FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki probably won’t play Elden Ring, his upcoming dark fantasy epic that will likely be his biggest and most ambitious game to date.
The news that Miyazaki probably won’t play Elden Ring comes alongside the visionary creator also saying the game is close to his “ideal game world,” but that his own personal policy sees that he generally doesn’t play games he makes.
“You know, I probably won’t end up playing Elden Ring because it’s a game I’ve made myself,” Miyazaki said in the latest issue of Edge magazine.
He added, “This is sort of a personal policy. You wouldn’t get any of the unknowns that the fresh player is going to experience. Like I said before, I wouldn’t feel like playing. But if I did, then this would be close to the ideal game I’d want.”
For those unaware, Miyazaki had a very strong interest in worldbuilding because he mostly played gamebooks and tabletop RPGs. His “total direction” philosophy means he is involved with everything in the game from level design, story, mythology, and even item descriptions.
Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin was involved in the inception of Elden Ring and its foundational mythology, but Miyazaki ultimately has full control and oversight with the projects. It’s also worth pointing out that Miyazaki also designs enemies and sometimes even bosses.
“If I was in the mood to play a game, or if I had an ideal game world, Elden Ring gets pretty close to that,” Miyazaki said. “I create the games that are my type: tight combat, fantasy medieval settings, with dungeons to explore and things like that. It’s just what I’m into. An so Elden Ring is really hitting all the right notes there.”
The interview posed the question of whether or not Miyazaki was trying to make his mark on the genre, to which he responded:
“I don’t approach it in terms of ‘this is the kind of open world game I want to make’, it’s just that the open world enriches this ideal experience I’m trying to achieve,” he said.
Miyazaki elaborated, “To give some very simply examples, if I was to explore this world, I’d want a map – a proper map. Or, you know, if I saw something over there, I’d want to explore it. And I’d want to fight with a dragon in an epic arena. Things like this. It’s very simply stuff, but Elden Ring allows a lot of these things to become a reality for me, creating something that’s very close to my ideal game.”
Elden Ring was recently delayed to February 25th, 2022 across Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
