Internally, this author has been joking that it’s a shame FromSoftware couldn’t get Bluepoint Games to remake Elden Ring before it released in February. Obviously, the upcoming fantasy RPG has the extraordinary art direction we’ve become accustomed to from the Dark Souls developer, but in terms of pure technical clout it looks dated next to the outstanding PlayStation 5 remake of Demon’s Souls.
It’s something that director Hidetaka Miyazaki has acknowledged in an interview with EDGE magazine, as transcribed by VGC. “I’m pretty sure our graphics-creation staff felt […] pressure more than anyone else,” he said when asked about Demon’s Souls’ fidelity. “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.”
He elaborated: “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 game we’ve ever made.”
It’s worth remembering that Elden Ring is a cross-gen, multiformat game, whereas Demon’s Souls was remade exclusively for the PS5. Furthermore, FromSoftware’s latest adopts more of an open world structure, whereas Bluepoint Games’ remake is based on a title with a much smaller overall scope, allowing it to push the hardware harder.
Miyazaki went on to explain that he hasn’t played the Demon’s Souls remake because he doesn’t “enjoy playing the games that I’ve made in the past”. He said: “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. In the end, I’m just happy to see the reaction and happy to see people enjoying it.”
