Dark Souls Difficulty Linked to Developer’s Masochistic Nature

Dark Souls is one of the most punishing video game experiences launched during 2011, and one of the leading developers working on the game has confessed that the level of difficulty is linked to his own expectations rather than any sort of ill feeling towards gamers.

Speaking to gaming magazine Edge, Hidetaka Miyazaki, who was the creative director working on Dark Souls, stated, “If I had to say for myself, it’s actually the opposite – I’m more masochistic. Because I created Dark Souls while thinking about what type of game I would personally like to play. I wanted somebody to bring out a really sadistic game, but I ended up having to make it myself.”

The developer believes that the difficulty level of the game means that gamers interested in using cheap tactics in order to progress can safely to so with his blessing.

He added, “I want people to have fun with strategizing. That was definitely something that was intentional. There’s one approach to combat that involves a head-to-head collision, but luring enemies and using cheap strategies is one of the joys of this game as well.”

Miyazaki also talked about the technical issues affecting Dark Souls on launch, saying that the whole development team was sorry that they existed and that they were a result of the project ambition, which could not always be matched by the actual technology and skills available.

Dark Souls was created by From Software and was launched during October 2011, billed as the spiritual successor to Demon’s Souls.

The game relies on very complex battles, where the player needs to always be on his toes and avoid any sort of mistake, and has managed to draw in a hardcore set of fans.

At the moment, From Software is working on Armored Core V on both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.