Souls-like games don’t need anything flashy to be a solid game. Combat and enemy design are often what makes or breaks games in this genre. Still, many souls-likes have gone the extra mile, introducing interesting and mysterious worlds, compelling stories, and leaving bits of lore explaining the game’s fictional history. By the looks of things, Elden Ring is aiming to surpass these expectations, and it seems the release of the Demon’s Souls remake on PS5 has put the team under pressure to get things just right.

In an interview with Edge Magazine (via VGC), Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki revealed that while he hasn’t played the remake of his 2009 Demon’s Souls, the title has certainly made an impact on the team at FromSoftware. According to the developer, the team had a fire lit under them, so to speak, seeing Bluepoint’s remake utilize a lot of visual changes and even some mechanical additions that the original team hadn’t even considered. He explained that FromSoftware doesn’t necessarily put a whole lot of emphasis on graphical fidelity, but the new Demon’s Souls still provided a bit of pressure for the team to improve their work.

“Yes, I’m pretty sure our graphics-creation staff felt that pressure more than anyone else and not just with Elden Ring, but with all the games we make. Graphical fidelity is not something we put as the top priority. What we ask for on the graphics side depends on the systems and requirements of the game itself, and it takes less priority compared to the other elements of development.”

Miyazaki further emphasized that he had not played the remake, nor did he have plans to do so. Due to the original Demon’s Souls’ “rough development,” Miyazaki found that replaying the game, even in this new way, might bring up “old emotions” that could become overwhelming. Regardless, he assured that he was still “very glad” the classic title has surged in interest following the remake’s release and was happy to see it realized with a next-gen coat of paint.

“One thing that was really fun was seeing [Bluepoint Games] come up with things we didn’t consider and to approach certain elements of the game its visuals and its mechanics in a way that we either couldn’t or didn’t back in the day. So to see them researching and applying these new thought processes and new techniques, this was something that was really exciting and interesting for me.”

Elden Ring is expected to release on February 25th of this year for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. Are you ready to explore the Lands Between? Let us know your thoughts on the upcoming release of Elden Ring and more in the comments section below. As always, don’t forget to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter for 24/7 coverage of all things gaming and entertainment.

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