Elden Ring director and FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki expects more people to clear FromSoftware's upcoming open-world RPG than its previous games.
In a new interview on the PlayStation Blog, Miyazaki reiterated that Elden Ring is more flexible and welcoming compared to FromSoftware's usual games, and because of this, he thinks that "more players will finish it this time."
For reference, FromSoftware's most recent game, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, is regarded as one of the studio's most unforgiving because its gameplay is more linear and action-heavy than the likes of Dark Souls and Bloodborne. For the most part, you just have to get good at the play style that Sekiro encourages, though there is some wiggle room in what gadgets and items you bring to fights.
According to its achievement data, just over 23% of Steam buyers have reached Sekiro's most common ending, with the three other endings varying between 19% and 15%. PlayStation Network data shows an average clear rate of 44%, which reinforces just how daunting the game can be. It'll be interesting to see how Elden Ring's stats compare in the long run.
That said, while Miyazaki is confident that Elden Ring's richer RPG elements, accessible multiplayer, and freeform open world will empower more players to clear the game, he maintains that "we have not intentionally tried to lower the game's difficulty."
"I feel like our approach to these games, not just Elden Ring, is to design them to encourage the player to overcome adversity," Miyazaki says. "We don’t try to force difficulty or make things hard for the sake of it. We want players to use their cunning, study the game, memorize what’s happening, and learn from their mistakes. We don’t want players to feel like the game is unfairly punishing, but rather that there’s a chance to win a difficult encounter and make progress."
"We hope the players embrace that idea of receiving help from others," he adds. "And we feel like the overall clear rate will go up this time because of these things."
Miyazaki outlined how Sekiro influenced Elden Ring in the same interview.
