From Software’s Hidetaka Miyazaki, the game director of the recently released Elden Ring, has weighed in on the discussion surrounding the game’s difficulty. Speaking to The New Yorker, Miyazaki said he feels apologetic to those who are hesitant to play From Software’s games due to their difficulty, but maintained that From Software is not planning to change anything because the feeling of overcoming hardship is the studio’s “identity.”

“I do feel apologetic toward anyone who feels there’s just too much to overcome in my games,” Miyazaki said. “I just want as many players as possible to experience the joy that comes from overcoming hardship.”

He added: “We are always looking to improve, but, in our games specifically, hardship is what gives meaning to the experience. So it’s not something we’re willing to abandon at the moment. It’s our identity.”

In Elden Ring, and other From Software games, you die a lot. Miyazaki commented on this phenomenon, too, saying the team has attempted to purposefully design Elden Ring so that the feeling of death and rebirth is something that is enjoyable, unlike in real life when you die and the lights go out forever.

“When I’m playing these games, I think, This is the way I’d want to die–in a way that is amusing or interesting, or that creates a story I can share,” he said. “Death and rebirth, trying and overcoming–we want that cycle to be enjoyable. In life, death is a horrible thing. In play, it can be something else.”

The full interview at The New Yorker is a great read that shines much more light on Elden Ring and Miyazaki himself–go read it here.

GameSpot’s Elden Ring review-in-progress scored the game a rare 10/10. Reviewer Tamoor Hussain said, “Elden Ring takes the shards of what came before and forges them into something that will go down in history as one of the all-time greats: a triumph in design and creativity, and an open-world game that distinguishes itself for what it doesn’t do as much as what it does.”