Hidetaka Miyazaki is “Apologetic” for the Worst Criticism That Haunts His Games: “I just want as many players as possible”

SUMMARY

• Hidetaka Miyazaki, known for titles like Dark Souls and Elden Ring, revolutionizes gaming with his innovative storytelling.
• Miyazaki believes that failure is not an end but a beginning, aiming to show players that overcoming hardship leads to profound satisfaction.
• In Elden Ring, Miyazaki successfully blended his signature punishing difficulty with features that enhance accessibility.

Hidetaka Miyazaki is the visionary behind popular titles like Dark Souls and Elden Ring. Due to this creative vision, he has transformed these titles into a gaming experience that showcases his innovative storytelling and gameplay approach. Even since its release in 2011, Dark Souls has redefined how games should be played, not only do these titles have very punishing difficulty but they also emphasize the true meaning of failure.

Miyazaki knows and sympathizes with the players about the game’s punishing difficulty. | Image Credit: FromSoftware’s Elden Ring

Even Miyazaki himself acknowledges how difficult and punishing his masterpieces are and has given interviews to express his deep apologies to those who struggle with his games. However, his true goal is not to see players endlessly struggle but to witness the sense of accomplishment players find after overcoming these challenges, because in his mind, failure is the beginning of another journey.

Hidetaka Miyazaki Understands Player’s Challenges

Through games, Miyazaki wants to show that failure is not the end but the start of a new journey. | Image Credit: FromSoftware’s Elden Ring

In any of Miyazaki’s games, players are frequently confronted by formidable foes while traveling the treacherous and intricate environments. With the constant fear of death looming on player’s heads, even the best of players can face incredible struggles, resulting in frustrations.

However, this non-stop cycle of death and rebirth is how Miyazaki wants to define the gameplay experience, pushing players to their absolute limits and making them learn from their mistakes. This strategy not only allows players to approach the same scenario differently but also helps them recognize what they did wrong in past attempts.

In a past interview, Miyazaki admitted that he recognizes that not every player finds joy in relentless difficulty, but he wants to show that struggle always leads to growth and satisfaction. His exact words were:

I do feel apologetic toward anyone who feels there’s just too much to overcome in my games. I just want as many players as possible to experience the joy that comes from overcoming hardship.

For Elden Ring, his goal was to find the balance that showcased his trademark punishing challenges, which his fans have come to love, while also allowing new players (to soulslike games) to create their personalized journey by implementing features like summoning allies or choosing alternate paths (players can skip a few bosses this way).

With the game’s success and its dedicated playerbase, it shows that he was able to achieve that fine balance. His attempt to not water down the experience but to make it more enriching for new players worked, allowing more players to participate in the journey.

Balancing Difficulty and Accessibility Takes Time

Players are looking forward to Miyazaki’s future endeavors. | Image Credit: FromSoftware’s Elden Ring

Soulslike games often find themselves surrounded by criticism, which mainly stems from their insane difficulty, raising questions like who these games are designed for and whether should they cater to a broad audience or remain faithful to a creator’s vision and its established playerbase.

Miyazaki wanted to align himself with the latter perspective but also wanted to showcase his masterpiece to every player possible. This is why he implemented the various changes to Elden Ring (for example, if players connected to the internet, they can see other ghostly bodies with helpful hints) and gave rise to the dedicated community that also wants to help out struggling players.

As players are enjoying the incredible DLC for Elden Ring, they are eager to see where Miyazaki’s journey to convert failure into a lesson will take him next, highlighting a major commitment to refining the player experience in his games, also without sacrificing the core identity.

In the end, as players look to overcome all the punishing challenges of Soulslike games, Miyazaki will continue to refine his art of blending challenges with accessibility in the most creative and treacherous way possible.

What is your favorite Hidetaka Miyazaki game? tell us in the comment section below.

Written by Shubham Chaurasia

Articles Published: 373

Shubham is a tryhard gamer who loves to play and write about games/news. At first, writing was just a hobby but now its his profession. If he is not online lurking in Valorant or trying his luck in gacha games, you can find him binging on some anime series.