About 13 years ago, Demon’s Souls launched on PlayStation 3, intriguing, challenging, and captivating players. Directed by FromSoftware’s Hidetaka Miyazaki, the action-RPG specialized in deliberate combat, unpredictable environments, and mysterious storytelling. FromSoftware has continued to evolve its formula, from Dark Souls to Sekiro: Shadow Die Twice, inspiring throngs of fellow game makers in the process.
Hidetaka Miyazaki and FromSoftware’s latest creation, Elden Ring, innovates on the core Souls formula in exciting ways. The forlorn open world of the Lands Between invites players to explore in any direction. A summonable mount allows for faster, more vertical traversal. Famed author George R.R. Martin has even partnered with FromSoftware to dream up the fantasy world players will delve into. It hits PS4 and PS5 February 25.
Lucky for us, Miyazaki-san took some time away from Elden Ring’s final stretch to chat about the game itself, his thoughts on accessibility and artistic collaboration, and even a bit about his time with the co-op fun of It Takes Two.
Gameplay footage in this article captured from Elden Ring Closed Network Test on PS5
PlayStation Blog: Congratulations on the warm reception to Elden Ring’s Closed Network Test! What reaction from fans and press stood out to the team most following this extensive hands-on test?
Hidetaka Miyazaki: Thank you! Overall, we saw some relatively good reactions from the network test, which was nice. I don’t tend to look at the raw user reactions; that can be a little scary. I typically get filtered feedback that comes down through various sources on the team, both on our side and the publisher side, so I get to look from a more holistic view.
As to what was particularly valuable, we mostly found things that we tend to take for granted as game developers and might consider obvious. Stuff that the users found difficult to figure out or didn’t gel with them immediately were helpful pieces of feedback. For instance, regarding the new summon pool mechanic, users can place their signs and have them collected into a group of available players to summon. Things like this weren’t immediately apparent to players, so this sort of feedback was beneficial in fine-tuning these features.
What’s one element about Elden Ring that you want to ensure isn’t overlooked by fans/press before the game launches?
There’s not one specific area from the network test that players overlooked or a part of the game that we want to push on them. Mainly, we want players to feel the importance of the level of freedom that we’re focusing on this time. We want them to enjoy the game in their own way and feel liberated in this new open world that they can explore at their own pace.
If possible, we want players to try and steer clear of spoilers or guides and go in with a completely fresh, open mind and enjoy