Video Gamer is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more
Hidetaka Miyazaki and the wider FromSoftware team have always prided their games on being difficult. It’s never been exorbitantly difficult, nor has it ever been self-indulgent, but the journey through the worlds of the Lands Between, Yharnham, Shinobi Japan, or Lordran have always been challenging. It signifies something emblematic of the setting – insignificance, usually.
Most interviews with Hidetaka Miyazaki have broached the topic, though his recent words with The Guardian have developed quite a structured answer.
“If we really wanted the whole world to play the game, we could just crank the difficulty down more and more. But that wasn’t the right approach,” Miyazaki said. “Had we taken that approach, I don’t think the game would have done what it did, because the sense of achievement that players gain from overcoming these hurdles is such a fundamental part of the experience. Turning down difficulty would strip the game of that joy – which, in my eyes, would break the game itself.”
FromSoftware games are not about the giant boss fights, cryptic lore, or fat-rolling mechanics. They are about overcoming each of those hurdles, and rebirthing yourself anew. I agree, should you take the challenge out of Dark Souls, it becomes a bit of a clunky dungeon crawler in which there is no real reason for you to keep digging deeper.
I think it’s a universally accepted concept that cheating does ruin the gaming experience. For example, SMTV: Vengeance. If you pre-order it, it comes with EXP, Gold, and Glory boosts enabled. I forgot about this entirely, which resulted in me breezing through the first few hours of the game without a single hitch. It was far too easy to be memorable, and it’s soured the rest of the experience now too, knowing that I didn’t earn my position here. I think the same would be said for FromSoftware games. If you go through the entire game without encountering any major problems, how could you possibly feel triumphant after defeating Moon Presence, Malenia, Gwyn, the Soul of Cinder, or any of the game’s final bosses?
