The director of Elden Ring, Hidetaka Miyazaki, has a message for the game’s newbies, and it might not be quite what they were expecting. The game, which launched on February 25th, has been taking the world by storm and attracting some fantastic reviews from both fans and critics alike. However, one thing that newcomers to the game have noted is the level of challenge involved. This may not have come as a surprise to veteran players of Miyazaki’s games, as their difficulty levels are pretty much a solid definition of the Souls genre.
There’s definitely been some noise on social media this past week over the game’s difficulty settings. Many have called for an easy mode, whereas others have rebuffed this idea, suggesting that gamers enjoy the experience for exactly what it is. With difficulty being a genre-defining aspect of FromSoftware’s previous titles, Elden Ring probably shouldn’t have been expected to be any different.
Elden Ring‘s director has some words of advice for newcomers though. In a recent interview, he’s asking new players to embrace the challenge and in particular, the cycle of trial and error. Death is an inevitable component of many of FromSoftware’s games, and Miyazaki is encouraging players to basically just chill out a bit about being frequently killed. For him, the trial and error process is a key aspect of Elden Ring‘s gameplay, deliberately designing bosses that put pressure on the player, so that the sense of elation upon finally defeating them is authentic and more impactful.
Elden Ring definitely offers a higher level of challenge for newcomers to the genre. However, with that level of challenge comes greater potential to reap genuine feelings of satisfaction from the gameplay. Miyazaki wants to encourage players to get into Elden Ring as his most immersive and easy to engage with title to date, and doesn’t want them to be put off by the combat difficulty, but instead see it as an exciting part of the game’s process.
