We are less than a month out from the release of Elden Ring. Some are already planning to take off from work to play it. Others are planning to take off from the internet to avoid what will likely be another round of game difficulty discourse. Director Hidetaka Miyazaki has broached the subject in a new interview, saying that while he didn’t set out to make Elden Ring easier as some might have hoped, he thinks more people will finish it than past FromSoftware games.
Love Elden Ring But Miss Sekiro’s Grappling Hook? This May Be The Souls-Like For You
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Asked about game difficulty and accessibility over on the PlayStation Blog, Miyazaki tried to set the record straight on what the Dark Souls games are really about before diving into why he hopes Elden Ring won’t stress players out as much as his past games.
“I feel like our approach to these games, not just Elden Ring, is to design them to encourage the player to overcome adversity,” he said. “We don’t try to force difficulty or make things hard for the sake of it. We want players to use their cunning, study the game, memorize what’s happening, and learn from their mistakes.”
The game director went on:
Those new options, as hinted at in previous interviews, include more opportunities for stealthily sneaking around and bypassing enemies and bosses, as well as going and exploring a different part of the open world after getting stuck somewhere. Miyazaki also reiterated that multiplayer summonings will be much more accessible this time around, giving players more chances to call for backup to help them through particularly difficult moments.
“In Elden Ring, we have not intentionally tried to lower the game’s difficulty, but I think more players will finish it this time,” Miyazaki said.
He continued elsewhere in the interview: