How Hidetaka Miyazaki made 'Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree', his biggest expansion to date

Elden Ring it was undoubtedly the Game of the Year 2022, winning many awards in various shows and publications. With its dark fantasy atmosphere, punishing combat, and challenging challenge, players keep coming back for more. It was also developer FromSoftware's first open-world game, so it had to have more content than any game the studio had made before.

Two years later, FromSoftware is back with brand new content for Elden Ring in expansion Shadow of the Erdtree.

Rolling rock recently sat down with FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki, the director of some of the most important games in the video game industry, including Demon's Souls, Dark soulsand Bloodborne. We discussed the inspirations back then Shadow of the ErdtreeFromSoftware's influence on the video game industry and what the future holds for the studio.

Meeting expectations

It's unusual to see video game developers release additional downloadable content (DLC) two years after a game's release, but FromSoftware had no choice. Its sheer size demanded the time it took to work on it. Miyazaki acknowledges that it's been a while since then Elden Ringlaunching it.

“That which really defines Elden Ring as a game it's that excitement of exploration and adventure, combined with a certain degree of freedom that players enjoy,” says Miyazaki. “So to make sure that expectations were met on all those different fronts, it ended up being as big as it was.”

Author George RR Martin helped provide mythology and world-building for his main game Elden Ringbut did not deal with Shadow of the Erdtree. He wrote the backstory of Mikaela, who has the ability to ascend to godhood. While Miquella is mentioned a few times in the main game, players never really come into contact with him. Miyazaki explains that it was a story that FromSoftware wanted to revisit and tell fully, like this Shadow of the Erdtree is where Mikaela's story expands.

Of course, DLC isn't new for FromSoftware. The Dark souls The series received DLC expansions starting in 2012 Artorias of the Abyssbuilding from the very beginning Dark souls game, released last year. What is he doing Shadow of the Erdtree different from FromSoftware's previous expansions was not only its sheer size, but also how it was integrated: It takes place in a different area from the main game (called the Land of Shadow), so the premise is that players are already in a high flat and strong. until they take it over.

“What made the base game quite exciting is the sense of a threat or the unknown. “Hey, am I strong enough to still deal with this boss or not?” You don't know that even though you're almost at endgame level,” explains Miyazaki. “Going into DLC, you get that character development and that sense of threat again, so it feels fresh.”

Miyazaki already has confirmed that Shadow of the Erdtree will be the only extension for Elden Ring. FromSoftware could break it up into smaller separate extensions, but that would be mitigated Elden Ringthe great ethos of freedom and exploration.

Influencing the industry

Elden Ring and FromSoftware's games have inspired an entire subgenre of video games called “Soulslikes.” Basically, this tag is applied to any game that features tough bosses and players constantly dying against them. However, Miyazaki says he wouldn't go so far as to say FromSoftware invented an entire genre, as the game's core mechanics aren't something the studio invented.

The act of dying, learning, iterating and applying the knowledge you've gathered to your next endeavor was a concept that FromSoftware arrived at with 2009 Demon's Souls. Miyazaki notes that FromSoftware got lucky that the video game market wanted a game with a learning curve and death cycle for the game's core loops.

“We just happened to be bringing it to market at the right time,” explained Miyazaki. “As happy as it makes us, I think it's also very humbling to know that we've been given a lot of credit for naming a species.”

As other developers have attempted their own spin on creating a Souls-like game, many have added unique mechanics and used different settings to set themselves apart. Examples include Team Ninja's Japan inspired Niohscience fiction by Ubisoft The waveeven anime-style Code veinwhich Bandai Namco developed in-house (Bandai Namco also publishes Dark souls and Elden Ring).

“Yes, I play other so-called 'Soulslike' games,” Miyazaki admits. “But not so much as a consumer but as research, let's put it that way.” He explains that due to working with similar game concepts, themes and limitations, it's always interesting to see different interpretations other studios or game designers take on the subgenre that FromSoftware might not have thought of. “It's very exciting for me to be able to see it from a lot of different angles, because we're all working in the same sandbox, in a way.”

Going off the beaten path

Miyazaki's directorial works mainly consist of Dark souls and Shielded core franchises, but is also interested in other projects. In 2018 he directed Deracine, PlayStation VR exclusive. It was a narrative-adventure game that was very different from the games people associated it with.

If the opportunity presented itself, Miyazaki says he would like to experiment with other genres of games. However, he also says that the biggest challenge was finding an environment that allowed for games that deviated from FromSoftware's typical hits.

“In case that Deracine, there was new technology with virtual reality,” he said. “We wanted to challenge ourselves as a studio and gain some new knowledge to apply what we did next.”

Interestingly, Miyazaki also mentions that part of him wants to make a traditional Japanese RPG someday. FromSoftware released one in 2006 called enchanted weapons, directed by now Capcom employee Masato Miyazaki (no relation). However, Miyazaki says it probably won't be related to Enchanted weapons.

He doesn't see himself being able to inherit FromSoftware's previous IP and put his own spin on them. “I think a lot of these games are so intertwined with the directors that they almost invented this style of game,” explains Miyazaki. It used FromSoftware's debut game in 1994 King's Field, as an example. It was produced by FromSoftware's first president, Naotoshi Zin, who also went on to produce the second and third games in the franchise.

“I don't think there's a scenario where I myself would do one King's Field. The same can be said for Otogi and Enchanted weapons,” he says. But there is one exception. Miyazaki started at FromSoftware in 2005 as a programmer Armored Core: Last Raven — and could see himself revisiting the turn again. “I got involved with Shielded core 4 and Armored Core: To answer. It allowed me to give my own interpretation Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon and develop it”.

The future of FromSoftware

There's no telling where FromSoftware goes from here. With the excitement surrounding it Shadow of the Erdtree, it's a tough feat to top — so what's next? Will FromSoftware does Dark Souls 4a sequel to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twiceor finally bring Bloodborne at the computer;

As for the studio itself, Miyazaki says to expect more games directed by people other than himself. Recent years Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is a prime example, as he was originally his director before the project was handed over to Masaru Yamamura.

“I attribute much of it to the development of our in-house creative team Elden Ring because the sheer scale of what this game required naturally raised our talent pool to a higher level to be able to run their own games now,” he explains. “We definitely want to take advantage of this growth Elden Ring and apply it to what follows, with different directors and game designers.”

Miyazaki's words stand in stark contrast to current trends in the video game industry, where developers have been fired relentlessly in recent years. While Miyazaki doesn't want to speak for another company or generalize about the state of the industry, he has no intention of firing anyone for going against what he believes are FromSoftware's core values: being able to make good games and you are in an environment where you don't have to worry about job loss.

Miyazaki hopes that FromSoftware will never be able to lay off developers, and believes that this is due to the studio's business practices. The studio's conservative sales projections are what have kept them humble.

“Of course, Elden Ring was a huge success, but we never make assumptions or build our next predictions on the assumption that our next game should do Elden Ring numbers or we're not going to make it,” he explains. “So it's my job to make sure that FromSoftware can always continue to do business and have a very strong foundation.”