In an interview with PlayStation, director Hidetaka Miyazaki stated that he expects Elden Ring will be difficult, but have a higher clear rate than previous FromSoftware games.
We are now less than one month away from the release of FromSoftware's Elden Ring, and it couldn't get any more exciting! From the massive open-world to the gorgeously monstrous bosses, Elden Ring is set to be one of the biggest games of 2022.
FromSoftware's previous games, particularly the Souls games, are notorious for being difficult - beyond difficult. With their track record of punishingly difficult games, many fans were worried Elden Ring would be the same.
Luckily, director Hidetaka Miyazaki addresses the difficulty of Elden Ring, saying that he believes it will have a higher clear rate than the Souls games.
MIYAZAKI ON ELDEN RING'S DIFFICULTY AND CLEAR RATE
In an interview with PlayStation Blog, Miyazaki discussed balancing difficulty with accessibility. The teams aimed to create a challenging game that pushes players to think creatively; however, they also aim to make the difficulty meaningful rather than torturous.
Miyazaki states, "I feel like our approach to these games, not just Elden Ring, is to design them to encourage the player to overcome adversity. We don’t try to force difficulty or make things hard for the sake of it."
He continues, "We want players to use their cunning, study the game, memorize what’s happening, and learn from their mistakes. We don’t want players to feel like the game is unfairly punishing, but rather that there’s a chance to win a difficult encounter and make progress."
Though the game is intended to be more open, Miyazaki clarifies that they "have not intentionally tried to lower the game’s difficulty." Rather, the increased accessibility comes from a greater focus on player freedom. Within the open-world environment, players will be able to pick up and drop quests as needed. There's greater player agency in determining pace, which should ease up the difficulty barrier.
Additionally, he expects the upcoming multiplayer functionality to bolster community support and collaboration. With the mode easier to use and play, they hope Elden Ring players "embrace that idea of receiving help from others." The massive and likely active community would certainly be an easy in-game resource for all players.
Perfecting difficulty, especially within a high fantasy setting, is usually a massive undertaking. However, given recent successful tests, it seems that the Elden Ring team has made good on this commitment.
Elden Ring will launch for PS4, PS 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on Friday, February 25th, 2022.