It's clear in FromSoftware's DNA: challenging games, possibly post-apocalyptic, dark and depressing in terms of pathos. This is the design traced by Hidetaka Miyazaki, father of Souls and the recent Game of the Year Elden Ring.
Speaking of Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, the great return of the series that made the history of the studio, Miyazaki he said that the beating heart of their stories and games is the sense of darkness that distinguishes their projects.
“I think more than being typically Soulsborne, these are typical FromSoftware things in general”
Then continuing with:
“These are things that we have always liked and that we have always bragged about. We always want to apply a certain level of challenge to keep the game rewarding for players. These are my general habits when it comes to game development, and in general these are things that I think we have taken from the history of FromSoftware, going all the way back to King's Field”
In addition, the CEO confirmed that the landscapes and colorful and festive stories are more complex to manage, not only for them but also for the player: completing a story of an NPC with an atrocious death if you worked throughout the game fantasy, it is not a simple thing.
A lively and bright setting is a bit beyond FromSoftware's skills or experience as a developer. So it's easier for us to target and apply our resources on what we're good at and what we're used to doing. It is therefore easier for us to express ourselves in these darker, dry and silent apocalyptic settings than in the more lively and eventful ones”
Reason why, in Elden RIng the initial part is full of greenery and flowers while the more you enter the game the more the apocalypse looms.
