don’t know what he’s going to say …”
If you’ve got a question for Question Block – or anything else to say about the newsletter – hit reply or email us on pushingbuttons@theguardian.com.