Former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida says he prefers indie games because you can feel the developer's vision, something he feels that isn't present in most AAA releases.

Speaking to GameSpot in a new interview, Yoshida, former president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, says: "You can feel the game developer's vision in indie games because indie game developers don't have to ask for approvals." He adds, "I used to work at a large company at PlayStation, and even though we are allowed to have the developer and studio propose what games to make, there are many people involved."

When it comes to AAA releases, he says "It's really hard to tell who is the creator" aside from a few notable exceptions. "Maybe [Hideo] Kojima-san is an exception, or maybe [Hidetaka] Miyazaki-san – you can tell it's their visions [when you play] their games, but most other AAA [games] are a group vision. It's not one person's vision."

Kojima, of course, made Death Stranding and its sequel, and it's hard to see anyone else in the AAA space manage to get away with 'game where you walk and deliver parcels and barely shoot things' without the Metal Gear Solid pedigree behind him. Meanwhile, Miyazaki's games released at a time where hardcore games were becoming rare in the AAA space, and gave birth to the Soulslike genre. Even though Elden Ring is massive, its the culmination of goodwill from creating beloved games for a long time.

Yoshida – who was a big proponent of bringing indie games to PlayStation during his tenure – explains that indie devs are "very excited about this certain subject, even though no one seems to be interested in the subject at the time, but after three years, that might become the latest and the most exciting thing," and in turn, the indie developers end up leading innovation for the entire industry.

"The AAA studios are big fans of many of these game designers and look at indie games for inspiration, and so the indie games play a really important role for the whole industry to keep innovating."

The unfortunate thing is that with the way the industry is now, where a massive game like Marvel's Spider-Man 2 reportedly needs to sell 7.2 million copies just to break even, playing it safe in the AAA space is a natural side effect, unless you're a Kojima and Miyazaki – proven creators with ingrained fanbases – thus given the space to get weird with it.

Of course, there are some who handle this better than others. Capcom is using the guaranteed money it makes from the likes of Monster Hunter, Resident Evil and Street Fighter and investing it in smaller and more esoteric projects like Exoprimal, Kinitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, and Pragmata, and while not everyone is a winner, you can't innovate without trying. Exoprimal and Kunitsu-Gami may have not set the world on fire, but Pragmata sold over 1 million copies in just two days and is one of Capcom's highest-rated Steam releases ever.

Releasing PlayStation games day one on PC isn't "a good strategy" for its AAA titles, former Sony head says, but he hasn't seen proof its abandoning the platform altogether.

From Bloodborne to Sekiro to Elden Ring, developer FromSoftware is no stranger to what I'd call "stepping on a rake" game design – abrupt, stinging pain inflicted on the player by traps or enemies lying in wait, and in a way where the only real solution is learning not to step on that rake. According to new findings from dedicated Souls sleuths, the breakout RPG from director and now studio boss Hidetaka Miyazaki, Demon's Souls, actually abandoned what could've been the harshest rake in the whole FromSoftware warehouse: birds that throw you off cliffs.

Zullie the Witch, building on animations restored by Molly Ariona, unpacks the Demon's Souls nightmare that might've been in a new video. World 4-1 of Demon's Souls, or the Shrine of Storms area in the Archstone of the Shadowmen, is home to a curious breed of flying manta rays that fire crystal spikes at you. Zullie and Molly uncovered traces of another, far more devious flying enemy that was seemingly cut during development.

Molly restored animations for an enormous hawk enemy with, in addition to standard divebomb and talon attacks, a grab attack that could send the player straight into the abyss that surrounds the Shrine of Storms, instantly killing them.

"It's almost comically cruel," Zullie correctly muses in the title of the video.

This grab "could've been one of the series' most lethal attacks," Zullie reasons, which is a fair assessment given that there's no (normal) way to survive an out-of-bounds fall. But the cruelty of these birds is more significant than just a nasty, deleted grab attack, in my mind.

Elden Ring, in its reused assets and its array of boss and environment designs, is basically the Greatest Hits of FromSoftware. On the tracklist, you'll find quite a lot of bird enemies that some normal, well-adjusted people might call absolutely maddening. Birds are, consistently, competing with dogs as the most infuriating animal enemies in FromSoftware's lineup, and they have been throughout the many games that Elden Ring takes cues and assets from.

It's not that FromSoftware has never made other enemies or traps that instantly kill you by throwing you off a cliff or down a hole. There's no shortage of those in the Souls library, either. What gets me is the thought of such a ploy appearing in the first Souls game in the form of an already dreaded bird. It's not just a new precursor to Elden Ring's warhawks; it's a sign that, as early as the 2000s, FromSoftware was up to exactly this bullshit. This is the unseen thread of fate connecting my clearest memory of Elden Ring – getting killed by birds outside the castle in the original pre-release test build – with the game that spawned Soulslikes in the first place.

We should all count ourselves lucky that FromSoftware, whether out of mercy or because of technical issues or unknown design goals, ended up removing these birds from Demon's Souls. It took years for Elden Ring to get to warhawks; imagine what we'd be dealing with now if FromSoftware had started with birds that throw you off cliffs. And more than anything, it's amazing to me that Demon's Souls is still spitting out new trivia after more than a decade of data mining.

FromSoftware owner Kadokawa sees Sony passed as its biggest investor, but the high house of Elden Ring says its "policies are not influenced" by any one shareholder anyway.

The world of Elden Ring changed so significantly from the starting point established by Game of Thrones' George R. R. Martin that game director Hidetaka Miyazaki thinks his collaborator would be surprised by the end result.

Speaking with Game Informer, Miyazaki explained that while Martin helped lay the groundwork for the world-building and some character backstories, FromSoftware's narrative team were the ones that brought them to life within the world of the game itself. In some instances, he suggests, those changes were so substantial that Miyazaki thinks Martin would be surprised by exactly what ended up in the game.

The reason Miyazaki takes over, he explains, is because "as a player walks through this world, [...] they have a very fragmented understanding of the lore, the surroundings, and the type of monsters, whereas I don't." As someone who knows the game and its world in their entirety, he wants to make sure that the game's most important moments "aren't lost." To do that, he says that he brings "the map and level design" together "to serve as a guide, to help players pick up more information and piece together what they think that world is."

It might surprise GRRM – who did actually say that he thought the game "looks incredible" – but Miyazaki certainly thinks his approach was successful. Experimenting with the narrative base provided by Martin allowed the entire game to coalesce into an experience that he claims is a game that remains "in a league of its own," even several years after launch.

FromSoftware head Hidetaka Miyazaki says games like Elden Ring and Dark Souls aren't about "simply cranking up the difficulty; it’s doing so fairly"

Ever since Demon's Souls first came out in 2009, FromSoftware has had a reputation for releasing some of the most grueling games available. Dark Souls even came in a 'Prepare to Die; edition, proudly flaunting just how comfortable you’ll be getting with death during your playtime. Hidetaka Miyazaki director of many of these games, including Elden Ring, maintains that the difficulty spikes aren't unfair.

Speaking to Game Informer, he discussed the philosophy around putting players through their paces consistently. "I know we get a lot of credit saying that our games are difficult, but it's not a matter of simply cranking up the difficulty; it's doing so fairly," he states. "When players are killed and they can understand why they were killed in an instance, and it feels justified, that makes sense. That's the game we’re trying to achieve."

The devs have always understood, Miyazaki reveals, that people will occasionally be surprised and frustrated, but that's part of the rhythm of FromSoft releases. You enter an encounter, get flounced, but then learn from the experience, even if it was short. Was that an immediate attack? Or something environmental? Then rinse and repeat until cleared.

"I know a lot of players out there are probably going to disagree: 'What are you talking about? This game doesn’t make sense! What the heck?'" Miyazaki says. "But we try to make sure that there is a learning curve and a feedback loop that the players are able to extract that they can bring into the next attempt. We believe in difficult games, but not games that are unjustly or unfairly so."

Despite how many times I've died to Ornstein and Smough, I've long shared a similar view of FromSoft's wares. The team produces games that feel stricter than most competitors, with bosses that seem relentless at times. But it all stems from faith in your power to overcome - you have the tools and the ability, you just need to find the right alchemy between them to do so.

Little comfort when you’re trying to subdue Malenia in Elden Ring, mind, I'll give you that. But just know Miyazaki and the other devs aren't trying to ruin your day. It just comes with the territory, apparently.

FromSoftware didn't work with Sony on Dark Souls because of how the company failed Demon's Souls, says ex-PlayStation boss: "We definitely dropped the ball"

Since the release of Demon's Souls in 2009. FromSoftware has come to be the defining studio for 'Soulslikes', games that emphasize open exploration and character-building amid strategic combat where gnarly difficulty spikes. Hidetaka Miyazaki, the director of many of From's releases in this vein, doesn’t necessarily agree the company deserves such credit.

He spoke about the etymology of the term to Game Informer, where he explained that, really, From just understood what some players were looking for. "I know we've been credited [with inventing the term 'Soulslike'], but in terms of the game design, this idea of having death and learning as part of the core game cycle is something that the gaming audience was perhaps ready for," he says. "But there just wasn't the perfect answer for that appetite just yet."

Originally working on Armored Core, Miyazaki requested to be moved onto the nascent Demon's Souls, then a project higher-ups at FromSoftware weren't especially sure about. He introduced ideas from King's Field, an earlier sword-and-sorcery action-RPG series From developed through-out the '90s, and merged them with persistent online play, and eventually, the core loop of dropping your 'souls' when you died, and returning to retrieve them afterward.

This became fundamental to the entire SoulsBorne lineage, encompassing Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and the assorted releases since, recurring across all Miyazaki's projects since. "What we discovered is it is okay to make games with death as part of its core gameplay loop, and our answer happened to land and resonate with various audiences," he explains.

"I don't necessarily think it's a new invention, per se," he adds, "it was more the FromSoftware DNA and our game design overlapped with what was perhaps missing from the market."

However you want to look at it, FromSoftware's games have only gotten bigger and bolder since, all connected by the frustration of losing tens of thousands of souls in an unexpected fight, then dying again on the mission back to a regular enemy you underestimate. It's not a Soulslike until you distill such frustration.

FromSoftware didn't work with Sony on Dark Souls because of how the company failed Demon's Souls, says ex-PlayStation boss: "We definitely dropped the ball"

Elden Ring movie director Alex Garland reportedly wrote the film's 160-page script in an effort to win over the video game's creators – and it clearly worked.

According to a new story in The New Yorker, the upcoming live-action adaptation was pitched to A24 head of film Noah Sacco by none other than Garland. The filmmaker then "offered to write a script on spec" in order to earn the support of the game's creators. The script totals out to 160 pages, with "forty additional pages of imagery." Sacco and Garland flew to Japan together in order to close a deal with FromSoftware and Bandai Namco Entertainment.

Garland previously confirmed that he's now on his seventh playthrough of the game, so we think it's in pretty good hands. Not to mention the fact that George R.R. Martin is set to serve as producer, writing on his personal website that "A24 is a kickass studio, and Alex Garland is a first-rate director." Martin also wrote the background story for Elden Ring, so his seal of approval is pretty important.

We don't know much about plot or casting just yet, though we do know that Heartstopper actor Kit Connor has unofficially been linked to a lead role. Some popular fancasts include Rebecca Ferguson as Marika, Lee Pace as Radagon, and Kiernan Shipka as Melina.

The Elden Ring movie does not yet have a release date. For more, check out the upcoming video game movies and new PS5 games coming your way in 2025 and beyond.

The new studio founded by former Naughty Dog developers Vinit Agarwal and Joe Pettinati is aiming to blend Naughty Dog-level cinematic action and a Breaking Bad-influenced story into a multiplayer game.

After leading development on the now-scrapped Last of Us Online, Agarwal left Naughty Dog earlier this year to pursue independent game development in Japan. Although Pettinati is still US-based, the duo are working together on their still unnamed studio's debut title.

All we've known about the game at this point is that it's multiplayer, and we still don't know much more today, but in an interview with Game Spark (via Automaton), Agarwal spared us a few bread crumbs on the basic ethos behind the game.

Agarwal, via machine translation, said "Naughty Dog has had a strong influence on us in terms of their approach worldview and story," and with this new game, "it's important not just to create interesting gameplay, but to ensure that the story, action, worldview, and gameplay are all on the same level."

Specifically, Agarwal said "we aim to bring the cinematic action familiar from our previous works to the multiplayer between players." He also labeled the game a "triple-indie," with the story and gameplay being influenced by the developers' time at a AAA studio but with the "fast-paced feel" of an indie game.

Notably, Agarwal said he moved to Japan because he's always had a deep respect for Japanese developers and what he called a "strong 'vision'," adding that he recently spoke to FromSoftware's Hidetaka Miyazaki and "was reminded once again that I like the style of a director with a strong vision."

Another influence on Agarwal is Breaking Bad, which he said he likes because "the story is deep and the characters' motivations are interesting."

"In other words, what I want to create is a game with deep characters and a story like 'Breaking Bad,' with a touch of the dark themes mixed with lighter aspects that are common in Japanese works," he said.

Agarwal wasn't ready to share anything more about the game itself, but he did reveal that it's been in development for a few months and is "already playable," with playtesting happening "in the near future."

With so little to go on, it's hard to say what form will eventually materialize from Agarwal and Pettinati's new studio, but they definitely have the experience to back up their lofty ambitions. Agarwal spent a decade at Naughty Dog and went from junior designer to game director on The Last of Us Online, while Pettinati also spent 10 years at the studio, going from editor to creative director.

In the meantime, here are the best PS5 games you can play right now.

Dark Souls developer FromSoftware may be currently working on not one, but two multiplayer games at the moment – The Duskbloods and Elden Ring Nightreign – but former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida thinks the studio might have trouble adapting to them. FromSoftware director Hidetaka Miyazaki just isn't a PvP fan, as he's said himself.

"I think it's a new challenge for [FromSoftware], to design game for multiplayer," Yoshida tells Easy Allies in a recent podcast episode. "Miyazaki-san [isn't] necessarily a big fan of PvP games, so [FromSoftware] will try to make it more accommodating for the people who are kind of intimidated to play the PvP game."

In a Creator's Voice conversation transcript, Miyazaki again suggests a similar idea, clarifying that FromSoftware has not "decided to shift to a more multiplayer-focused direction" after The Duskbloods and Nightreign are released.

"We still intend to actively develop single player focused games such as [Elden Ring] that embrace our more traditional style," he says.

For his part, Yoshida admits that "I'm not a good FPS player, either, so I don't play these competitive games." Regardless, he says vampiric PvPvE The Duskbloods is his most anticipated Switch 2 title, and "of course" it "should be great" in the end.

"That game, coming from FromSoftware with the design sensibility to accommodate people like me – I'm very excited," Yoshida tells Easy Allies.

Elden Ring Nightreign will release on May 30 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, and PC, while The Duskbloods will be out sometime in 2026 as a Switch 2 exclusive.

Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser says FromSoftware's The Duskbloods is evidence of Hidetaka Miyazaki's faith in the Switch 2 hardware.

Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser reckons the fact that Dark Souls mastermind Hidetaka Miyazaki has enough confidence in the Switch 2 to release The Duskbloods as an exclusive speaks volumes for the hardware's capabilities.

In case you missed it, The Duskbloods is Miyazaki's next game after Elden Ring: Nightreign, and it's coming exclusively to Nintendo Switch 2 at some point in 2026. The game's reveal was arguably the biggest surprise of the Switch 2 Direct, which also included a huge Mario Kart World showcase and the announcement of the open-world Donkey Kong Bananza.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Bowser boasted of Miyazaki's faith in the Switch 2 hardware as a means to open up new gameplay possibilities. Unfortunately, no direct quotes were given, but it sounds like Bowser was saying that Miyazaki deciding the Switch 2 was the right home for his next game is proof that the upcoming console is powerful enough to fulfill his creative vision, which is a valid flex to be fair.

The Washington Post also rightly noted that many third-party publishers distanced themselves from Nintendo after the commercial failure of the Wii U, and that the immense success of the Switch is pulling them back in. Recently, a pair of former Nintendo marketing leads echoed that sentiment, saying the Wii U flopped so hard that getting third-party support on Switch was "really hard" and predicting a new era for third-party support on the Switch 2.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is already impressing developers who say they're "extremely happy" with the new console's power, comparing it to a "mid-tier PC"

The Duskbloods immediately looked like an Elden Ring-style open-world take on Bloodborne, though the revelation that it's set to be a multiplayer PvPvE game quickly made clear that it is something fundamentally different. Still, director Hidetaka Miyazaki and the crew at FromSoftware are clearly building on Bloodborne's dilapidated world fueled by powerful blood with the new concept of "Bloodsworn" and "First Blood."

"We tried to extract the sort of romantic aspects we found interesting from concepts such as vampires and 'blood' and reinterpreted them as the Bloodsworn," who are the characters you play as in The Duskbloods, as Miyazaki explains in a new official interview with Nintendo. The title of The Duskbloods directly refers to those Bloodsworn.

"In The Duskbloods, the Bloodsworn are competing for something known as 'First Blood,'" Miyazaki continues. "As human society reaches an end, First Blood flows in an event known as the 'Twilight of Humanity.' The Bloodsworn are summoned to the Twilight of Humanity across a variety of different times and places in a bid to obtain First Blood."

Collecting First Blood, which sounds somewhat similar to Blood Vials in Bloodborne, serves as the goal of each match. It seems like this whole "blood" thing, er, flows through the entire game.

"In the context of this game, blood is used more conceptually, as opposed to literal meanings like physical depictions of injury," Miyazaki explains with a bit of his trademark crypticness. "Blood symbolizes one of the game’s key themes – the history it holds, the power it passes on, the fates it weaves and the marker of those who have surpassed the limitations of their own humanity."

If the Victorian Gothic aesthetics didn't help give it away on their own, it's seeming increasingly clear that The Duskbloods is following in Bloodborne's footsteps – to a degree where I'm almost surprised the trailer didn't have a "fear the First Blood" line. The Duskbloods is clearly meant to be something very different from Bloodborne in terms of structure, but the 2015 game's spirit lives on for Switch 2.

Hidetaka Miyazaki shares The Duskbloods worries of some Elden Ring and Dark Souls fans: "I personally am not much of a PvP person, and I wanted to make something that's satisfying even for players like me."

The Duskbloods, a whole new FromSoftware game led by Dark Souls and Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki, was one of the biggest surprises from this week's Nintendo Switch 2 Direct news. The Switch 2-exclusive PvPvE game is set to launch sometime next year on Nintendo's upcoming console, but if you were worried about the focus on PvP, it sounds like the director has got you covered.

Speaking in a Creator's Voice interview in a new series of Nintendo blog posts, Miyazaki explains that "at its core," The Duskbloods is an "online multiplayer focused game, with both player vs player and player vs enemy gameplay." Players are able to choose a character before heading online, where they'll compete for "First Blood." Once a match ends, they'll receive a reward, which can be used to "further customize their character, and so the cycle continues."

It sounds like you won't necessarily have to be a PvP legend to succeed here, though, as Miyazaki notes that not all victory conditions are based on that. "Some victory conditions center around defeating a boss enemy," he adds, before continuing: "Regardless of whether it's PvP or PvE, the idea is to provide players with an experience that allows them to learn and hone their skills as they play. We've therefore designed the PvE boss encounters to present a tough challenge and a sense of accomplishment upon defeating them."

Miyazaki later states that it "was the intention" to ensure that even players who don't generally gravitate towards PvP can have fun. "I personally am not much of a PvP person, and I wanted to make something that's satisfying even for players like me," he explains. "While the goal of a match is to obtain First Blood, there are personal objectives that provide separate rewards to the player as well, so I hope these add to the fun of each engagement."

Meanwhile, if multiplayer FromSoftware games really aren't your thing, Miyazaki has also clarified that "we still intend to actively develop single player focused games" like Elden Ring which "embrace our more traditional style."

The Duskbloods is definitely one of the most exciting upcoming Switch 2 games, but don't forget about Mario Kart World, which'll be racing onto the console on launch day.

Frequent FromSoftware director and Dark Souls mastermind Hidetaka Miyazaki insists that the iconic studio still plans on creating single-player-focused games like the ones that made it a household name, despite Elden Ring Nightreign and The Duskbloods' going down the multiplayer route.

Elden Ring Nightreign is, of course, an upcoming co-op take on the studio's mammoth open-world romp that sees up to three players battling enemies, collecting loot, and trying to defeat an end boss before bringing their valuable rewards back to a homebase. It seemed like a quirky experiment from the studio and a good excuse to re-use some Elden Ring assets.

But heads turned when it was recently announced that The Duskbloods – the next game from the director of Bloodborne, Dark Souls, Demon Souls, and Elden Ring – was also a multiplayer-oriented PvPvE game, making it seem like online games were the company's new MO.

Speaking in an Creator's Voice Nintendo blog, Hidetaka Miyazaki explains that that's not the case. "As a side note, please allow me to address one thing," he says. "As previously mentioned, this is an online multiplayer title at its core, but this doesn't mean that we as a company have decided to shift to a more multiplayer-focused direction with titles going forward. The Nintendo Switch 2 version of Elden Ring was also announced, and we still intend to actively develop single player focused games such as this that embrace our more traditional style."

So, why was The Duskbloods made to be a multiplayer game in the first place? Miyazaki explains he's always found PvPvE games "very interesting" because they "allow for a broad range of game design ideas, while also letting us leverage our experience of designing challenging enemy encounters." And if you don't really play FromSoft games to get beat up by other people, don't worry – there's lots of objectives around the map that don't involve PvP, and some matches even make you team up with friendly faces.

See what other upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 games are joining The Duskbloods next year.

Perhaps the biggest shock announcement among today's Nintendo Switch 2 Direct news was the reveal of The Duskbloods, a new game from FromSoftware that appears to give the Elden Ring-style open-world treatment to Bloodborne's Gothic horror aesthetics.

The game is due to launch exclusively on Switch 2 in 2026. The trailer doesn't offer a load of concrete details, but it shows some massive environments suggesting that this is an open-world title. There are also a ton of absolutely absurd-looking enemies and abilities, many of which seem more cartoonish than anything FromSoftware has attempted before.

There was certainly enough Bloodborne DNA in that launch trailer to set a few synapses firing before The Duskbloods' title card showed up. There was also plenty to get excited about - my particular highlights were the apparent boss fight with the guy in his jammies, the flying armored guy who looks a lot like one of those Moleguy aliens from Mass Effect, and the moment where the protagonist swung across a moonlit temple blasting some unseen foe with his shotgun.

Happily, this wasn't the only offering FromSoftware made today. Elden Ring is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 alongside a whole suite of last-gen bangers. Those include the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 and Civ 7, which really proves that while the Switch 2 might not be besting the PS5 and Xbox Series X generation, it'll be relatively hot on their heels.

Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders could drop today, and we're following live to see if stock hits the shelves

Ori director and Moon Studios co-founder Thomas Mahler says Microsoft originally told him the beloved Metroidvania platforming series was too hard for a general audience, but Mahler insisted that the difficulty stay the same, believing the level of challenge was necessary for what he was trying to achieve.

Appearing on the Destin podcast (timestamped here), Mahler explained his game design philosophy, comparing it to Nintendo and FromSoftware's Hidetaka Miyazaki.

"Our approach is very similar to how Nintendo designs games, in the sense that it all has to be fun comes first," Mahler said. "Even in Ori, we had people constantly telling us, 'Hey the game is too hard,' especially more from the Microsoft side. It was a lot of, 'Oh my god, but the game looks beautiful. Wouldn't it be more fun if everyone could enjoy it?'

"But I'm on the Miyazaki side on this. That has to be really carefully tuned so that – there's this thing psychologically where you have to overcome challenge. You always have to have these moments were we present you with something and you feel like you can't do it, but then we get you to actually do it, and that is that moment of like, 'oh my god.'"

Ori and the Blind Forest and its sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, are generally considered to be pretty tough games to get through, but in the context of Metroidvanias, they're middle of the pack in terms of difficulty. You'll certainly die many times playing them, especially during some notorious chase-style sequences, but it's all in the service of perfecting the precise timing needed to progress. Git gud, basically.

Mahler and the rest of the crew at Moon Studios are hard at work on their Diablo-coded early access action-RPG No Rest for the Wicked, and likely will be for many years, but they also aren't ruling out a return to Metroidvanias in the meantime.

Ori and the Blind Forest developer is now "fully independent" after "months of negotiation" with what remained of its gutted publisher.

A new standalone Elden Ring game has just been announced by FromSoftware – Elden Ring: Nightreign.

Elden Ring: Nightreign is a new adventure set within the Elden Ring universe featuring three-player co-op, enhanced movement like wall-climbing and spectral animals that allow you to fly, as well as what looks like some parry mechanics lifted straight out of Sekiro.

The official description reads: "Join forces with other players to take on the creeping night and the dangers within featuring three-player co-op. Take command of uniquely skilled heroes, each possessing their own abilities and distinct flair. While individually powerful, their skills grow even more formidable when united as a team. Overcome a relentless environmental threat that sweeps through a land that changes between each game session and defeat the magnificent boss of that night!"

It almost looks like FromSoftware's take on Monster Hunter, and I'm here for it. Elden Ring: Nightreign is coming sometime in 2025 but I want it now.

The environmental threat looks like a burning wall of purple fire that even appears to snuff out a site of grace, so it must be a powerful force indeed. Luckily, the "seekers of redemption" have access to animal helpers that let them soar through the skies, and one hero even has wings that let them shoot up into the air before crashing back down on the enemies below.

As well as the huge bosses we've all come to know and love, Nightreign also has a fair amount of foot soldiers to plow through. Rather than being a pure boss rush, it looks like you'll have to clear levels with your team before facing the final big bad.

We also got a look at some familiar locations such as the Roundtable Hold, and I reckon the lava lake with fiery waterfalls may have been Volcano Manor. It looks like it may be set before the events of Elden Ring, too; one hero looks a lot like Malenia, donning a familiar helmet and using wings to stun smaller foes.

While Nightreign isn't technically Elden Ring 2, it seems mighty close to it, and coming just three years after the original with a huge DLC in between. Hey, I'm not complaining. 

While you're here, check out our live coverage of The Game Awards.

Sorry, Elden Ring fans, it doesn't sound like we'll be returning to the Lands Between for a full-blown sequel any time soon, as director Hidetaka Miyazaki confirms that FromSoftware "isn't really considering" such developments right now.

The game director and president of FromSoftware spoke during a roundtable interview at the PlayStation Partner Awards 2024 Japan Asia event last night, where Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree was one of three Grand Award winners (alongside Black Myth: Wukong and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth). Reported by IGN Japan and translated by Automaton, Miyazaki still isn't ruling out further Elden Ring-shaped projects in the future, but for the time being, a sequel isn't in the works.

"We're not really considering developments such as an Elden Ring 2," he said, adding the idea of developing the IP further could still happen "in some form in the future." This is the same sort of sentiment he shared back in February, at which point he also said a second DLC wasn't planned. 

The full interview has been shared by Japanese site Game Watch, and when translated (via Google and DeepL), we can see that Miyazaki was also pressed further on exactly what FromSoftware is working on right now. After all, he recently teased at the Golden Joystick Awards that the studio is "currently working on various new projects," but didn't elaborate on what they were. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he's not given much away here, either, reiterating that there are multiple projects being cooked up behind the scenes, but he curiously teases them covering different genres, and he apparently won't be the director of all of them. 

What genres those will be is yet another matter, but it is intriguing – after all, the studio is best known for its action RPGs and soulslikes. Dark Souls farming sim, anyone?

Owner of Dark Souls and Elden Ring developer FromSoftware confirms its studios have 20 console games in development, and we can only hope one of them is a Bloodborne remaster.

Sony is officially in talks to acquire Kadokawa, the Japanese media conglomerate behind hundreds of manga, anime, and video game properties. The publisher even holds a 70% share in powerhouse FromSoftware of Dark Souls and Elden Ring fame, and one investor reportedly reckons that the acquisition is worth it for the studio's creative frontman alone.

Hidetaka Miyazaki has long been responsible for FromSoftware's biggest hits, having directed everything from Dark Souls and Bloodborne to Elden Ring and Armored Core, which has since made him one of the industry's most revered and well-known names. Now, his desolate and often punishing RPGs are centre stage in a multi-billion dollar buyout.

Speaking to Bloomberg, one unnamed investor reportedly joked that Sony's proposed acquisition would be worth the billions solely to have Miyazaki and his games on board, as the famed director "alone can be worth at least a third of Kadokawa's market value." That might be a jokey overestimation, but Miyazaki has put out non-stop hits for well over a decade and the company is already hammering away at "various new projects." Many of FromSoft's fantasy worlds would also be ripe for anime, manga, and live-action adaptations - avenues that Sony has been aggressively chasing as of late with multiple PlayStation TV shows and its 2020 Crunchyroll acquisition.

Analyst Robin Zhu also told Bloomberg that the deal could be "one of the most consequential transactions in the video game industry's history" with how much potential there is for well-known anime to be turned into video games and vice versa. A former Blizzard boss even echoed the sentiment and said the "only thing bigger" would be if Sony bought Nintendo or Valve.

Take a trip down memory lane with the best FromSoftware games of all time to see what Sony might end up owning. 

Elden Ring director and FromSoftware boss Hidetaka Miyazaki has "sincerely" apologized for the amount of time Soulslike fans had to wait for the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC after the release of the base game in 2022, but he's excitingly teased that the studio is already at work on "various new projects."

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree took home a shiny Golden Joystick Award yesterday for the Best Game Expansion, and although Miyazaki wasn't there in person to accept it, he provided an acceptance video to thank fans for their support, calling the award an "incredible honor." 

Even so, he knows fans had to be patient for Shadow of the Erdtree's release. "I must sincerely apologize for the lengthy wait of over two years since the release of the main game to deliver this DLC," Miyazaki says. "That said, receiving such a prestigious reward brings me great relief, and I am deeply thankful to all the players who enjoyed and supported the main game and the DLC."

After thanking the team who worked alongside him on the game and its expansion, Miyazaki says that the "overwhelming support" for Elden Ring "has been a tremendous source of strength for FromSoftware as we look toward the future." He continues: "We are currently working on various new projects, and I hope you will look forward to what we have in store next."

As for what those projects are, Miyazaki unfortunately didn't elaborate. Back in February, he told IGN that FromSoftware didn't "have any current plans to make a second DLC or a sequel," but also acknowledged that "there could well be something [in] the future," so there's a possibility that plans could have changed since then. Otherwise, could there be a chance that a Bloodborne PC port or PS5 remaster could finally be happening? For now, we can only dream. 

"I know for a fact these guys want a Bloodborne PC port," Hidetaka Miyazaki says of FromSoftware staff, but "if I say I want one, I'll get in trouble."

The latest Elden Ring patch brought not-unexpected nerfs to the final boss of Shadow of the Erdtree and sizable buffs to some underwhelming gear, including a few of my personal favorites. Dutifully adding numbers to FromSoftware's notoriously nonspecific patch notes, Elden Ring players noticed that there's also a much more surprising change hidden in the list: the Brass Shield, hands-down the best medium shield in the entire game, got a pretty significant buff. 

A post from Reddit user N_audio brought this to my attention, and my body rejected the knowledge so violently that I practically sprinted to my living room to boot up Elden Ring and confirm it for myself. It's real, folks. The Brass Shield's guard boost has been increased from 69, which already put its stability in the realm of greatshields, to a staggering 75 – a near 10% buff, no strings attached. 

When FromSoftware said it increased the physical damage negation and guard strength of some shields, I kind of figured it would focus on the ones that aren't, you know, the best in the entire game. To be fair, some other competitive medium shields like the magic-resistant Wolf Crest Shield and fire-resistant Serpent Crest Shield, which beat the Brass Shield in some resistances and rival it in others, also got a nice buff. They now cap out at 74 guard boost, and the only reason I know this is because I have a lot of shields maxed out for fashion purposes. I can understand buffing everything to maintain parity, but improving the Brass Shield in any capacity feels like raising money for Bill Gates. 

For the unfamiliar, the Brass Shield is not simply good. It is the uncontested gold belt champion of the Lands Between. It is a tireless workhorse that has enabled countless Tarnished to overcome obstacles that once seemed insurmountable. And it needed a buff the way the PS5 Pro needed expensive accessories added to its already eye-watering price tag. 

The Brass Shield blocks all physical damage, has three elemental resistances in the 50s, and even its low lightning resistance of 39 is pretty high for a hunk of metal. It has a low Strength requirement, it's lightweight, it's such a common drop that you'll probably acquire a dozen without even trying, and we've already covered its absurdly high guard boost stat which preserves your stamina when blocking. You can put a special parry on it, you can keep it skill-free to free up your weapon skill, and it works well with several Ash of War infusions to spec into certain elements. And now it's better.

Medium shields are suddenly so good, in fact, that it's harder than ever to justify the vast majority of greatshields in Elden Ring. They're heavier and harder to use, and the guard boost gap gain has never been smaller. There are still some standout big boy shields, but now more than ever, the Brass Shield is absolutely eating their lunch, or at least eyeing it hungrily. Go get one of these things, level it up, stuff the new deflecting hard tear into your Physick potion, throw on the guard counter talisman, and watch everything in the game vanish before your eyes as you play Sekiro with what feels like an iron wall strapped to your fist while bosses recoil like bugs off a windshield. 

Elden Ring players dig out their 'I beat Radahn before the nerf' stickers as early runs show FromSoftware really took a bat to Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss. 

Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke was originally worried the absolutely gargantuan RPG was going to be too short.

It's obviously staggering to hear that in hindsight, knowing a single playthrough can easily well exceed 100 hours and also knowing how immensely replayable the game is, but alas, in an interview with BAFTA Vincke said this: "You would be surprised to know that we actually had many more regions that we planned to make. I was afraid the game was going to be too short originally, but I've notoriously always been very bad at judging the length of our games."

Ultimately, the developers at Larian realized they were at risk of making an RPG that was "too big," and thus they made some cuts to content that was originally part of the game. Specifically, Vincke revealed that Moonrise Towers used to be two towers but was reduced to just one in the final version. At some point, there were also the ruins of the second tower in the game, but that got taken out too as Larian grew concerned over the size of the production.

Obviously, the designer's instincts couldn't have been more spot-on. It's hard to say if it would've been better with more or less content, but as it is right now it feels incredibly ambitious in scope without ever feeling unwieldy, even for me as a new player who experienced the series for the first time with the latest entry. Don't take it from me either; Vincke said in July that Baldur's Gate 3 won so many awards that it started to "affect development" and forced Larian to send "rotating teams" of devs to ceremonies.

Still, it's hard not to think of the time Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki said Elden Ring would only take around 30 hours to beat, an estimate that was so far off he later neglected to estimate the length of the Elden Ring DLC.

Save scummers, rejoice: this turn-based RPG is all about the dirty trick we all definitely didn't abuse in Baldur's Gate 3.

A charity auction supporting the Immune Deficiency Foundation has turned up a rare bit of FromSoftware swag: an Elden Ring poster signed by director and studio president Hidetaka Miyazaki himself. And you can get it yourself if you can beat the current top bid of a mere $12,600. 

YouTuber CDawgVA, known for a variety of charity work, is behind this auction, and first teased this Miyazaki poster a few weeks ago. "He barely ever signs things, why would I give this away?" he asked. "It's for charity, Connor. It's for charity." 

This listing is now live over on Tiltify, and from a humble $1 start on July 12, it's already shot up to $12,600 as of 32 minutes ago. That's largely thanks to YouTuber Jacksepticeye, who's repeatedly one-upped any competing bidders over the past few days. Interestingly, an anonymous bidder has actually been his biggest competitor over the past few hours, though other big names like Ludwig helped drive the price sky-high. For context, the first couple dozen bids were comfortably below $1,000, but new offers started to balloon after the $680 mark. 

Fielding the feedback that this charity has become a trade show for rich YouTubers and their rich friends, CDawgVA said in a tweet: "We got a ton of raffle items, merch, and a free 5-hour show. I know a lot of the big items are going for stupid numbers but the goal is to raise as much money as possible for a good cause and have a great time doing it."

Jacksepticeye, meanwhile, seemed to insist that he won't be letting this item slip, no matter the price. "Phase 2," he said in a tweet. 

Other early auction items – the actual charity show will air on July 19, so I gather this is just a small curated selection – include a hangout with CDawgVA and Twitch vtubing star Ironmouse, which currently goes for $18,600. Or for a mere $3,050 and counting, you could own the 10 million subscriber diamond play button from YouTuber JaidenAnimations. Thank goodness this money is for charity, folks. 

FromSoftware expert finds the studio's biggest dragon finally surpassed with Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's almost 400 meter behemoth. 

Elden Ring's Hidetaka Miyazaki says he'd have no problem with Hollywood adapting the video game into a movie or TV show, but only on one condition: he and the rest of the FromSoftware not be heavily involved.

In a new interview with The Guardian (per VGC), the studio president explained: "I don't see any reason to deny another interpretation of Elden Ring, a movie for example. 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."

He went on to add that the Elden Ring team would have to "build a lot of trust and agreement" with anyone who would want to bring the source material to the big screen, and that there's active "interest" in doing so.

Directed by Miyazaki, open-world RPG Elden Ring sees players customize a character before embarking on their trusty steed Torrent, on a quest to restore the titular item's runes and become the new Elden Lord. 

Back in 2021, Bandai Namco announced that they had plans to expand Elden Ring's universe into a "variety of other areas," which many fans took to mean a movie or TV series. Since then, though, there has been no real update.

"We will continue to develop Elden Ring not only as a game but also in a variety of other areas in order to deliver the worldview and charm of this title to our fans around the world. We look forward to your continued support," CEO Yasuo Miyakawa said.

While we wait for more news on a potential Elden Ring film, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming video game movies you'd should be keeping an eye out for.

FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki explains that as Elden Ring was a "turning point" for the Dark Souls developer, "there's going to be a clear difference" between any preceding games and future titles from the team coming after the open-world RPG.

Speaking in a recent interview with The Guardian, Miyazaki describes FromSoftware's smash success Elden Ring and its release as a critical moment within the studio's history. The game was a "turning point" for the company according to the director, with nothing like it before - or after: "Before and after Elden ring, there’s going to be a clear difference." Miyazaki points to Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon as an example of this, going on to express his hope for more games from other directors than himself at FromSoftware.

"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," Miyazaki admits, "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."

In another interview, Miyazaki similarly called Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice a "turning point" for the studio - but more so in regard to its fast-paced combat and action-heavy gameplay. The president's thoughts on FromSoftware's future games then also echoed the possibility that new titles will play differently - specifically, more quickly: "I think there's one more level we can crank it up to." 

As for Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree is the end of FromSoftware's work on the beloved open-world RPG for now - the impressive DLC alone is one of the company's biggest projects to date, after all.

Hidetaka Miyazaki says "I absolutely suck at video games," but still got through Elden Ring by using "every scrap of aid that the game offers"

FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki says he'd "have my concerns" about pushing the studio to make a game larger than Elden Ring, which already forced him and the team to draw on "every resource and talent that we have access to."

Speaking with The Guardian, Miyazaki assesses the size of FromSoftware against the size of Elden Ring, the studio's biggest game by orders of magnitude. Its new Shadow of the Erdtree DLC alone is bigger than most of the studio's previous games. Making something bigger still, even following Elden Ring's explosive success – which obviously provided a financial cushion but hasn't necessarily translated to expansion within the studio – is daunting. 

"Where FromSoftware is right now, in terms of scale, I would say Elden Ring is really the limit," Miyazaki says. "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." 

The load-bearing phrase here is likely this: "Where FromSoftware is right now." The developer is surely still adjusting to Elden Ring's outlier success, as well as the attention and opportunities it's brought, with Miyazaki and other executives likely weighing up options for growth against the risks of overreaching or altering the studio's culture. FromSoftware won't double in size overnight, but it's reasonable to expect the studio to one day grow beyond its longstanding production setup. 

Elsewhere, Miyazaki more broadly argues that Elden Ring was a "turning point" for the studio, and that FromSoftware games made "before and after it" will show "a clear difference," pointing to 2023's Armored Core 6 as one example of the studio's evolution in action. Armored Core 6 is also a good demonstration of how Miyazaki and FromSoftware's "conservative forecast" can support smaller games that can find smaller but still significant success. 

In a separate interview, Miyazaki recently described Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice as a turning point of its own, but in the context of FromSoftware's approach to action combat. "There's one more level we can crank it up to," he said, suggesting FromSoftware games could get faster and more fluid still.

Miyazaki says "I absolutely suck at video games," but still got through Elden Ring by using "every scrap of aid that the game offers."

Elden Ring director and FromSoftware boss Hidetaka Miyazaki may be the mastermind behind the studio's brutal action RPGs, but he claims that as far as his own skills go, "I absolutely suck at video games." 

In a new interview with The Guardian, Miyazaki reveals that despite not normally playing through his own games after their launch, since he doesn't want to see "issues that will bug me," he played through Elden Ring's story in preparation for the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. However, he found himself using "everything" at his disposal to get through it. 

"I want to preface this by saying I absolutely suck at video games," he begins. "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." 

It's fair to say that even though the action RPG is difficult, simply giving players more freedom to run off, explore and get stronger, or sometimes fight different bosses rather than one they're stuck on, makes a massive difference in making the experience less frustrating, and Miyazaki clearly recognizes this. 

While Miyazaki doesn't discuss the specific features that helped him get through his own action RPG playthrough, we can probably deduce he's referring to things like Spirit Ashes, NPC summons, and consumables that apply buffs. Since Elden Ring's launch, some players have insisted on avoiding the likes of Spirit Ashes in order to take on boss fights totally solo and ultimately make things harder for themselves, but clearly, the director himself isn't opposed to using the tools that the game offers to make the ride a little smoother.

Regardless, it's interesting to hear Miyazaki himself profess to "suck" at games, especially given how hard FromSoftware games tend to be. He spoke about this recently in another interview with The Guardian about Elden Ring, and noted: "If we really wanted the whole world to play the game, we could just crank the difficulty down more and more. But that wasn't the right approach." He even went as far to say that making it easy "would break the game itself," since you wouldn't experience that same "sense of achievement" that you get with completing its many challenges. 

The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion is arguably even harder than the base game, too, but if you're stuck on one particularly fiery fight, you'll be pleased to hear that community legend Let Me Solo Her is back with a new mission. This time, he's helping players defeat Messmer the Impaler. With this quest comes a new name, Let Me Solo Him, so be sure to look out for that summon sign and jar helmet if you're stuck fighting him. 

Be sure to check out our guide on how to get to every Shadow of the Erdtree region and area on the map to help you explore the Realm of Shadow.

FromSoftware president and long-time Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki recently reiterated that difficulty is integral to the type of game the studio makes, readily acknowledging that "if we really wanted the whole world to play [Elden Ring], we could just crank the difficulty down." Over at Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios, CCO and creative director Johan Pilestedt aligns with FromSoftware's philosophy and reiterates Arrowhead's: "A game for everyone is a game for no one."

Pilestedt waded into the discussion in response to a Twitter post sharing a clip from Twitch streamer Stormfall33, who was positively elated to defeat the Shadow of the Erdtree boss Rellana, the Twin Moon Knight 173 deaths into the DLC.

"Some people think FromSoftware design hard bosses for difficulty’s sake," reasons YouTuber Rurikhan. "They are wrong. The game is challenging because they want you to feel this. But you can’t feel this without being challenged. This moment sums up the entire design philosophy of every Soulsborne game."

"Indeed, this 1000% - good game design is evoking emotion more than anything," Pilestedt said in a quote tweet. 

Another user responded to share that they didn't enjoy the original Dark Souls and, instead of accomplishment, only felt relief after overcoming challenges in FromSoftware's games and ultimately quit them. "A game for everyone is a game for no one," Pilestedt replied. "Always cater to a select audience." 

This user wasn't mad about the Souls games or anything, only noting that "I just never gelled with" them, "and that's fine." If anything, their experience perfectly demonstrates the argument here: not everyone is going to like this approach, but the people who do will love it. If you sand blast all personality and friction off a game in pursuit of broad appeal, you sacrifice what would make it stand out.

Pilestedt was of a similar mind: "Absolutely! The games industry is now big enough for there to be so many exciting experiences for all audiences. I try to imagine having this variety when I was 10... It would have been mind blowing!"

This isn't new for Arrowhead, for the record. Load up the studio's website right now and you'll see this very motto in big bold letters: "A game for everyone is a game for no one." It's been the studio's catchphrase for years and helped shape Helldivers 2 into the mega-hit it is. "You may have seen us use this motto before," Arrowhead adds in another page. "For us, it’s important. We make games that we ourselves would like to play. That’s the secret to our success."

Miyazaki's comments reflect a similar design philosophy, but in a different way; not so much opposite sides of the coin as different sides of the same die. Where Elden Ring is unapologetic with its challenges, Helldivers 2 – brutal in its own right on higher difficulty missions – commits to the bit and delivers an extremely specific experience through multiple factors, from worldbuilding to gameplay. 

"Games should challenge the creativity of the individuals who play them," Arrowhead argues elsewhere on its website. "We feel that this is one of the key factors in creating long-lasting, memorable experiences that can be retold time and time again." 

Here's how to beat Shadow of the Erdtree's Rellana Twin Moon Knight for yourself. 

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's focus on Miquella was born of the desire to "honor George R.R. Martin's contributions" to FromSoftware's game.

That's according to Elden Ring director and FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki, speaking to The Verge in a new interview. Miyazaki tells the outlet that the focus on Miqeulla, brother of Malenia, in the expansion was "born of the desire to honor George R.R. Martin's contributions to the game."

Miquella is one of Elden Ring's all-powerful demigods, but was curiously absent from the base game back in 2022. To say Miquella is the main character of Shadow of the Erdtree is an understatement - the entire expansion focuses on the character's ascension to godhood.

"[He] gave us all this great mythology to work with," Miyazaki told The Verge, adding that bundling Miquella's entire storyline into Shadow of the Erdtree was "closing the loop" on Martin's involvement in the game. "It's really about completing Elden Ring's circle," Miyazaki added.

Much was made of Martin's involvement with Elden Ring before it launched in 2022, but nothing has ever really been expanded on to discuss which elements of the game he explicitly designed. We've never really been told which characters Martin himself came up with, for example, although now it sounds like Miquella might well have been the Game of Thrones author's creation.

For future FromSoftware games though, Miyazaki has said that they'll build on the "combination between freedom and difficulty," so perhaps we can expect another adventure in the scope of Elden Ring. 

Twitch streamer Kai Cenat nears Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss after 51 hours and 536 deaths, challenging his legendary run of the base game.

Developer FromSoftware isn't ready to talk about its next game, but whatever the project ends up being will snatch the baton from Elden Ring and continue "that combination between freedom and difficulty."

The studio's breakout successes - Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Sekiro, and Bloodborne - attracted a devoted cult fanbase thanks to their imposing difficulty, community-building design, and effortlessly mysterious worlds. But Elden Ring flung the studio into the mainstream, having sold over 25 million copies since launch, arguably because its open world made the Soulslike formula more accessible. Rather than throwing your character into the same jaws of death over and over and over again, Elden Ring let players turn around, run away, seek out different challenges, and then return stronger.

"Traditionally, we've always liked the higher-difficulty curve type of games and experiences," director Hidetaka Miyazaki said in an interview with CNET. "But I think that nature in and of itself alienates a portion of the game-playing audience, whereas Elden Ring succeeded in casting a wider net but at the same time keeping that core high learning curve."

Miyazaki continued to say that "an open world game or experience" isn't necessarily the reason why, rather "the degree of freedom and the amount of freedom that we give players [is what] helps balance or offset that difficulty curve and makes the game more accessible and engaging for a certain player demographic."

As Shadow of the Erdtree brings Elden Ring to a close, "that combination between freedom and difficulty will become a big hint in whatever it is we do next," Miyazaki noted. Exactly what FromSoftware is making next remains a mystery. Miyazaki previously expressed desire to continue the mech-explodathon series Armored Core, but, somewhat surprisingly, his "ideal fantasy RPG" still remains a dream in his head.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree debuted to ‘Mixed’ Steam reviews as players complained about unfair difficulty and performance troubles.

FromSoftware head Hidetaka Miyazaki has revealed Bloodborne and Dark Souls "left a big impression on him" when asked about his personal favorite game from the studio.

Speaking to CNET recently, Miyazaki was asked about his personal favorite game across FromSoftware's entire history. Yes, there are games that the Japanese studio made before Miyazaki joined, like the original King's Field games, but it seems the question was more geared to get Miyazaki to pick one of his own games, or looking at it another way, his favorite child.

"First Dark Souls and Bloodborne," Miyazaki begins. "Of course, I love them all. On a very personal level, I would say, first Dark Souls and Bloodborne left a very big impression on me. As a company, Elden Ring put us in a completely different league, so that was a huge milestone for the company," the Elden Ring director and FromSoftware studio head continues.

"And if we expand it to all the FromSoftware games, including children not my own, I would say King's Field 2," Miyazaki adds. This is one of the games that Miyazaki has continually talked about over the years as loving even before he joined FromSoftware, and the game went on to heavily influence Demon's Souls, the first game Miyazaki directed at FromSoftware.

That Bloodborne is among Miyazaki's personal favorite games will be a small comfort to its ravenous fans. For the first time in literal years, Miyazaki has recently been quizzed about Bloodborne a number of times, saying earlier this year in February that he's "very happy" so many people want a remake, and commenting again earlier this month that many FromSoftware devs want a Bloodborne PC port.

On a personal note, I'm a little surprised Miyazaki didn't choose an Armored Core game - he's on record as absolutely adoring the series, and being "extremely jealous" of those who got to work on Armored Core 6 at FromSoftware. When you've got riches to pick from like FromSoftware's history, you can't really go wrong.

Check out our guide on how to start the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC in Elden Ring if you want to hit the ground running in the expansion.

One of the many things that makes Elden Ring stand out among FromSoftware's other works is Game of Thrones scribe George R.R. Martin contributing to the lore and mythology. As it happens, it's gone so well that director Hidetaka Miyazaki "would definitely be open" to other collaborations on future FromSoftware games.

Speaking to GameSpot, Miyazaki reminisces about working with Martin before concluding that another collaboration is something he "would definitely be open to." Not just because it adds a lot to the game, but because it offers a valuable learning experience for developers, too.

"One of the huge value-adds of Elden Ring is, of course, George R. R. Martin's contribution in terms of the lore and the mythology, and it is one of the very unique points that other FromSoftware games don't have," he says. "When the team was able to start unpacking his lore and his mythology, it turned into a huge stimulation for us, and it was something that on the development side, we don't get to experience that often."

As such, Miyazaki says that if FromSoftware had the chance to work with another major creator, he would "definitely be open to exploring that." Working with Marin was a "unique" experience for both the developers working on Elden Ring and the players who got to experience the final product.

"And with regards to George R. R. Martin himself as a person, aside from the stimulation the team received from all of his amazing mythology and lore, George had a very good understanding of game design and video games in general," Miyazaki says. "I think he has a certain respect for it as well, so that made the collaboration and the entire process very, very seamless and easy for us."

Good vibes all around. There's more to come, too, as Elden Ring's one-and-likely-done DLC is here. You can check out our Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree review to see whether it holds up – spoiler, it does.

Here's how to start the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC in Elden Ring.

FromSoftware president and frequent director Hidetaka Miyazaki has joked that he's not too great at the former job responsibility because "about 95%" of his time goes toward actually making the games.

Miyazaki is revered for directing the studio's bleak, often crushing, but ultimately hopeful games, and after the cult successes of Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne, he was also appointed to a presidential role within the Japanese game developer - which was previously best known for mech-explodathon series Armored Core and experimental offshoots like Enchanted Arms, the odd 2006 JRPG that me and seven other people love. 

After the towering success of Elden Ring, however, FromSoftware is no longer a mid-sized developer of cult hits. The open-worlder has shifted over 25 million copies and its imposing difficulty plus accessible world design has enshrined it into the wider pop culture conversation. But, despite the studio exploding in popularity, Miyazaki remains just as committed to game development as ever.

"There is always going to be this enjoyment and satisfaction I get out of making games, regardless of what my title or position in the company is," Miyazaki says in an interview with the Guardian. "I enjoy helping grow and nurture the younger directors whom I see guiding the company in the next stage. But sitting in a management office all day isn't my style. I really get my hands dirty and continue to make games together, through which I hope I can communicate my process to a different generation of talent. I have had the title of president for almost 10 years now, but I would say about 95% of what I do at the company and how I spend my time is directed towards making games and directing games. Using that ratio, you could say I only actually have about six months experience as an executive!"

The Elden Ring director still hasn’t made his “ideal fantasy RPG” yet, so he’ll likely remain committed to game development for a while.

Elden Ring is, by orders of magnitude, the most successful game FromSoftware has ever made, and its new Shadow of the Erdtree DLC will only compound that. But studio president and long-time Souls game director Hidetaka Miyazaki says the studio never assumes that this degree of success "will happen again with our future games," instead choosing to play it safe and keep expectations "conservative." 

In an interview with The Guardian, Miyazaki outlines a financial and developmental strategy that seems almost opposed to the growth-centric pursuits of many large companies – companies much, much larger than FromSoftware, to be fair – including several game publishers who've recently racked up thousands of layoffs between them in a nominally last-ditch effort to cut costs (which was, curiously, a ditch before cutting executive payouts). 

"Elden Ring was in a league of its own in terms of the success and critical acclaim that it has seen, but what we try to do as a company is never assume that will happen again with our future games," Miyazaki says. 

"No decision is based on any assumption that, hey, we did it once, it’s going to happen again. Allowing for this rather conservative forecast gives us room to fail – and that in turn results in better games and better decisions," he continues. "In a roundabout way, I think that assumption of not making another hit, that conservative outlook, is fueling and aiding our game design." 

We've already seen a real-world example of this in action. Between the launch of Elden Ring in 2022 and now the Elden Ring DLC, FromSoftware released Armored Core 6 (review here, if you're wondering what we thought). It had been 11 years since Armored Core 5, and during that time, FromSoftware had cultivated a reputation almost exclusively as a master of dark fantasy RPGs. As a result, a lot more people were interested in anything FromSoftware made, even if that was the sixth numbered game in a mech series they may not have tried (hello, it's me).

As of October 2023, Armored Core 6 had sold 2.8 million copies, so we can reasonably assume it's comfortably over 3 million nowadays – a fraction of Elden Ring's now 25 million sales, but a figure that's never once been treated as disappointing. Rather, the Japanese voice actors for some of the game's characters presented it as fantastic news on a stream sanctioned by publisher Bandai Namco. 

Rather than room to fail – because by every metric we've heard, Armored Core 6 was regarded as anything but a failure both commercially and critically – Armored Core 6 likely benefited from the "conservative outlook" Miyazaki alludes to here. It exemplifies it: FromSoftware can continue to make games that are smaller than Elden Ring but still find their own measure of success, not shackled to ever-rising expectations. 

Earlier this month, Miyazaki affirmed that the layoffs we've been seeing – which, for the record, would fall under much stricter labor regulations in Japan and therefore aren't so easily dropped on people – are "something I would not let happen" to FromSoft as long as he's in charge, citing (and paraphrasing) late Nintendo President Satoru Iwata's theory that "'people who are afraid of losing their jobs are afraid of making good things.'"

Miyazaki says games like Elden Ring have to be hard: "If we really wanted the whole world to play the game, we could just crank the difficulty down."

Elden Ring veterans are getting absolutely "stomped" mere minutes into Shadow of the Erdtree, going to show that FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki was right when he warned us about the DLC's difficulty.

"We've kind of really pushed the envelope in terms of what we think can be withstood by the player," Miyazaki said in an interview earlier this month regarding Elden Ring's new DLC, which is a downright terrifying phrase. If FromSoftware's president and Elden Ring's director is saying Shadow of the Erdtree is tough, you'd best believe it's brutal.

Now players are finding out just how tough the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC really is. You can see a smattering of Reddit posts attesting to the DLC's difficulty just below, with commenters adding in things like "I thought the first enemy I encountered in the DLC was a mini boss because of how much damage it did," and "everything hits like a bus," which is putting it lightly.

Without spoiling too much about the DLC, it utilizes a different set of leveling methods to scale the player against enemies in Shadow of the Erdtree. Despite this, players are writing that even after they've 'leveled up' using this system several times, they're still seriously struggling against enemies throughout the early hours of Shadow of the Erdtree. 

Then there's the Blackgaol Knight. We previously covered how Elden Ring veterans are getting slaughtered by this optional boss, but the scale of just how much pain and suffering the Blackgaol Knight is dishing out is staggering - "Yeah after about 15 attempts I dipped and went to get some of the fragments," one commenter writes, referencing the new method of leveling up your Tarnished in the DLC.

"Bro absolutely melted me with his crossbow on my second attempt. I laughed so hard because I just made a beeline towards him once I entered the fog just to immediately get shotgunned lol," adds another player. Yeah, that's not going to end well: Blackgaol Knight has a rapid-fire crossbow, which somehow doles out an endless stream of bolts.

Still, this is a FromSoftware product, so it was always going to be tough. Miyazaki said elsewhere that games like Elden Ring have to be hard, adding that "if we really wanted the whole world to play the game, we could just crank the difficulty down." 

Check out our in-depth Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Scadutree Fragments guide if you want to buff yourself in the Lands of Shadow.

There's no denying that Elden Ring is tough, but director Hidetaka Miyazaki stands firmly by his belief that it had to be that difficult to give players a "sense of achievement," and making it easier "would break the game itself."

Elden Ring is packed with tough areas and foes – on the game's anniversary last year, Bandai Namco confirmed that players had collectively died over nine billion times, which is absolutely wild. While you could argue that making the action RPG so tough right out of the gate (looking at you, Tree Sentinel) could be off-putting for many, in a new interview with The Guardian, Miyazaki says turning the difficulty down in order to appeal to everyone "wasn't the right approach" for the game.

"If we really wanted the whole world to play the game, we could just crank the difficulty down more and more. But that wasn't the right approach," Miyazaki explains. "Had we taken that approach, I don't think the game would have done what it did, because the sense of achievement that players gain from overcoming these hurdles is such a fundamental part of the experience. Turning down difficulty would strip the game of that joy – which, in my eyes, would break the game itself."

It's fair to say that the thrill of finally demolishing a tough boss after countless frustrating deaths is a driving force in what makes Soulslike games like Elden Ring so moreish – we'll all forever remember how we felt after beating Malenia, that's for sure. With that said, it's worth pointing out that although Elden Ring is hard, its open-world design also means that players are given a bit more freedom in terms of how they approach the game, as well as what challenges they take on, and in what order. Although this wasn't the only reason why an open world was implemented, in the same interview, Miyazaki explains: "Both in terms of the difficulty and the learning curve, as well as the world setting, you feel that you can come up for air."

With today being the release day of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Tarnished warriors everywhere are diving back into FromSoftware's action RPG to see what new foes await them, but even the most experienced players might be in for a bit of a shock. Miyazaki has teased that the studio has "pushed the envelope in terms of what we think can be withstood by the player" in the DLC, and given how many Soulslike veterans are already getting their butts kicked by an early boss, that definitely seems to track. Meanwhile, though, some players are still busy helping others beat Mohg so that they can start the DLC, in an activity which continues to shine a light on the wholesome side of the Elden Ring community. Rest assured that if you're struggling to get past the Lord of Blood, help is only a summon away.

If you're starting Elden Ring's DLC today, be sure to check out our top 5 Shadow of the Erdtree tips and tricks to have a chance in the Realm of Shadow.

Famed Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki has aspirations to make a traditional Japanese role-playing game one day, but he has one key condition to be met.

This comes from an interview with Rolling Stone, in which Miyazaki explained why he probably won't be reviving older FromSoftware games developed by different directors. "I think a lot of these games are so intertwined with the directors who almost invented that style of game," he said.

FromSoftware's debut title, King's Field, is an action-RPG that was a launch title for the original PlayStation in 1994, and although it was an early pioneer of fully 3D, first-person RPGs and spawned numerous sequels, Miyazaki is keen to stay in his own lane.

"I don’t think there’s a scenario where I myself would make a King’s Field. The same can be said about Otogi and Enchanted Arms," he said, referring to FromSoftware's 2002 action game and the studio's little-known 2006 JRPG, respectively.

Armored Core, however, is a different story. Miyazaki worked on Armored Core: Last Raven as a planner during his early days at FromSoftware, and he led development on the latest entry, Armored Core: Fires of Rubicon, in its early development before handing the reigns to Masaru Yamamura. It's for that reason that he's open to revisiting the mecha third-person shooter series some day.

"I worked on Armored Core 4 and Armored Core: For Answer. It enabled me to put my own interpretation on Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon and develop that," he said.

Whether Miyazaki's hypothetical JRPG would be based on Armored Core or a brand new IP is unclear, but he told Rolling Stone he's interested in making games that diverge from the Dark Souls series his name has become synonymous with. Such was the case with 2018's Deracine, a bare-bones adventure game developed for the PSVR. 

"In the case of Deracine, there was new technology with virtual reality," Miyazaki said. "We wanted to challenge ourselves as a studio and acquire some new learnings to apply whatever it is we did next."

With any luck, the best FromSoftware games are still to come.

FromSoftware games are often noted for their difficulty, and you can bet Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is no different. Director Hidetaka Miyazaki admits the studio has "pushed the envelope in terms of what we think can be withstood by the player." Well, shit.

Talking to CNET,  Miyazaki explains that boss encounters and the "different kinds of threats" you'll meet exploring the Land of Shadow make up the new challenges the DLC poses. 

As for the bosses, you can expect "10-plus," and varying levels of difficulty. On the higher end, FromSoftware has set the difficulty bar with players who've tackled the majority of the base game in mind, and that means "we've kind of really pushed the envelope in terms of what we think can be withstood by the player."

"Of course, some bosses are a necessary part of the story development and arc, but some are not," Miyazaki says. "The ones that aren't are especially difficult, I think will pose a very good challenge and obstacle for players." 

It sounds like Miyazaki is looking forward to seeing how fans react to one fight specifically, teasing that "A lot of fans are probably going to react, 'Oh wow, this is a FromSoftware boss'" when talking about one in particular.

Miyazaki then explains that FromSoftware looked at what Elden Ring players found fun and what they found stressful about boss fights post-release to find the difficulty sweet spot. "We tried to make that the foundation of the boss encounters of the DLC, so hopefully players will find it much more engaging and fun," he says. "But if that is not the case, then I'm sorry!"

Ominous, very ominous. Thankfully, you won't have long to wait to see for yourself. We loved our time with the DLC, giving it a perfect score in our Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree review. While we did find that the bosses and enemies "remain (largely) top-notch," we also note that challenge and direction "sometimes reach the point of being unreasonable" and that experimentation with mechanics "doesn't always land right."

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree releases on June 21.

Here's how to prepare for Shadow of the Erdtree from somebody who's actually played it.

FromSoftware boss Hidetaka Miyazaki loves a poison swamp. From Dark Souls to Bloodborne, the misery pits rarely cease to delight and frustrate in equal measure. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's delightful death trap is slightly different, though, as they more directly reflect Miyazaki's latest learnings about the ideal swamp from stuffing two in the open-world RPG's base game. 

"In terms of the poisonous swamp, I guess in the original Elden Ring I went a little too far. So I'm trying to take some learnings from that," Miyazaki tells CNET. "And you can say the version that exists in the DLC, which I've already confirmed, applies a lot of those learnings." While that may sound exciting to many, Miyazaki wants to "curb expectations and reiterate that it exists, but I've tailored it.

"In between it existing and not existing, with this version, let's just say I try to imagine different ways I want to die as a player or be killed. So that expression of myself has been imparted into the poison swamp," Miyazaki continues, before adding "So, not in the poison swamp itself - that's been curbed - but in other parts of the gameplay, there are many ways to die." Terrifying, truly. 

While Miyazaki sounds keen not to give too much away, you won't be waiting long to experience what he's talking about in full. The DLC goes live on July 21, and it sounds like a banger. Our Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree review lands on a perfect score, praising all, from the lovely sights to the horrible fights. There's even mention of the poison swamp, too – though it sounds like a "poison apartment block" might be a better description.

Here's what to do to prepare for Shadow of the Erdtree, from somebody who's actually played it.

Elden Ring's director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, says it's "quite fun" watching fans try to piece together the action RPG's complex lore in theory videos, even if, admittedly, he "can't watch all of them."

There's no doubt that the intricacies of Elden Ring's story are rather complicated – as was the case in the Dark Souls games, a lot of details are tucked away in places you might miss, like in optional conversations with NPCs. Even with all of the pieces obtained, putting them together is another matter, and the Lands Between still holds many secrets that fans have been speculating about since the game's launch. In a new interview with GameSpot, Miyazaki says this storytelling style was used to "encourage people to explore and have their own adventure," and allowing fans to theorize is both a "huge, fun point, or value-add" in itself, and something he personally enjoys seeing.

"I watch them," Miyazaki responds when asked if he watches fans' theory videos. "Of course, I can't watch all of them, but I do like to watch them and I actually enjoy that process. I think it's quite fun to see how people piece together their own theories or working theories based on a lot of fragmented information that the game provides. Some can be derived from hints in the game, others are completely theorized. But regardless, for me, I find it quite enjoyable to see the different interpretations that the fans and audiences have."

Elaborating on this, Miyazaki says Elden Ring was purposely designed so that fans could try to fill in the gaps in its story, and "regardless of whether they're correct or maybe not, it doesn't change the way I watch those videos." Rather, he says, he views them in a "very objective" way, and sees them as "an interesting way to piece together all these fragments."

There's no doubt that there'll be plenty more theory videos to come once everyone can get stuck into Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion on Friday, which is set in a new area and home to more bosses which will surely kick our butts. It certainly sounds like Miyazaki will be watching to see what we all make of it. 

Ahead of its launch, be sure to check out our guide on how to start the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC in Elden Ring so that you're ready for your next adventure.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is probably the fastest action game FromSoftware's ever made, with the possible exception of Armored Core 6, which is more about scale than attack speed for my money. Sekiro likely wins in reaction time and inputs per second, but studio president Hidetaka Miyazaki thinks FromSoft games can still get faster and more fluid.

Speaking with Game Informer, Miyazaki reflects on how FromSoftware has balanced offense in defense over the years, building toward something "much more fluid and active," with enemies and players in the likes of Elden Ring both running circles around the comparatively clunkier characters of the original Dark Souls. Miyazaki says he's been thinking about this balance more closely since Bloodborne, and describes Sekiro as a "turning point" for the studio's games. 

"Perhaps in Sekiro, it appears most obviously or it's the clearest form that I think that philosophy can embody," Miyazai says. "And personally, I think there's one more level we can crank it up to and sharpen that and hone in on that mechanic even more, but I think Sekiro was a big turning point." 

Sekiro is often half-jokingly described as a rhythm game, such is the pacing of its reactive, parry-powered combat. Bloodborne, meanwhile, is more proactive, inciting and rewarding aggressive play through mechanics like Rally, which lets you heal yourself by dealing damage within a few seconds of getting hit. Elden Ring is somewhere in the middle thanks to a wealth of build options, but is generally much slower-paced than Sekiro, even in its most intense moments. 

Miyazaki has been dropping subtle hints about what FromSoftware's next, still far-off game might look like, suggesting that he's still not made his "ideal fantasy RPG" and that "bits that didn't go so well this time with Elden Ring" could be refined in the future. The scope and speed of the next FromSoftware game remains to be seen, but from the studio's track record, it's a safe bet that it'll up the pace in some way yet again.  

"I know for a fact these guys want a Bloodborne PC port," Hidetaka Miyazaki says of FromSoftware staff, but "if I say I want one, I'll get in trouble."

As FromSoftware prepares for Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, president Hidetaka Miyazaki reveals that more open-world Soulslike games could come - but that doesn't mean they'll define the studio.

Elden Ring is arguably FromSoftware's most successful release yet, selling 20 million copies right before its first anniversary in 2023 and continuing to smash charts today. On Steam, the open-world RPG currently sits as the eighth most-played game - beating out various titles both old and new. While the mastermind Soulsborne developer made its mark in the past with titles like Bloodborne and Dark Souls, it's impossible to deny Elden Ring's own impressive reach and how it could affect the studio's future games.

Speaking in an interview with GameSpot, Miyazaki shares his thoughts on Elden Ring being an open-world hit and whether the genre will become "the baseline" for the company's future games. "I wouldn't necessarily say that open world is going to become the new base or foundation or standard of the company," Miyazaki explains. "We have a lot of game directors and designers who are growing, so we'd love to keep an open mind in terms of the types of games that we develop."

The FromSoftware lead continues, providing exciting yet vague comments about upcoming games from the beloved Soulslike studio: "So, of course, I can't really say anything at this exact moment, but perhaps when you see future announcements from FromSoftware you'll look back at this point and think, 'Ah, that's what he meant.'" While Miyazaki doesn't expand on what fans may see later on, it certainly sounds like the company might not be done with the open-world genre - but it also isn't strictly adhering to it from here on out.

As for Elden Ring, Miyazaki says he wasn't "100% sure" the team could pull its open world off initially. "We've always wanted to push the status quo and kind of extend ourselves a little bit, which was what helped create Elden Ring." Leaning into the open-world genre was key while developing the critically acclaimed game, he explains, as "a lot of the core concepts came down to giving players this adventurous feel, this very open-world freedom" and then "adjusting the difficulty to match that freedom that we're giving players."

Miyazaki feels that FromSoftware accomplished as much with Elden Ring, but "nothing is ever perfect." If given the chance to "redo" the open-world RPG, the president admits that he "might do something differently but I would like the chance to revisit a lot of the themes that we set out to achieve." Could that mean a future open-world game from FromSoftware that encompasses some of those themes? There's no telling now, but fans have more non-linear, open-world fun in Shadow of the Erdtree to look forward to for now.

FromSoftware's Hidetaka Miyazaki addresses recent mass developer layoffs, assuring Dark Souls and Elden Ring fans "that's something I would not let happen."

Amid thousands of recent video game developer layoffs, FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki reassured fans that he won't let the same unfold at the iconic studio behind Elden Ring.

The past couple of years, despite boasting some monumental game releases like Baldur's Gate 3 and Starfield, have been anything but kind to many developers. From mass layoffs at EA to hundreds more at Take-Two Interactive, various companies have seen countless members of staff made redundant in 2023 and into 2024. News of such cuts is always disillusioning, to say the least, but there are still studios finding success, retaining staff, and even growing despite industry hardships. 

One of those is none other than FromSoftware, the company behind Bloodborne, Dark Souls, Armored Core, and most recently Elden Ring. Speaking to PC Gamer in a recent interview, Miyazaki shared hits thoughts regarding these widespread layoffs. "Speaking to myself and this company, I want to say that this is not something I would wish on the staff at FromSoftware in a million years," says the beloved dev. "I'm pretty sure our parent company Kadokawa understands that and shares that view."

In fact, not only has FromSoftware remained unaffected by the consistent waves of layoffs, the company has actually grown. Since starting work on Elden Ring, the studio's expanded so much that it's able to comfortably develop two titles at once, as demonstrated by Armored Core 6. 

Miyazaki cites late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata while sharing his thoughts on layoffs: "I think it was the old ex-president of Nintendo, Iwata-san, who said that 'people who are afraid of losing their jobs are afraid of making good things.' I'm paraphrasing that, but I totally share this view." The FromSoftware dev continues, assuring fans that the corporation overseeing his own team is aware of his thoughts: "I think it's true. And I think the people at Kadokawa, our parent company, understand that I hold this view very strongly."

"While we can't say 100% – we can't say with complete certainty what the future's going to hold for From and Kadokawa – at least as long as this company is my responsibility, that's something I would not let happen," Miyazaki concludes. "So hopefully our players and our fans can take a little bit of assurance from that." I think it's safe to say that the Souls community certainly does take comfort in knowing the mastermind devs behind their favorite games aren't at risk - or at least, I definitely do.

Hidetaka Miyazaki sparks hopes for better co-op in future FromSoftware games, says they'll "consider" ideas like Elden Ring co-op mod with 3.7 million downloads

Elden Ring's director has commented on the game's uber-popular Seamless Co-op mod, saying it's the sort of idea FromSoftware might even consider implementing in future games.

With over 3.7 million downloads, the Seamless Co-op mod on NexusMods is one of Elden Ring's most popular mods by far. It's easy to see why: the mod removes all co-op barriers and restrictions so that it's theoretically possible to play the entire RPG with a friend, from the tutorial right up to the final boss. It's seamless in name and in nature.

With that in mind, PC Gamer asked Elden Ring director and FromSoftware studio head Hidetaka Miyazaki for his opinion on the mod, and what it does for the RPG itself. "It's definitely not something we actively oppose or want to downplay, wanting to go through the whole game together," Miyazaki says of Seamless Co-op's grand ambitions. 

"In terms of where we were with Elden Ring, it was simply a case of wanting that more loose, casual style - drop in, defeat a boss, drop out. It doesn't put any technical restrictions on the player, it just sort of lets them complete this focus and then move on, so to speak," the Elden Ring director continues.

Elden Ring's co-op is very much in keeping with FromSoftware's traditions in the 'SoulsBorne' games, bar a few exceptions like Summoning Pools - players are summoned in to defeat a boss or explore an area, and once said task is complete, they're summarily kicked back out to their own world. It's meant to be a relatively short-lived experience, something that the mod obviously overhauls in every way.

"That's not to say we won't consider other ways like you and your friend played, from beginning to end, total co-op - that's not to say we won't consider ideas like that with our future games," Miyazaki concludes. It's far from a promise that seamless co-op might be implemented in a future FromSoftware game, but it's definitely a promising start.

In less great news, Elden Ring DLC spoilers have hit the internet, with multiple boss fights and a dungeon leaking. If you're keen to explore the Realm of Shadow without anything having been spoiled for you this week on June 21, be extra vigilant on Reddit and YouTube.

Read our comprehensive Elden Ring preview for a dive into what to expect from the first few hours of the huge new expansion.

FromSoftware's Hidetaka Miyazaki has said he still hasn't created his "ideal fantasy RPG" - despite putting out groundbreaking future-classics over and over - which begs the question: how much better can these games get?

Hidetaka Miyazaki is one of gaming's most recognizable names for a reason. FromSoftware practically kickstarted an entire subgenre with Miyazaki in the director's chair for Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and most recently, the studio's magnum opus, Elden Ring. One hell of a resume, huh?

The games proved popular enough to influence countless other 'Soulslikes' - action-RPGs that borrow FromSoft's stamina-based combat or brutal difficulty or 'retrieve your corpse' loop or all of the above - which come out with more frequency than the studio's own output now. The whole thing then reached a fever pitch in the open-world Elden Ring, a game that's both impossibly large and painfully packed with detail, helping it to pass 25 million copies sold. 

Despite reaching those dizzying heights, on the eve of the Elden Ring DLC Miyazaki said he's "still in the process of making my ideal fantasy RPG." In an interview with PC Gamer, the influential director explained that "while Elden Ring is not quite it, it's pretty close. It's getting close."

So what does that dream project need to do to satisfy Miyazaki? "It's hard to say without giving spoilers for my next idea or our next games," he continued. "But I think one thing that's not necessarily missing but makes it difficult to achieve my ideal, is that when I play it, I know everything's going to happen. I already know everything that's going on. So in terms of enjoying the game from a player's perspective, I'd love to not know that, and for somebody else to make my ideal fantasy game, please, if possible. Then I can enjoy it just as a player."

Elden Ring gets huge quality-of-life patch right before Shadow of the Erdtree, including an inventory change we’ve wanted for years.

FromSoftware boss Hidetaka Miyazaki says even members of the studio side with fans when it comes to wanting a PC port of PlayStation-locked epic Bloodborne.

Speaking with PC Gamer, Miyazaki, seated alongside producer Yasuhiro Kitao and interpreter Bobby Simpson, commented (via said interpreter): "I know for a fact these guys want a Bloodborne PC port. If I say I want one, I'll get in trouble as well. But it's nothing I'm opposed to." 

This lines up with other recent comments from the president and director, who said in February that he's "very happy" so many fans want to see Bloodborne get a remake or re-release of some kind. In a similar vein, Miyazaki has said since 2019 that he's "not the one to decide" when it comes to things like Bloodborne 2, even if it is the game that stuck with him the most – or at least was, as this comment pre-dates Elden Ring and Miyazaki's updated thoughts are unclear. 

This time, however, Miyazaki did express more of his personal stance on the well-worn topic, stopping just short of directly passing the ball to Bloodborne IP owner Sony. 

"Obviously, as one of the creators of Bloodborne, my personal, pure honest opinion is I'd love more players to be able to enjoy it," Miyazaki continued. "Especially as a game that is now coming of age, one of those games of the past that gets lost on older hardware – I think any game like that, it'd be nice to have an opportunity for more players to be able to experience that and relive this relic of the past. So as far as I'm concerned, that's definitely not something I'd be opposed to." 

Even after nine years, a Bloodborne remake, remaster, PC port, or frankly anything remains a perennial pipe dream, a white whale of gaming showcases comparable to the famously quiet Hollow Knight Silksong. This is the first time Miyazaki has so directly thrown support behind the idea, even if he isn't joining PC gamers chanting in the streets (read: YouTube chat on PlayStation State of Play shows). 

Bloodborne was a no-show at this week's State of Play, but hey, Bloodborne Kart - I mean Nightmare Kart - is out.

Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki says he doesn't want his games to be too hard to navigate without getting help.

In an interview with PC Gamer, Miyazaki said that FromSoftware "expect" that players will get outside help; "Of course players are going to consult guides, and there's going to be a wealth of information on the web and in their communities where they have access to the secrets and the strategies."

But even with that in mind, he goes on to say that "we don't make or plan anything with that as a prerequisite. If anything, we try to cater to the player who is completely blind and wants to go through organically."

There's a potential distinction to be drawn here between how difficult a game is and how hard it is to navigate. A player might attempt to beat Dark Souls or Elden Ring and come up against a boss that's simply too difficult for them to beat, but while I never came up against a fight I couldn't (eventually) win, I know that I never would have made it through Blighttown without a map to guide my way. Miyazaki seems to be leaning closer to the accessibility to a game to those players coming in with no help, but he suggests that there might still be work to do.

If someone coming in with no help "can't do it," he says, "then there's some room for improvement on our behalf, and we'd like to try to embrace those players more in the future." Thankfully, that shouldn't be something that experienced Elden Ring players should have to worry about with Shadow of the Erdtree - if you've completed enough of the base game to access the DLC, the devs "have faith" that you'll be set for what's to come. Though that might not be great news for the two-thirds of players who haven't managed to beat the bosses who are guarding the gateway to the expansion.

The Elden Ring DLC is way bigger than we thought with over 10 bosses and "around 100" new weapons coming in Shadow of the Erdtree.

Hopes for a FromSoftware announcement as part of the Summer Game Fest 2024 schedule have grown as Elden Ring and Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki has been spotted in LA.

In a tweet, journalist Ainsley Bowden said that he'd bumped into Miyazaki in his hotel, potentially alongside FromSoftware producer Yasuhiro Kitao. Given the relatively rare cadence of Miyazaki's public appearances in the West, it would seem that the pair's presence in Los Angeles ahead of Summer Game Fest later today and the Xbox Showcase on Sunday has sparked some significant attention.

Several large FromSoftware accounts have taken note of Miyazaki's appearance ahead of the show. YouTuber ZioStorm said that they weren't "planning on watching the showcases today, but now they have my attention." Fellow YouTuber SekiroDubi went even further, theorizing that with the senior FromSoftware developers at SGF, "I doubt they are there just to present the DLC." With Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree now only weeks away, we've seen quite a lot of FromSoftware's next release, and it does seem odd that Miyazaki would fly all the way from Japan to simply offer yet another look at that.

It seems almost equally unlikely, however, that FromSoftware would be ready to show off something brand-new. Armored Core 6 isn't even a year old, and with Shadow of the Erdtree yet to release, I wouldn't bet on a whole new game being ready to go for some time yet. That said, perhaps Miyazaki might have a throwaway line about a new project - earlier this year, he said that while there were no plans for an Elden Ring sequel or a second DLC, the "possibility" remained. Could that possibility have hardened into reality since those comments were made?

Get hyped for more Elden Ring with our Shadow of the Erdtree preview.

There is no world where the upcoming Elden Ring DLC isn't an absolute unit of a video game expansion, and director and FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki has confirmed that was indeed always the plan.

We learned recently that FromSoftware hasn't always been perfectly forthright about the size of the Elden Ring DLC, which, as it turns out, is much bigger than originally expected. Miyazaki has a bit of a reputation for underselling things, and Shadow of the Erdtree is no exception with more than 10 new major bosses and "around 100" new weapons packed into the Land of Shadow area. 

Our Elden Ring DLC hands-on preview dives into all of that in detail, and a new interview with PC Gamer sheds light on FromSoftware's internal plans for an Elden Ring expansion to rival the scope of the base game.

"At the very outset there were a lot of possibilities, but one of the things that was determined very early on was that size," said Miyazaki. "We wanted that sense of scale for this map, because we wanted an experience for the player that was going to match that of the base game. We wanted them to experience that sense of discovery, and that sense of wonder and exploration again. We needed a map that was going to uphold that and bolster that."

Back in February, Miyazaki told IGN that the DLC's main area, the Land of Shadow, would be "probably comparable" to the base game's opening area, Limgrave. And although his wording has always felt purposefully vague, it's safe to say FromSoftware undersold and overdelivered in this case.

Did we mention the Elden Ring DLC is way harder than the base game? Here's what to do before Shadow of the Erdtree.

The Elden Ring DLC isn't even out yet, and director Hidetaka Miyazaki is already thinking about FromSoftware's next project - and how the studio can do better next time around.

"Making a game as large and ambitious as Elden Ring was obviously not without its troubles," Miyazaki tells our friends at PC Gamer. "It was a challenging and long process. But it was also extremely fun, as a creator. I'd love to recreate that experience for myself, more than anything. Every time with these games, there's things that go well, and there's things that don't go so well."

Despite Elden Ring's critical acclaim, Miyazaki says it wasn't immune to development issues, but adds that the "two-way process, the communication with the players, has been really good this time, I feel—it's something we've managed to lock into a little better. So taking those bits that didn't go so well this time with Elden Ring and incorporating those and improving those in a future title—that's something I'm really excited for."

We recently got some hands-on preview time with Shadow of the Erdtree, and it's looking both gosh-darned impressive and way harder than the original game. It's also much bigger than it originally seemed, adding over 10 bosses and "around 100" new weapons to dig into. You can control the difficulty at least a little bit by collecting the golden symbols known as Miquella's footsteps, but the expansion is set to deliver the stiff challenge FromSoftware fans have come to expect regardless.

Want to know how to start the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC in Elden Ring? We've got a guide to give you a head start at that link. 

FromSoftware president and frequent director Hidetaka Miyazaki claims that the studio's mecha-action series Armored Core has a very sturdy future ahead, unless the game's dystopian vision comes to pass.

The Armored Core series began life in the late 1990s with massive explosions, excessive oil spillage, and anti-corporate themes - all timeless ideas that powered the big mechs across almost three decades before Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon dropped in 2023 to much acclaim and the studio's second-biggest PC launch to date. 

"The Armored Core series is very important to FromSoftware," Miyazaki said in an interview with IGN Japan, translated by FandomWire. "We have a strong will to continue it in the future. I believe Armored Core 6 was a success." 

But despite pleasing fans with mechs big enough to cover half of Elden Ring's map, the famed director reckons "not everything was perfect" in the game. "There is still room for improvement, so I have no intention of stopping there," Miyazaki adds. Armored Core 6 enjoyed a bunch of post-launch updates that added ranked matches and much-needed buffs for certain cool weapons, but has yet to receive the proper expansions that FromSoftware's SoulsBorne games usually do. 

Retaining and empowering talent is what helped the studio release AAA games so rapidly, according to Miyazaki, so the studio could feasibly work on the Elden Ring DLC or another project simultaneously with an Armored Core 7, which sounds like an inevitability at this point. 

FromSoftware's next release is Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, which arrives next month on June 21.

As Miyazaki remains cagey about Shadow of the Erdtree’s length, Elden Ring DLC theorists reckon the 30-song soundtrack is enough of a clue.

Hardcore FromSoftware fans might recall that director Hidetaka Miyazaki once said Elden Ring would take about 30 hours to beat - an estimate that was proven not just wrong, but ridiculously wrong pretty soon after the game's launch. Now, after so many players roasted that initial estimate, Miyazaki is refusing to guess at just how long the Elden Ring DLC is.

"For play time… I shouldn’t be the one to answer this question," Miyazaki tells Chinese outlet Bonfire (as translated by swordandflower on Twitter). "During an interview I’ve said that the Elden Ring will take around 30ish hours to finish the main game but after it was released, everyone told me that I was lying and that’s not remotely enough time haha! Well, as developers, we continuously playtest and iterate on our games, so we know all there is to know regarding the game. And because of that, our playtime isn’t a good reference point."

Earlier this year, Miyazaki said that Shadow of the Erdtree's map is "probably" bigger than Limgrave, and that's a claim that we admittedly took with a grain of salt given how he low-balled the scope of the original game. But, to the director's point, he and the development team have already gotten too good at their own game - there's no need to git gud at estimating how long it's gonna take for plebs like you and me.

In this same interview, Miyazaki also confirmed that this will be the only DLC for Elden Ring, but a full sequel is still a possibility.