Key Takeaways
- FromSoftware plans to build on the success of Elden Ring by incorporating its balance of freedom and difficulty into future titles.
- The broader appeal of Elden Ring's open world attracted a wider audience while maintaining the company's signature high learning curve.
- Hidetaka Miyazaki hints at giving players more freedom in future games.
The director of Elden Ring, Hidetaka Miyazaki, spoke about FromSoftware's future, revealing that it will build upon the freedom and difficulty of Elden Ring. With Shadow of the Erdtree being released just recently, FromSoftware is not yet ready to reveal its next game, but the company is learning from Elden Ring's success when developing the game's successor.
FromSoftware is known for its extremely difficult games. From Dark Souls to Elden Ring, its titles challenge players in ways that many find addicting. Most of FromSoftware's games follow a similar formula, tasking players to traverse multiple deadly areas, with the only way through being to vanquish a difficult boss fight at the end. For Elden Ring, FromSoftware tweaked this formula. Elden Ring is an open world game, so if players reach a boss they can't seem to take down, instead of forcing their way through, they're able to leave to do other things in the game and return to the fight when they feel ready. This formula change was a massive success, and now FromSoftware is learning from it for its future titles.
Related
Future FromSoftware Games Need One Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Consideration
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is pretty difficult, but it has one aspect that makes it a bit easier than other Souls games, in a good way.
In an interview with CNET, Hidetaka Miyazaki spoke about FromSoftware's future games and how the company will learn from Elden Ring's success. Miyazaki attributes part of Elden Ring's success to the broader appeal it was able to achieve by offering an open world. Through this, FromSoftware was able to draw a larger audience to Elden Ring while still maintaining the company's signature difficulty. Elden Ring has been an unprecedented success for FromSoftware, selling over 25 million copies since its 2022 launch, reaching a far wider audience than any of its past titles. "Traditionally, we've always liked the higher-difficulty curve type of games and experiences," Miyazaki said. "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."
Elden Ring Strikes the Perfect Balance of Difficulty and Freedom
Elden Ring succeeded in casting a wider net but at the same time keeping that core high learning curve.
Miyazaki went on to clarify that this doesn't necessarily mean the next FromSoftware game will be open world, only that it will give players more freedom than its past titles did. He believes that it's the level of freedom players were able to achieve in Elden Ring that drew in more players to the game, and that level of freedom doesn't need to be restricted to just open-world games. What this means for FromSoftware's next title is unknown as of now, but with the positive reaction to Shadow of the Erdtree, players are likely in for a good time.
"I'm not saying an open world game or experience is necessarily the answer, but I think it's the degree of freedom and the amount of freedom that we give players that helps balance or offset that difficulty curve and makes the game more accessible and engaging for a certain player demographic," Miyazaki said.
Although Elden Ring has been FromSoftware's biggest success, Miyazaki said that his favorite FromSoftware titles are Dark Souls and Bloodborne. "On a very personal level, I would say, first Dark Souls and Bloodborne left a very big impression on me." Miyazaki said. So perhaps there may be some influence from those games as well as Elden Ring in the next FromSoftware title. What the company has in store for the future can only be guessed at right now. Its next title may not even necessarily follow the Soulslike formula that FromSoftware is known for, as Miyazaki recently spoke about wanting to create a traditional RPG. Fans will just have to wait and see what the company has in store for them next.
Elden Ring
ELDEN RING developed by FromSoftware, Inc. and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc., is a fantasy action-RPG adventure set within a world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin. Danger and discovery lurk around every corner in FromSoftware’s largest game to-date.
Hidetaka Miyazaki - President and Game Director of FromSoftware Inc. Known for directing critically-acclaimed games in beloved franchises including Armored Core and Dark Souls.
George R.R. Martin is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire - A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast For Crows, and A Dance with Dragons. As a writer-producer, he has worked on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and pilots that were never made. He lives with the lovely Parris in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
RPG
Action
- Platform(s)
- PS5 , Xbox One , PS4 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , PC
- Released
- February 25, 2022
- Developer(s)
- From Software
