Elden Ring Director Admits He Sucks at Video Games

Anyone who has played FromSoftware's video games knows the frustration that comes with them. The developer's RPGs are well known for their heightened difficulty and obtuse game objectives while having a penchant for ruthlessly demolishing players so they master their systems. Hidetaka Miyazaki, the president of FromSoftware, agrees with the assessment and has confirmed that he, just like you, sucks at them.

In an interview with The Guardian, Miyazaki says that he stops playing the games once they are released to the public.

“Leading up to the release of any game, I’ll be very hands-on playing it and getting as much time on it as much as possible,” he said. “But after the release, I tend to not want to touch it, because I know I’m going to either find things that I left on the table or issues that will bug me. And once I become a player, I’m powerless to do anything significant to change it. So once a game is out in the wild, I tend to not play.

Hidetaka Miyazaki has directed every major FromSoftware release since Demon's Souls. Sony Interactive Entertainment

When Elden Ring was released, many veteran players discarded the idea of using summons, AI-controlled supporting characters, in the game since they lower the difficulty of battles. While that's true, Elden Ring is very much designed around the idea of these assistive systems, and Miyazaki likes to use them too. It appears the director is more similar to his fans than we predicted, and that includes his wish to see Bloodborne on PC.

"I want to preface this by saying I absolutely suck at video games, so my approach or play style was to use everything I have at my disposal, all the assistance, every scrap of aid that the game offers, and also all the knowledge that I have as the architect of the game," said Miyazaki.

However, many have noted that Elden Ring's open-world structure allows new players to explore other areas when they get stuck at a boss. Miyazaki admits that he is a fan of that flexibility.

"…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.”

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC FROMSOFTWARE

Fortunately, if you are struggling with Elden Ring's DLC, we have prepared a variety of guides to help you on your journey in the realm of Shadow. Don't shy away from using them, they're Miyazaki-approved!

We have covered how to beat bosses like Furnace Golems, the best weapons in the DLC, where to find every map fragment to locate them, and even every NPC's location and what they do. There are also secret areas to uncover, such as one that requires a special emote to unlock.

FromSoftware continues to update the game, and its DLC, to tune its difficulty. The first major patch since the DLC's release has lowered its difficulty in the first half, and there are more patches inbound.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.