Helldivers 2 Director Defends Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Difficulty [IGN]

As reported by PC Gamer, Pilestedt responded to someone on X/Twitter who complained about the intense difficulty of Shadow of the Erdtree, which has been a heavily discussed topic since its launch on June 21, 2024.

Pilestedt initially shared another post saying FromSoftware doesn’t make bosses hard for the sake of it, but for the feeling overcoming them gives players. “Indeed, this 1,000%,” Pilestedt said. “Good game design is evoking emotion more than anything.”

A game for everyone is a game for no one.

Always cater to a select audience.

— Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) June 24, 2024

X/Twitter user @Indoor_Carrot responded, saying “the problem with this design philosophy is it only caters to a select audience. I tried Dark Souls 1. After defeating the first couple of bosses, I realized it wasn’t fun or rewarding. I only felt relief, not accomplished. I stopped playing Dark Souls because of this.”

Pilestedt disagreed. “A game for everyone is a game for no one,” he said, which is essentially the motto of his developer Arrowhead Game Studios. “Always cater to a select audience.”

FromSoftware games like Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice are famously difficult but have been praised across the board for their overall game design, challenge included.

IGN’s Shadow of the Erdtree review awarded it a 10/10, for example. “Like the base game did before it, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree raises the bar for single player expansions,” we said. “It takes everything that made the base game such a landmark role-playing game, condenses it into a relatively compact 20 to 25 hour campaign, and provides fantastic new challenges for heavily invested fans to chew on.”

But some who’ve purchased the expansion have expressed frustration at the difficulty, even review bombing it on Steam because of it and performance issues. Regardless, FromSoftware boss and Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki has remained true to his vision, saying making things easier would “break the game.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.