Miyazaki Says Finishing His Elden Ring Playthrough Was Difficult: “I Absolutely Suck At Video Games”

It’s no secret that Elden Ring–like many From Software games–is quite challenging. But new players aren’t the only ones having trouble mastering the game’s intimidating combat system. From Software president and Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki struggles with the game’s difficulty, too.

Miyazaki recently revealed that while he’s very hands-on in terms of playing his games while they’re being developed, he tends not to play his games after release.

“After the release, I tend to not want to touch it, because I know I’m going to either find things that I left on the table or issues that will bug me,” he said in a recent interview with The Guardian. “And once I become a player, I’m powerless to do anything significant to change it. So once a game is out in the wild, I tend to not play.”

But things changed when it came to the development of the game’s new DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree. To prepare for the release of the DLC, Miyazaki played through the entirety of Elden Ring’s main storyline, and just like many players, he faced some serious struggles.

“I want to preface this by saying I absolutely suck at video games, so my approach or play style was to use everything I have at my disposal, all the assistance, every scrap of aid that the game offers, and also all the knowledge that I have as the architect of the game,” he explained. “The freedom and open-world nature of Elden Ring perhaps lowered the barrier to entry, and I might be the one who’s benefiting the most from that, as a player, more than anyone else.”

Historically, Miyazaki’s games haven’t had sequels (with Dark Souls being the exception), and it seems that Shadow of the Erdtree is the end of the road for Elden Ring–at least for now. But Miyazaki did claim he’d be open to a film project set in the Elden Ring universe, saying, “I don’t see any reason to deny another interpretation or adaptation of Elden Ring–a movie, for example.”

That said, Miyazaki and From Software aren’t in a rush to sell off film rights to just anyone. If an Elden Ring movie happens, Miyazaki wants it done right.

“I don’t think myself, or From Software, have the knowledge or ability to produce something in a different medium,” he said of the potential for a film adaptation. “So that’s where a very strong partner would come into play. We’d have to build a lot of trust and agreement on whatever it is we’re trying to achieve, but there’s interest, for sure.”

As for his next game, there’s no telling what Miyazaki is planning, but he did hint that future games will likely try to follow Elden Ring’s slightly more forgiving game mechanics, as the game’s open world allowed players to retreat from challenges that were too difficult, then return once they were better equipped to handle them.

“Traditionally, we’ve always liked the higher-difficulty curve type of games and experiences,” he recently told CNET. “But I think that nature in and of itself alienates a portion of the game-playing audience, whereas Elden Ring succeeded in casting a wider net but at the same time keeping that core high learning curve.”

Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion is available now and earned a rare 10/10. In GameSpot’s Shadow of the Erdtree review, we said the new DLC “makes the game hard again.” For players in search of a bigger challenge, Shadow of the Erdtree will not disappoint.