Hidetaka Miyazaki is one of the few directors who has earned a pedestal for themselves, etching their name in the history of the gaming industry forever by consistently delivering quality titles to players. However, what many fans might not know is how his first game ever does not even have any resemblance to the franchises he is known for today.
Miyazaki, whom many happen to identify as the director of all the Soulsborne games, in reality started his career with a game that fails to approach the Dark Fantasy genre at all, and instead focuses on a whole different vision.
Armored Core: Last Raven – The Very First Hidetaka Miyazaki Title
While Hidetaka Miyazaki is usually associated with the likes of Dark Souls and the Elden Ring franchise, it comes as a surprise to many how the first game he ever did does not have any striking similarity with these titles. The director’s first production was Armored Core: Last Raven, a game that came out back in 2005, nearly two decades ago, and set the foundation for his career.
Revealing in an interview via Game Informer 8 years ago, Masanori Takeuchi, the then Senior Managing Director of FromSoftware mentioned what went around when Miyazaki first started working on the game.
“So Miyazaki son joined FromSoftware when the industry was dominated by PlayStation 2 and the game he was working on was Armored Core: Last Raven. And it was pretty obvious he had a strong motivation for working on the games. He suggested a lot of things to other dev members and he also worked really hard convincing other dev team members to align with his directions-“
Takeuchi ultimately revealed how Miyazaki held a strong ambition when he started his career, consistently suggesting what elements could be added and improved upon to the other developing members, working extraordinarily hard to make sure their vision aligned with his.
Armored Core: Last Raven also held a lot of distinction from every other title the director has ever made. One would expect a typical Miyazaki title to include deep lore ridden with different characters and boss fights, like Dark Souls. However, his first game happened to be a mecha-based action-fighter game instead.
What Comes Next For Hidetaka Miyazaki, President Of FromSoftware?
Despite the director considering Bloodborne as his favorite Soulsborne game of all time, there remains no doubt that the immense success of his latest title, Elden Ring, remains the highlight of his career. FromSoftware has also finally scheduled Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC to be released on the 21st of June, and while it might be the only extension the game is getting, it leaves Miyazaki’s calendar open up once again to revisit his old projects.
This can potentially include another Armored Core release, or maybe even an update to the Bloodborne video game series, bearing in mind how it crosses the 10-year mark next year and a sequel has been longed by fans since forever.
