Hidetaka Miyazaki, the legendary auteur behind the entire Soulsborne genre, and most recently, the sensational Elden Ring, comes from very humble beginnings. Most would be shocked to know that he didn’t even start his career in the games industry.
Due to financial constraints, Miyazaki lacked access to a lot of literature. So, he went to the library, where he immersed himself in complex works of art. These formative experiences undoubtedly shaped the cryptic lore and fragmented storytelling format that define his games, especially the genre-defining Demon’s Souls, the impact of which Rise of the Ronin attempts to ape.
Hidetaka Miyazaki Went From Oracle Employee To Gaming Pioneer
Miyazaki’s career path laughs in the face of convention, mirroring his iconic games. A social science college degree led to an account manager job at Oracle, but the spark for games ignited when he played the PS2 classic Ico. This passion propelled him to FromSoftware, where he worked on a few Armored Core games early on.
The defining moment of his career came after he took the reins of the troubled Demon’s Souls project. FromSoftware viewed the project as a failed experiment, so Miyazaki used that as leverage to exercise complete creative control. He pulled a total 180 on Demon’s Souls, making it a cult classic that cemented Miyazaki’s name in gaming history and birthed the Soulsborne genre.
Demon’s Souls’ success paved the way for Dark Souls and Bloodborne. Both critically acclaimed and massively successful, these games embraced challenging gameplay and shrouded lore, pushing the boundaries established in Demon’s Souls. Had it not succeeded, games like Mortal Shell, Lies of P, Nioh, and most recently, Rise of the Ronin, would not exist today.
Rise Of The Ronin Won’t Be Possible Without Demon’s Souls
Rise of the Ronin is Team Ninja’s upcoming AAA open-world Souls-like action-RPG. Published by PlayStation as a PS5 exclusive, the game is set in Japan’s bakumatsu era. You play as a Ronin (masterless samurai) seeking revenge against western invaders in a war-torn Edo.
The game features classic Souls-style combat, horseback riding, and intriguing traversal mechanics, such as gliding. Although not officially confirmed, many see ROTR as a spiritual successor to Nioh, which was another Team Ninja Souls-like game set in historical Japan.
Thanks to the element of stealth and skill-based gameplay, Rise of the Ronin is most similar to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which is regarded by a lot of Souls fans as the toughest game of the genre. Tough it may be, but it was still a veritable FromSoftware masterpiece, winning the coveted Game of the Year award in 2019.
However, with all the aforementioned features it’s adding on top, Rise of the Ronin appears to be taking the Soulsborne genre and attempting to make something new out of it, exactly like Demon’s Souls did 15 years ago. While innovation should never be marked down, Sony should at least realize the chain of events that led to a blockbuster exclusive like Rise of the Ronin.
Had they passed on the opportunity to publish Demon’s Souls, an entire genre of games would be absent today. The industry needs to risk more auteurs with outlandish projects with limited financial feasibility, because a new genre might just be around the corner. Now, about that Bloodborne remaster….
Rise of the Ronin launches 29 March 2024, exclusively on PS5.
