FromSoftware's Miyazaki credits gamer desire for punishing difficulty with birth of soulslike genre
FromSoftware is known for creating some blockbuster hits like Elden Ring and Dark Souls, thanks to director Hidetaka Miyazaki. Recently, Miyazaki has been vocal about his thoughts on the so-called Soulslike genre, which the studio is credited with pioneering.
Speaking in a recent interview with Game Informer, Miyazaki explained that while FromSoftware’s punishing yet addictive games have created a dedicated genre, the company didn’t outright conceive it. Instead, Miyazaki believes that gamers have always been hungry for challenging games that test their skills.
In the interview, Miyazaki looked back on how the term Soulslike came into being. He said:
I know we’ve been credited with inventing the term Soulslike, but in terms of the game design, this idea of having death and learning as part of the core game cycle is something that the gaming audience was perhaps ready for. But there just wasn’t the perfect answer for that appetite just yet.
This just goes to show that FromSoftware, whether by planning or sheer luck, tapped into gamers' subconscious desire to play something where dying wasn’t just a setback but a lesson to keep pushing forward.
The journey to the first Soulslike started with Demon's Souls in 2009. Miyazaki, seemingly looking for a change of pace, requested to work on Demon’s Souls’ development, which was a breath of fresh air after working on the Armored Core series for a long time.
Miyazaki decided to go back to the studio’s game development roots and decided to incorporate ideas from FromSoftware’s 90s King’s Field, a dungeon crawler RPG with swordplay. That pretty much became the backbone of Demon’s Souls and Soulslikes as a whole.
Demon’s Souls literally carved out the loop for future Soulsborne games like the Dark Souls Trilogy, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and the critically acclaimed title Elden Ring.
Miyazaki further explained that FromSoftware simply filled a gap in the gaming market, stating:
What we discovered is it is okay to make games with death as part of its core gameplay loop, and our answer happened to land and resonate with various audiences.
I don’t necessarily think it’s a new invention per se, it was more the FromSoftware DNA and our game design overlapped with what was perhaps missing from the market.
Even today, the Soulslike influence shines dominantly in recent games, with numerous titles borrowing elements from FromSoftware’s hits, ranging from gameplay to cryptic visual storytelling.
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