Elden Ring Creator Says Graphics Team Felt 'Extra Pressure' After Demon's Souls Remake

Hidetaka Miyazaki, the creator of the Souls series and director of Elden Ring, has said Bluepoint's remake of Demon's Souls increased the pressure on the From Software development team working on Elden Ring to improve the game's graphics.

Miyazaki, who also directed development on the original Demon's Souls, said he hadn't played Bluepoint's remake, but that the widespread praise it received for its visuals lit a fire under the graphics team at From.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure our graphics-creation staff felt that pressure more than anyone else," he said in an interview with Edge magazine (H/T VGC). "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."

"So this is always an area where I feel a little bit apologetic towards my graphics team because I know they work extremely hard. And they've worked extremely hard on Elden Ring — our graphics-systems team and our programmers have been pushing a lot of new features to create the best-looking games we've ever made."

Although Miyazaki has avoided playing the remake — preferring not to revisit old work — he said he was happy new players were able to enjoy Demon's Souls with this new sheen.

"It was a rough game back in the day, with a relatively rough development, so I was anxious that new players would not enjoy it in that same way. That was a cause of concern for me when it was re-released but, you know, in the end, I'm just happy to see the reaction and happy to see people enjoying it."

Elden Ring is scheduled for release Feb. 25.