Elden Ring is the most successful and biggest Soulslike game that FromSoftware has ever developed and director Hidetaka Miyazaki couldn’t be prouder.
The journey toward a great Soulslike game can take a while, and each game that came before is honored in one way or another but there is one mechanic from Dark Souls that stood out for Miyazaki.
Dark Souls Served As An Inspiration For Elden Ring
In an interview regarding the launch of the classic Soulslike game, Miyazaki revealed that the bonfire is his favorite addition to the genre.
Probably the Bonfire. It stands for a lot of things. It serves as a recovery point; when the player’s health is low, the Bonfire helps them recover. It serves as a respawn point as well. It’s powerful from a gameplay perspective. Secondly, the Bonfire will be used to share experiences with other players.
He continued on:
It’s a place where players can gather together and communicate – not verbally communicate, but emotionally communicate. Third, it’s probably the one place in Dark Souls where users can relax just for an instant. In this cold, dark world, the Beacon Fire is a a place of warmth. It’s one of the few locations in the game that is heartwarming. It expresses this dark fantasy world I’m trying to create.
This feature is essential for the hard path ahead because Miyazaki refuses to add options for difficulty, players will constantly be looking for bonfires to rest before going back for more.
Other games outside the Soulsborne franchise also took inspiration from this idea and included some variations of the mechanic and turned the idea into checkpoints of sorts where players respawn after death and can take a breather and replenish the health of their characters. Elden Ring features the same idea as it evolved into the Sites of Grace.
Hidetaka Miyazaki Carried Over Older Ideas Into Elden Ring
The bonfires also served as a hub or safe space for the online component of the game where players can hang out, although not share their stories verbally, it is understood that they all share the same harrowing journey and experience which is important for the director.
The leaps made between these two games are monumental and FromSoftware did not disregard their previous success, yet they embraced it and capitalized that the core of the company is not to punish players but to encourage them to become even stronger and better.
Miyazaki aimed to create a space in the game where players could find solace in sharing their stories, replicating the experience of gathering around a bonfire in real life. The director is a firm believer that emotional connection is much needed in a game environment.
FromSoftware’s Dark Souls was a massive success. The company carried over the bonfire element to Elden Ring by turning it into the Sites of Grace and Miyazaki grew a lot as a creative and collaborated with others like George R. R. Martin which led to drastic changes in its game development but it was all worth it.
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