![\"Elden](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/1e1995f1\/soulslike_03.jpg.webp\" "\\"Elden")
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Elden Ring<\/p>\n<\/article>\n
The Man Behind The Madness<\/p>\n
The Man Behind The Madness<\/h2>\n
I\u2019ll never forget the first time I met Hidetaka Miyazaki, the representative director and president of the Tokyo-based From Software, several years ago. At the end of a busy day at E3 2018, I had an interview with another From Software employee for a project the studio was working on. As I opened the door to the private space where I was to sit down for the interview, I came face-to-face with Miyazaki, a man who has reached an iconic status few in the industry have matched. It was my first interaction with him, and I had no idea what to expect. Was this man, who has been directly responsible for so many legendarily difficult games, going to give me a similarly challenging time now that I\u2019ve walked into this conversation with him unprepared?<\/p>\n
Thankfully, that was not the case, as he was calm, accommodating, and, at times, excited to joke around. I left that interview satisfied with how it went, but looking forward to a time when I could sit down with a clearer direction to dive into what will ultimately come to define his career: the Soulslike genre. Thankfully, years later, I would have that chance.<\/p>\n
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Hidetaka Miyazaki<\/h2>\n
Hidetaka Miyazaki joined From Software in 2004 as a designer for the Armored Core series. After creating and directing Demon\u2019s Souls and Dark Souls, he was promoted to president of the studio in 2014. In the time since, he has directed multiple acclaimed titles, including Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Elden Ring.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Walking into a dimly lit room, I\u2019m much more prepared this time, but I have similar anxieties. Miyazaki greets me with a warm smile and a handshake and says he\u2019s excited for our conversation. As we sit down, I tell him I want to talk about some topics he might not be expecting. The aforementioned room was themed after Elden Ring, but I had little intention of getting into the weeds of From Software\u2019s latest massive hit. Instead, I want to dive deep into another topic: his role in the explosion of the Soulslike genre. When he hears this, he perks up. And as the conversation goes on, it becomes evident that he\u2019s enjoying the talk \u2013 so much so that his team asks to extend the conversation beyond the set time.<\/p>\n
Miyazaki\u2019s jovial disposition and eagerness to delve into the intricacies of the now-extremely popular action subgenre display an evident passion and enthusiasm for how the genre has evolved. However, there\u2019s one catch: He doesn\u2019t want to take credit for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe so-called \u2018Soulslike\u2019 genre, I wouldn\u2019t necessarily say we invented it,\u201d Miyazaki says. \u201cI know we\u2019ve been credited, but in terms of the game design, this idea of having death and learning as part of the core game cycle is something that the gaming audience was perhaps ready for. But there just wasn\u2019t the perfect answer for that appetite just yet.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Demon\u2019s Souls<\/p>\n<\/article>\n Demonic Beginnings<\/p>\n At the time, Miyazaki, who joined From Software in 2004, was a coder, designer, and director for the Armored Core series. He heard about an internal high-fantasy project, with an emphasis on difficulty, being developed following a proposal from Sony, which immediately piqued his interest. Unfortunately, the project was struggling to get off the ground. Miyazaki inquired about stepping into a leadership role for the game, and the studio viewed putting the title in the hands of a less-experienced developer as low-risk since it already seemed to be going nowhere.<\/p>\n By pulling inspiration from King\u2019s Field, a late-\u201990s and early-\u201900s action series by From Software, and instilling the sense of challenge he felt was missing from the then-modern action-game scene, Miyazaki established something that harkened back to the hardcore fantasy action RPGs of old. At the same time, he wanted to take advantage of modern technology, like non-intrusive online cooperation and playing with the balance of risk and reward as it pertains to how the player behaves post-death. The result was a eureka moment for Miyazaki and, subsequently, the rest of the games industry.<\/p>\n The developers implemented a \u201cSouls\u201d system, in which players can retrieve lost upgrade resources dropped after death, enabling Miyazaki\u2019s team to create a novel interplay between life, death, and rebirth. \u201cWhat we discovered is it is okay to make games with death as part of its core gameplay loop, and our answer happened to land and resonate with various audiences,\u201d Miyazaki says. \u201cI don\u2019t necessarily think it\u2019s a new invention, per se; it was more the From Software DNA and our game design overlapped with what was perhaps missing from the market.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Demon\u2019s Souls<\/p>\n<\/article>\n Miyazaki\u2019s project was revealed in 2008 as Demon\u2019s Souls and released on Japanese PlayStation 3s just four months later in February 2009, an uncommonly short promotional cycle for that time in the industry. The third-person action title emphasized precise inputs, pattern recognition, and learning from your mistakes. And perhaps most notoriously, punishing difficulty.<\/p>\n \u201cI know we get a lot of credit saying that our games are difficult, but it\u2019s not a matter of simply cranking up the difficulty; it\u2019s doing so fairly,\u201d Miyazaki says. \u201cWhen players are killed and they can understand why they were killed in an instance, and it feels justified, that makes sense. That\u2019s the game we\u2019re trying to achieve. And I know a lot of players out there are probably going to disagree: \u2018What are you talking about? This game doesn\u2019t make sense! What the heck?\u2019 But we try to make sure that there is a learning curve and a feedback loop that the players are able to extract that they can bring into the next attempt. We believe in difficult games, but not games that are unjustly or unfairly so.\u201d<\/p>\n The challenging boss battles we now associate with the Soulslike genre did not translate well to demos at expos like Tokyo Game Show or internal build reviews at Sony, leading to low confidence at the publisher. When combined with poor optimization late in the development cycle, Sony decided against investing localization resources to bring the game to Western audiences, a decision that former president of Sony\u2019s Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, later admitted to Game Informer<\/em> in 2012 that he regretted. \u201cWe underestimated the quality of the game, and to be honest, the media in Japan did the same,\u201d Yoshida said in that interview. \u201cWe definitely dropped the ball from a publishing standpoint, including studio management side. We were not able to see the value of the product we were making.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Demon\u2019s Souls<\/p>\n<\/article>\n Thankfully, Atlus stepped in to publish it in North America in October 2009, while Bandai Namco handled the European release in June 2010. The decision ended up being a wise one, as Demon\u2019s Souls launched to overwhelmingly positive reviews across the globe, including a 9 out of 10 from Game Informer<\/em>, and earned an 89 out of 100 on review aggregate site Metacritic. And although sales started slowly in Japan, positive word of mouth spread rapidly, causing a massive spike in global sales, which boosted North American publisher Atlus\u2019 profits for the year and earned it a Sony Greatest Hits label designation.<\/p>\n By the end of 2009, Demon\u2019s Souls had become an award-winning critical darling in the US with a strong following among hardcore gaming communities. The success and acclaim galvanized Miyazaki and his vision. \u201cEvery time we release a game, there is some feedback loop that happens for us as a studio, and when we released Demon\u2019s Souls, I think that gave us a huge confidence boost that perhaps there is something here that translated into Dark Souls and then that continued to grow and expand,\u201d Miyazaki says. \u201cEvery time we put something out there, we\u2019re able to confirm that what we\u2019re doing is not that far off of what the fans, the audiences, are looking for, and that gives us a lot of courage in our decision-making process and what we put out into the world.\u201d<\/p>\n With Demon\u2019s Souls successfully bringing the earliest version of Miyazaki\u2019s vision to the masses, the developers at From Software turned their eyes toward making a bigger impact. Partnering with its European publisher for Demon\u2019s Souls, Bandai Namco, the studio aimed to bring this new category of games to a broader audience: multiplatform gamers.<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Demon\u2019s Souls<\/p>\n<\/article>\n A Decidedly Dark Turn<\/p>\n Though Sony owns the Demon\u2019s Souls IP, From Software wanted to create the Demon\u2019s Souls successor for Xbox and PC players in addition to PlayStation owners. As a result, Miyazaki doubled down on the dark fantasy themes and created a spiritual successor that could be published across PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.<\/p>\n By using freeform development processes that allowed developers across the team to contribute in meaningful ways and drawing on various cultures\u2019 mythologies, including Greek, Japanese, Norse, and others, From Software elevated the subgenre it was beginning to carve out within the action space. The first Dark Souls introduced the Soulslike staple bonfire checkpoints, where players could mark their progress.<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Dark Souls<\/p>\n<\/article>\n Miyazaki once again returned to the role of director, applying the lessons he learned directing Demon\u2019s Souls to take these abstract concepts and deliver them into a final product elevated beyond that PS3 exclusive. \u201cMy approach of making games as the game director is like sandwiching from a very high conceptual level and painting the vision, the final image, of what we\u2019re trying to achieve, as well as going really granular on some of the detailed elements of what the players experience,\u201d Miyazaki says. \u201cBy sandwiching the game development process, the middle almost has only one place to go, which is completing that whole experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Dark Souls, much like its spiritual predecessor, launched to critical acclaim when it arrived in 2011, with the console versions earning an 89 on Metacritic, including an 8.75 out of 10 from Game Informer<\/em>. It also took home numerous awards at the end of the year. Prior to the 2014 release of Dark Souls II, From Software announced that the first Dark Souls had sold more than 2 million units worldwide. Today, Dark Souls is credited as one of the most influential games and revered for how well it polished the formula established by Demon\u2019s Souls.<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Dark Souls<\/p>\n<\/article>\n Borne In Blood<\/p>\n Regardless of his role on the project, which is almost always director, Miyazaki has remained heavily involved with the level design, highlighting the importance of the world the player progresses through in any one of his games. This remained true, even as he was named president of From Software in 2014.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, the high-level, conceptual stuff might be easy to imagine, but the details that I pick and choose to oversee myself, the level design is one of them because I think that experience really creates and raises the floor of what players are going to feel and experience through the game design,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ll look at what\u2019s being done and say, \u2018Alright. This, this, this, and this, I\u2019m going to oversee because I know which points in that experience are going to be the most effective and sandwich the high-level vision plus the details that players see.\u201d<\/p>\n Though he stepped away from the director\u2019s role with 2014\u2019s Dark Souls II, so he could focus on a new step forward in the genre, Miyazaki remained involved via a high-level supervisory role. Technology and budgets had improved for the sequel, but directors Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura did not want to meddle with the established formula or acclaimed controls. Instead, they drilled into what made Dark Souls such a beloved title. And it worked, garnering a 9.75 from Game Informer<\/em>, contributing to a 91 on Metacritic, and surpassing the original Dark Souls\u2019 sales in just one year, signaling a bright future for the now-established franchise.<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Dark Souls 2<\/p>\n<\/article>\n From Software successfully followed up its acclaimed Dark Souls debut, but Miyazaki was hard at work on the next evolution of the genre, deviating from the \u201cSouls\u201d brand in favor of a wholly new IP. From Software reunited with Demon\u2019s Souls publisher, Sony, to deliver Bloodborne just one year after Dark Souls II as a PlayStation 4 exclusive.<\/p>\n Bloodborne borrows heavily from the Dark Souls formula, with intentional, third-person action combat, RPG-style progression, bonfire-style lantern checkpoints, and skill-check bosses enveloping the entire experience. From Software retained the dark fantasy inspiration, leaning heavily on Lovecraftian themes and even more abstract storytelling to get across its rich lore. Bloodborne also introduced faster combat, which proved to be a point of resonance with many new and longtime fans.<\/p>\n When I mention that Bloodborne was the From Software game that finally clicked with me, Miyazaki perks up. \u201cBloodborne is a special game for me as well, so I was very happy to hear you say that,\u201d he remarks. \u201c[For] a couple of reasons: The first one being it was probably the most challenging development cycle we\u2019ve had from a studio perspective. The second and perhaps bigger element is how personal it was for me in the sense that I\u2019ve imparted a lot of my own ideas into this game, whether it be the story, the world-building component, or even the game mechanics and the game systems that are in place. It is perhaps the strongest reflection of my type of flavoring of a game that one can experience.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Bloodborne<\/p>\n<\/article>\n From Software originally chose Bandai Namco to publish its Dark Souls series in hopes of reaching the widest audience due to its publishing across all major platforms, but Bloodborne defied its single-platform release, outselling any Souls game to date. And it wasn\u2019t just From Software\u2019s ever-growing reputation that bolstered those sales, as the game is often heralded as one of the greatest games of the 2010s, earning a 9.75 from Game Informer<\/em> and a 92 on Metacritic.<\/p>\n Following Bloodborne, Miyazaki returned as a director for the Dark Souls series in Dark Souls III, this time splitting directorial duties with Dark Souls II co-director Yui Tanimura and Bloodborne designer Isamu Okano. Dark Souls III plays like a convergence between the Dark Souls franchise and Bloodborne, with the faster combat and storytelling methods of Bloodborne permeating the namesake franchise. The result is perhaps the most well-rounded Dark Souls game, continuing the series and studio\u2019s excellence. As of March 2024, Bandai Namco reported the Dark Souls series had sold more than 37 million units \u2013 a number topped only within the publisher by the Tekken series, which had a 16-year head start.<\/p>\n The series and its Demon\u2019s Souls predecessor inspired the coinage of the term \u201cSoulslike,\u201d which describes any game \u2013 From Software-developed or otherwise \u2013 that uses the core tenets established by the studio through Dark Souls, Demon\u2019s Souls, and Bloodborne. The term was necessitated by the sheer volume of games that began emerging, which drew heavy inspiration from the work of Miyazaki and his team.<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Dark Souls 2<\/p>\n<\/article>\n Setting The Industry Ablaze<\/p>\n The continued success of From Software\u2019s myriad Souls-style games spread across the games industry. Once the formula was proven successful, the Soulslike genre became one of the standard types of action titles, replacing the stylish, combo-driven slashers of the 2000s with a more methodical subgenre popularized by Miyazaki and his teams.<\/p>\n One of the earliest and most prominent examples came from Team Ninja, a studio known for its stylish and challenging action games. The Ninja Gaiden franchise is a different brand of challenging action titles, but by developing an all-new IP, Nioh, Team Ninja was able to embrace the From Software brand of action.<\/p>\n \u201cTo put it simply and honestly, the commercial and critical success of Dark Souls and Bloodborne was a major reason behind the development and release of Nioh,\u201d head of Team Ninja and managing executive officer of Koei Tecmo Games, Fumihiko Yasuda says. \u201cWhen the development of Nioh resumed in 2014 after several interruptions, it\u2019s true that nearly all of the small initial team members, including myself, were players who favored Demon\u2019s Souls and Dark Souls, and so we were inspired by those titles and led to the decision that we as Team Ninja should create a game that would directly appeal to hardcore gamers once again.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Nioh<\/p>\n<\/article>\n After several years of development, Nioh released to critical acclaim and has since spawned one sequel in 2020, with another on the way in 2026. Team Ninja also further explored the Soulslike genre with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty in 2023. But Team Ninja wasn\u2019t the only studio to draw direct inspiration from Miyazaki\u2019s works. Lords of the Fallen from Deck13 and CI Games hit the market in 2014 as one of the earlier triple-A games to show clear Dark Souls inspiration. However, with 2023\u2019s Lords of the Fallen reboot, developer Hexworks and publisher CI Games made their catalyst even more obvious.<\/p>\n \u201cFor Lords of the Fallen 2023, I think part of the team\u2019s mission was to try and envisage the Dark Souls 3.5 of their dreams; they were quite intentional about that,\u201d CI Games creative portfolio strategist David Valjalo says.<\/p>\n And perhaps the game that veers closest to From Software\u2019s Bloodborne, Lies of P, arrived from developer Neowiz in 2023. The game loosely adapted the original 1883 novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio<\/em>, while faithfully incorporating From Software\u2019s concepts. Director Ji Won Choi acknowledges that the genre\u2019s popularity and business viability played a significant role in creating a game that veers close to Miyazaki\u2019s creations, but Choi\u2019s observations on the state of the genre and the team\u2019s action and melee combat pedigree also helped push them toward Lies of P.<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Lies of P<\/p>\n<\/article>\n \u201cThis genre was a challenge I wanted to take on,\u201d Choi says. \u201cDespite the popularity of the Soulslike genre, there are still few titles, aside from those made by From Software and a few other studios, that have achieved significant commercial success compared to other genres. This proves that the Soulslike genre is a challenging genre to create a well-made game, and it motivated us to do even better.\u201d<\/p>\n But not every entry in the genre is so straightforward. Developers have taken the core tenets of Soulslike gameplay and adapted them to various styles of play. Developer Aggro Crab created Another Crab\u2019s Treasure, a more lighthearted game about a hermit crab who lost his shell due to unpaid taxes, with the express intention of changing up the typical Soulslike elements while remaining true to the wider formula.<\/p>\n \u201cI think calling games \u2018Soulslikes\u2019 has kept a lot of devs stuck in a loop of recreating Dark Souls; and in my opinion, the best Dark Souls game has been made already, and it\u2019s called Dark Souls,\u201d Aggro Crab creative director Caelan Pollock says. \u201cIt\u2019s a deeply imperfect game, and that\u2019s why people like it and why it\u2019s resonated so deeply with players and throughout the industry. I think when you try to mimic every aspect of that experience, you\u2019re really not ending up with something worth paying attention to. So, a big part of the decision to mix things up was just wanting to stand out, but it\u2019s also because of a deep belief that the genre can be more. We made a gamble on the community being ready for that.\u201d<\/p>\n And the genre\u2019s influence has stretched beyond the realm of 3D action titles and into the 2D space with games like Salt and Sanctuary, Dead Cells, and the Blasphemous series.<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Blasphemous<\/p>\n<\/article>\n \u201cIn the case of Blasphemous 1, that was a hard thing to do, because we were really inspired by the Souls games, but there were some points of the combat that we felt we didn\u2019t want to go in that direction,\u201d Blasphemous designer and writer Maikel Ortega says. \u201cThe thing we decided to pick was the feeling of weight of the main characters in the Souls game without having the actual stamina, and more importantly, the feeling of exploration; in Souls games, you are driven by your own curiosity; you\u2019re exploring something just because you feel like it. There\u2019s no clear path for you, and that\u2019s something that was a core principle for us.\u201d<\/p>\n The developers I spoke with represent only a small portion of the creators who have drawn significant influence from Hidetaka Miyazaki and his teams at From Software. The Soulslike elements have become so pervasive throughout the industry that it\u2019s a hackneyed reference point for games media and players alike. Saying a game \u201cis like Dark Souls\u201d became a joke because so many games were borrowing pieces of that puzzle.<\/p>\n When I ask Miyazaki about the many developers who have released games that draw clear inspiration from his works, he welcomes them with open arms. \u201cOf course, we are very aware that these games exist, but we think there is almost this coexistence or symbiotic type of relationship,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s very stimulating for us to see a different team take a similar concept from a completely different angle and interpretation and add their own set of values to that experience. When we switch to the consumer side, it\u2019s like, \u2018Wow, we didn\u2019t think of that approach\u2019 or \u2018We didn\u2019t think of that way of interpreting this type of core concept.\u2019 So, I think it\u2019s great that there is this sort of subgenre that exists where we can also stimulate others and be stimulated by their creations.\u201d<\/p>\n Even with the industry embracing the genre as Miyazaki pursued other games like 2018\u2019s VR title D\u00e9racin\u00e9 \u2013 including Sony and developer Bluepoint Games remaking Demon\u2019s Souls as one of its big launch games for the PlayStation 5 \u2013 the studio returned to the genre in 2019 to remind everyone that they are not only the trailblazers, but also the masters of the Soulslike.<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice<\/p>\n<\/article>\n Back from the Shadows<\/p>\n As Miyazaki told me, he enjoys checking out the works of others in the Soulslike space, and if the team sees something in another title it thinks would make a From Software game better, it will not hesitate to incorporate it. Perhaps that\u2019s why the first From Software Soulslike game in three years \u2013 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice \u2013 expanded the studio\u2019s work into new directions.<\/p>\n Originally conceived as a new entry in the Tenchu series, which From Software acquired from Activision in 2004, the studio began development shortly after the launch of Bloodborne in 2015. The concept quickly grew beyond the stealth-focused series and became its own, original IP.<\/p>\n Although many of the trademarks of the Dark Souls series are present in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice \u2013 like exploration-based gameplay, skill-based third-person combat, and challenging boss battles, many of the RPG elements, like custom characters and robust stat upgrades, were excluded. However, by incorporating more defensive play and stealth elements, Sekiro expanded the genre into new realms.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say Sekiro was a big innovation, more differentiating game in how we interpret that is the sort of tempo between offense and defense, how players interpret, \u2018Okay, now is my turn to attack. Now is my turn to dodge or roll,\u2019\u201d Miyazaki says. \u201cI think the parry mechanic and how that plays into the larger gameplay tempo was quite different from a lot of the other so-called Soulslikes that have been part of the genre.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice<\/p>\n<\/article>\n Miyazaki tells me the relationship between offense and defense was something he had been pondering since before developing Bloodborne. \u201cIn Sekiro, it appears in its clearest form that I think the philosophy can embody,\u201d he says. \u201cPersonally, I think there\u2019s one more level we can crank it up to and sharpen that and home in on that mechanic even more, but I think Sekiro was a big turning point.\u201d<\/p>\n When it launched in 2019, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice emerged as yet another hit for From Software, once again garnering critical acclaim, including a 9 from Game Informer<\/em>, and a Metacritic average of around 90. It also earned Game of the Year honors at The Game Awards \u2013 a first for From Software \u2013 and from various other awards shows and outlets. Fittingly, it proved to be another huge success for From Software and Bandai Namco, selling more than 10 million units in its first four years.<\/p>\n The changes Miyazaki and his team installed into the genre were clearly successful, but little did players know that From Software was hard at work on something that would reach far beyond any of the accomplishments of its work to this point, including the sky-high success of the Dark Souls trilogy. And in the lead up to 2022, Miyazaki\u2019s masterpiece came into focus.<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice<\/p>\n<\/article>\n The Ascension<\/p>\n Even in a fast-evolving industry like gaming, significant touchpoints, cultural phenomena, and landscape-altering works only emerge every few years. Miyazaki already had a few of those under his belt thanks to the Souls games, Bloodborne, and Sekiro, but even with those on his r\u00e9sum\u00e9, he was ready to bring the gameplay style to the next level.<\/p>\n Amidst the second half of Sekiro\u2019s development cycle, Miyazaki took on an additional directorial project. This time, he wanted to more directly evolve the mechanics in Dark Souls rather than deviate from them as he did with Sekiro. However, he wanted to give players more freedom than ever before through a truly open world. And thus, Elden Ring, a game that will almost certainly come to define not only Miyazaki\u2019s career, but the decade of gaming as a whole, was conceived.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Elden Ring, it\u2019s that sense of adventure that you\u2019re exploring and journeying through this massive, massive world,\u201d Miyazaki says. \u201cAt the same time, within this massive world, there are a lot of unknowns that must be uncovered, as well as threats and fears that impose themselves upon the player. That exploration and adventure was something that I, myself, wanted to see. I think it is a very primitive form of enjoyment and interpretation of this type of fantasy adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Elden Ring<\/p>\n<\/article>\n By introducing a massive open world into the formula, players could better pace their playthroughs through exploration and circuitous routes around enemies that would have been progress blockers in the studio\u2019s other games. And if a boss was too difficult, players could save it for later and focus on leveling their character through other non-linear challenges. Through this, From Software could keep the punishing difficulty that has remained a trademark for the genre, while making it more approachable for players of all skill levels.<\/p>\n Although the team wanted to continue the open-to-interpretation storytelling, where players must pick up narrative clues from NPC dialogue, items, and the environment itself, From Software enlisted the services of A Song of Ice and Fire<\/em> author George R. R. Martin to lay the world-building foundation and develop the backstories of the characters. From there, Miyazaki and his narrative team evolved the more human, benevolent demigods into the grotesque creatures players see in the final game. Miyazaki evolved the world and characters from Martin\u2019s starting point so drastically that he theorized that even the Game of Thrones<\/em> creator would be surprised by the final product.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a player walks through this world, I know that they have a very fragmented understanding of the lore, the surroundings, and the type of monsters, whereas I don\u2019t,\u201d Miyazaki says. \u201cSo, the map and level design are supposed to serve as a guide, in a way, to help players pick up more information and piece together what they think that world is. That is the reason I level design myself, to make sure that those moments aren\u2019t lost.\u201d<\/p>\n This approach allowed From Software to create a cohesive experience where the level design, artwork, animation, and lore coalesced into something greater than anything From Software had done before. The high-level conceptual vision, supported by an extreme attention to detail, brought each piece of the overall gameplay experience into the forefront, delivering a game that Miyazaki touts as \u201cin a league of its own.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Elden Ring<\/p>\n<\/article>\n When Elden Ring launched in 2022, hype was at a fever pitch for the latest evolution of the genre that From Software and Miyazaki had pioneered. The final product somehow surpassed even the lofty expectations of the community. The console versions secured a 96 out of 100 on Metacritic, including 10 out of 10 scores from Game Informer<\/em> and several other prominent outlets. At year\u2019s end, Elden Ring nearly swept Game of the Year honors, including at The Game Awards and from Game Informer<\/em>. Since its launch, some have elevated it to among the greatest games ever released. As of this writing, Elden Ring has sold more than 30 million copies, making it one of the highest-selling video games ever and the fastest-selling Bandai Namco game to date.<\/p>\n But none of this was accidental. Though the successes of the Soulslike genre rest primarily on his shoulders, Miyazaki understands that the road to this point, as well as the fans who have provided feedback dating all the way to Demon\u2019s Souls, are to thank for the studio and genre\u2019s current successes. \u201cEverything leading up to Elden Ring has been built upon these bricks that we\u2019ve established and fortified over the years,\u201d he says. \u201cThat audience feedback loop is definitely very encouraging for us every time.\u201d<\/p>\n Following the successful launch of Elden Ring in 2022, From Software delivered even more open-world exploration and rewarding battles through a vast expansion called Shadow of the Erdtree, followed by a 2025 multiplayer roguelite game called Elden Ring: Nightreign, which Miyazaki was not directly involved with. With Shadow of the Erdtree delivering some of the most exciting battles in the genre\u2019s history and Elden Ring: Nightreign showcasing the studio isn\u2019t afraid to continue experimenting with the Soulslike formula, From Software further cemented itself as the undisputed industry leader of the modern action game space.<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree<\/p>\n<\/article>\n A Bright Future<\/p>\n With Elden Ring development complete and the game praised as one of the greatest of all time, From Software and Miyazaki have turned their attention to a new game called The Duskbloods, which will debut exclusively for Switch 2 in 2026. Miyazaki once again stepped into the director role, with the focus on bringing more multiplayer twists to the Soulslike genre.<\/p>\n With a PvPvE format, where players must band together to defeat AI enemies, in addition to competitive elements between the human-controlled players, The Duskbloods signals yet another experimental twist for From Software in the genre it pioneered. However, Miyazaki has assured fans that just because The Duskbloods is more multiplayer-focused, it doesn\u2019t mean From Software is abandoning single-player games.<\/p>\n The existence of games like Sekiro, Elden Ring: Nightreign, and The Duskbloods shows that From Software is willing to experiment, as are other developers within the Soulslike space. And it\u2019s perhaps for that reason that the future of the genre looks so bright. While certain core elements seem to always persist, the current pliable present bodes well for an even more flexible future.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Souls series led to the expansion into the open world of Elden Ring and the roguelike Nightreign, and seeing that popularity, I think From Software will continue to explore new horizons in various forms as a pioneer of the genre,\u201d Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo Games\u2019 Yasuda says.<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n The Duskbloods<\/p>\n<\/article>\n For some, it\u2019s just a matter of time before someone \u2013 whether it\u2019s From Software or another developer in the space \u2013 finds the next heralded evolution of the genre. \u201cThere\u2019s space for truly groundbreaking and exciting new ideas to come in and disrupt what we understand the rules of a genre to be,\u201d CI Games\u2019 Valjalo says. \u201cI think that is key \u2013 which titles can experiment within the established bounds of the genre and end up transcending and transforming them so the possibility space is redefined? Those are the ones that will move the needle and keep us moving forward as an industry.\u201d<\/p>\n That is one of the universal responses when I ask Soulslike developers about the future: excitement. \u201cI believe that more game studios will continue to explore diverse approaches, and I think those approaches will lead this genre to evolve and expand even further,\u201d Lies of P director Choi says. \u201cWe are already seeing this happening in the market as well. As a gamer who loves this genre, I hope to see the release of many diverse and enjoyable games to the point where defining the genre itself becomes unnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n Though the answer for why the Soulslike genre has experienced such success over the last decade and a half is a complicated one, it\u2019s hard not to attribute it to the strong vision of Hidetaka Miyazaki. And following the success and incredible influence of Elden Ring, it\u2019s difficult to guess where the Soulslike genre could go next.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s the thing about visionaries: Whether you\u2019re talking about trailblazers who helped create tech we use every day or acclaimed game developers who changed the very industry in which they work, they\u2019re trailblazers because they give the audience what they want, often without the audience realizing they want it until they have it. Miyazaki recognized that and created the games he would have wanted to play if he were just a gamer.<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n The Duskbloods<\/p>\n<\/article>\n When I ask Miyazaki what sets From Software\u2019s games apart from other Soulslikes, even he struggles to pinpoint the reason. \u201cOur own Soulslikes \u2013 which is odd to say \u2013 whether it\u2019s Elden Ring or Dark Souls, if there is that special value add that we provide, what makes it different and sets it apart, I think at times, we aren\u2019t necessarily sure of what that is or what the DNA is, so to speak,\u201d he says in reflection. \u201cI think of all the different ways I\u2019d want to be killed as a gamer and as a player, and thinking about the difficulty curve and certain challenges that we place in front of other players is something that, as a gamer, I just hoped or wished would exist as an experience. I think that is a very strong differentiating factor.\u201d<\/p>\n Even now, Miyazaki remains humble regarding his role in creating and proliferating this genre. \u201cOver the last 15 years, we\u2019ve kind of started building this genre and we\u2019ve received a lot of critical acclaim from the fan audiences, but I really attribute it to good luck and good timing in when we happened to show up on the market,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, it\u2019s very, very humbling to hear people say, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s a Soulslike,\u2019 or they give us credit for inventing a whole new genre, but I perhaps don\u2019t necessarily see it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether or not he wants to take credit for the success of the Soulslike genre, for the millions of players who have enjoyed a game in the style, Hidetaka Miyazaki\u2019s genius has shone through time and again. And for the thousands of developers who have worked on Soulslike games \u2013 both at From Software and outside of the studio \u2013 Miyazaki\u2019s influence is as undeniable as the genre that made him one of the most iconic game developers of the 21st century.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Introduction The action genre\u2019s relationship with difficulty has been complicated. In their earliest stages, action games were often unreasonably demanding, but this was not always by design. These difficulty spikes and trial-and-error sequences were a result of trailblazing developers figuring out the best practices for requiring precision from players while remaining fair. During the advent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":18504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[161],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-online-games"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Demon\u2019s](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/2c26f6fb\/soulslike_demon_01.jpg.webp\" "\\"Demon\u2019s")
<\/p>\nDemonic Beginnings<\/h2>\n
![\"Demon\u2019s](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/762055d4\/soulslike_demon_04.jpg.webp\" "\\"Demon\u2019s")
<\/p>\n![\"Demon\u2019s](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/fa020bb7\/soulslike_demon_02.jpg.webp\" "\\"Demon\u2019s")
<\/p>\n![\"Demon\u2019s](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/58cbd465\/soulslike_demon_03.jpg.webp\" "\\"Demon\u2019s")
<\/p>\nA Decidedly Dark Turn<\/h2>\n
![\"Dark](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/1a39ef18\/soulslike_dark_01.jpg.webp\" "\\"Dark")
<\/p>\n![\"Dark](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/a3133c6f\/soulslike_dark_02.jpg.webp\" "\\"Dark")
<\/p>\nBorne In Blood<\/h2>\n
![\"Dark](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/a69945cf\/soulslike_dark_03.jpg.webp\" "\\"Dark")
<\/p>\n![\"Bloodborne\"](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/f63c1567\/soulslike_blood_01.jpg.webp\" "\\"Bloodborne\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"Dark](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/0b42d3a8\/soulslike_dark_04.jpg.webp\" "\\"Dark")
<\/p>\nSetting The Industry Ablaze<\/h2>\n
![\"Nioh\"](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/1311f2e9\/soulslike_nioh_02.jpg.webp\" "\\"Nioh\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"Lies](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/f997d5de\/soulslike_liesofp.jpg.webp\" "\\"Lies")
<\/p>\n![\"Blasphemous\"](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/6f39ecf1\/soulslike_blasphemous.jpg.webp\" "\\"Blasphemous\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"Sekiro:](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/50e6b12e\/soulslike_sekiro_01.jpg.webp\" "\\"Sekiro:")
<\/p>\nBack from the Shadows<\/h2>\n
![\"Sekiro:](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/47250b5c\/soulslike_sekiro_02.jpg.webp\" "\\"Sekiro:")
<\/p>\n![\"Sekiro:](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/e7a32770\/soulslike_sekiro_03.jpg.webp\" "\\"Sekiro:")
<\/p>\nThe Ascension<\/h2>\n
![\"Elden](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/41cef2b9\/soulslike_eldenring_02.jpg.webp\" "\\"Elden")
<\/p>\n![\"Elden](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/b110e409\/soulslike_eldenring_01.jpg.webp\" "\\"Elden")
<\/p>\n![\"Elden](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/a2c6ef38\/soulslike_eldenring_03.jpg.webp\" "\\"Elden")
<\/p>\nA Bright Future<\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/f65a0cd8\/soulslike_duskblood_01.jpg.webp\" "\\"The")
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/body_default\/public\/2025\/12\/09\/54aef8c2\/soulslike_duskblood_02.jpg.webp\" "\\"The")
<\/p>\n