'I absolutely suck at video games,' Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki says

It's not just you. Hidetaka Miyazaki also has a tough time mastering video games...which says a lot because he's helped create some of the toughest games on the planet.

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FromSoftware is known for one thing first and foremost: Making the type of video game that redefines the word difficult. After three Dark Souls games, the beloved PS4 classic Bloodborne, the challenging action-based Sekiro, and more recently Elden Ring and Armored Core 6, the studio has consistently one-upped their sadism with every successive release.

Elden Ring's latest expansion Shadow of the Erdtree is no exception. The DLC is terrorizing fans across all skill levels and giving everyone a collective reason to be afraid again. But it's not just you that finds FromSoft's games rigorous and tough as nails, or games in general--Hidetaka Miyazaki is the first to admit that he "absolutely sucks" at games.

In a recent interview with The Guardian's Keza McDonald, Miyazaki shared rare insight on his personal thoughts about difficulty in video games, especially how Elden Ring's multi-faceted structure has helped influence the decision-making process at the studio.

"...In preparation for Shadow of the Erdtree, I played through the main story of Elden Ring.

"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...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."

Elden Ring's myriad of helpful options, weapons, and meta build designs have certainly opened up the game to more players...but it's still a challenging experience. While FromSoft may never add an easy mode to their games, these extras--multiplayer assistance, myriad of different skill/weapon combinations, etc--have all been instrumental in helping the game become more accessible to a widespread audience.