Latest news with #HidetakaMiyazaki
CNET
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CNET
Elden Ring Nightreign Director Interview: He Solo'd Every Boss and So Can You
Elden Ring launched in 2022 to great acclaim as the culmination of director Hidetaka Miyazaki's successes with the Dark Souls and Bloodborne series of games. When calls went out in studio FromSoftware to explore more modest spinoff projects, Elden Ring combat director Junya Ishizaki raised his hand -- and proceeded to direct the just-released Elden Ring Nightreign, the multiplayer-only spinoff game. Nightreign is an ambitious attempt to distill the Elden Ring experience into under-an-hour repeatable runs killing enemies and mini-bosses before taking on a unique and deadly Nightlord main boss. Faster, meaner and in some ways tougher than the game it originates from, Nightreign is FromSoftware's expedition into multiplayer. And while it inherits a lot from Elden Ring, the studio's next game was developed to scratch a very different player itch -- a co-op pressure cooker to produce the highest and lowest moments that Souls games are known for. There are a lot of ways the games differ, but Nightreign's director summarized it by saying "I would describe the Elden Ring experience as more of a journey while Nightreign's experience is more of that on the battlefield." In part one of my interview with Ishizaki about his directorial debut in Nightreign, we chatted about what was kept and cut from Elden Ring, how the map design changed over development and whether he himself beat every boss in the game he helmed. (Yes, he solo'd them all.) Read more: Elden Ring Nightreign Beginner's Guide: The Essentials for Not Getting Wrecked in the First 5 Minutes Bandai Namco/Screenshot by CNET David Lumb: With its co-op focus and fast pace, Nightreign's gameplay is different than Elden Ring. What was kept and what was cut from the latter? Junya Ishizaki: While it's not limited to Elden Ring, with a lot of our games, we keep this sense of exploring the world and traversing the world. Building on these RPG systems and growing your character was definitely an element of Elden Ring that we wanted to keep and transfer into Nightreign. I think in terms of, not what what we cut because boss battles are still a large part of Elden Ring, but more as a good focus point on where we had to deliver something new for Nightreign -- we wanted these large-scale boss battles to feel really epic and really unique to this game. DL: What's it like to tweak the difficulty in a FromSoftware game, especially one built upon Elden Ring's specific challenge level from the lethality of everyday enemies to the biggest bosses? JI: These challenging elements to our games are always under scrutiny and that we're always looking at closely. We felt like we needed to step back and review that process for difficulty balancing with Nightreign in particular … being a multiplayer-focused title, the player is constantly evolving and changing their power level on the fly during any one session. So you really need to focus on what that power curve and that difficulty curve looked like within each session quite closely. Of course, as I say, we do look at this approach carefully from title to title. It's not just an all-in, make-it-hard approach. That said, Elden Ring, we did go too far in some areas and I feel we didn't go far enough in other areas. So we're always learning from our projects and past experiences, trying to create a game that feels fair and satisfying and gives you a feeling of accomplishment when you do overcome these challenges. DL: Hold on -- I think everyone would like to know your opinion on which bosses in Elden Ring went too far and which didn't go far enough! JI: This is not necessarily related to the difficulty specifically, but I think in terms of the battle system with Elden Ring -- which is something I was quite involved in the development of that game -- where the player feels too pressured or too restricted in what they can do within that framework and that setting, I feel like that created a lot of the feeling of difficulty for a lot of players. That is somewhere that we felt we were able to release the valve a little bit with Nightreign and allow for more player freedom and to have a more liberating experience. So with Nightreign, I think really leaning into something new was at the heart of this game, even though we're using Elden Ring as a base, that really gave us a lot of room to explore these battle systems and explore how the player traverses the world. Really really lean into creating a fresh experience there that doesn't feel like it's too tied to the original game in that sense. Screenshot by David Lumb/CNET DL: Speaking of traversal, I can't be the only one who's wondered this: Was there ever fall damage in the game? I love dropping down from a great height. JI: There was actually fall damage at one point, very momentarily. We did study it and try it for a bit but we felt like the game could exist without it. We felt like the game stood up on its own and didn't need it in order to feel thrilling or to feel trepidation of other areas of the game. DL: What are other things players might be surprised to discover had been cut during development or refined into something totally different? JI: I'd say one example of this is the terrain changes that occur in Nightreign. At one point, there was the idea to have different maps -- specific set maps for when you play each session. At one point, we had the idea to try to collapse this into a single map, and instead have these different layers and transformative changes that occur during that session. We thought this could be a new challenge that could set it apart from previous and existing games, give us a new challenge to work with on Nightreign and provide a different gameplay experience as well to extend the breadth of each play session by having this layering feature to the terrain features. We found this added very different gradients to the exploration and to the way each session pans out. When we tried this, we felt like there's no one right answer. There's no one correct way you can do this, it just depends on the game. And this presented a new and interesting challenge for us and a way to, again, spice up the new gameplay in Nightreign. DL: That's interesting and sounds like a lot of development in the game experience. Was Nightreign ever considered as a full-size game like Elden Ring? JI: In a word, no, Nightreign was always considered a smaller, lighter title in comparison to the likes of Elden Ring. But to give a little bit of context to that, during the development of Elden Ring, I myself expressed interest in wanting to direct my own title, and this was picked up by Miyazaki and the other staff at From and I was given this opportunity. Being a new director, we wanted to take things from a smaller scale and a smaller perspective and start with a strong base with Elden Ring. Of course, having had this experience as director, I'd very much like in the future to start completely from scratch and have my own project and see where it can go scope-wise, so I'm looking forward to that opportunity as well. Bandai Namco DL: Now that you've finished Nightreign, what's your favorite part of it? JI: There's a lot of nice things to choose from, a lot about the game I like. But I think one thing we've honed in on with Nightreign in particular is the feeling of being both approachable and light in terms of an RPG, but also quite involved and quite in-depth if you want it to be. I think this is an area that we've managed to hit quite well. DL: And what have you and FromSoftware learned from making Nightreign? JI: I think there's a lot of experience we can take forward into future projects. One thing in particular I think has been really successful and really valuable to work with is this new approach to characters and character design, both from a gameplay and narrative perspective. I think this is a really unique aspect of Nightreign and it's something I think could be developed even further with our future titles, characters feeling unique and interesting in terms of the way they play, the way their controls translate to their unique game feel, and also how you as a player approach and explore their backstories and narratives. These are areas that make Nightreign stand apart from other titles and I think this is something we could definitely improve on and refine going forward. DL: Great. Last question: I beat the final boss yesterday and I just want to know -- have you, in fact, beaten every boss and the final boss yourself? Bandai Namco/Screenshot by CNET JI: Yes, I can hopefully give you reassurance to know that I have beaten all of the game's bosses. I've seen everything it has to offer, both in multiplayer and as a solo player. So I want you and players to know that this is very possible and I want you to have the confidence to give it a try yourself. And in terms of secrets and a narrative as well, I think there's a lot there for players who were invested in that side of it to uncover and I hope you look forward to experiencing everything that Nightreign has to offer. DL: Just to clarify: you solo'd every boss in the game? JI: Yes. And without relics. Elden Ring Nightreign launched on May 30 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One consoles for $40. Owning the original Elden Ring is not required to play this game.
Geek Tyrant
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Here's the Story That Alex Garland's ELDEN RING Movie Should Tell — GeekTyrant
Alex Garland is officially heading to The Lands Between. A24 and Bandai Namco have tapped the Ex Machina and Annihilation filmmaker to write and direct a live-action Elden Ring movie. This is a big move for both Garland and A24. Known for cerebral sci-fi and grounded psychological storytelling, this is uncharted territory, a sweeping dark fantasy epic loaded with monster gods, obscure lore, and more emotional trauma than a family reunion at Stormveil Castle. It's easily the biggest swing either has taken: a sprawling, high-fantasy world born from the minds of Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki and Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin. Expectations are appropriately colossal. But the big question is: What story are they going to tell? If you're familiar with Elden Ring , you know the game gives players the freedom to piece together their own path through fractured lore and cryptic NPCs. It's not exactly screenplay-friendly. That's why the best approach for Garland might be to focus not on your Tarnished, but one who came before: Vyke the Dragonspear. Before the player ever touched grace, Vyke wasn't just another warrior trying to become Elden Lord, he was the Tarnished to watch. A once-loyal knight of Leyndell's Ancient Dragon Cult, Vyke's story is tragic, beautiful, and perfect for the screen. According to lore, Vyke trained under Lansseax and pursued the Elden Ring with a determination that mirrored the player's own journey. But everything changed when he tried to save his Finger Maiden from her destined sacrifice. That's where the tragedy really kicks in. "Vyke's story revolves around his desire to save his Finger Maiden from being sacrificed to become Elden Lord, a fate that seemed inevitable for him. He sought out the Three Fingers, potentially on the advice of Shabriri, and embraced the Frenzied Flame, ultimately becoming a Lord of Frenzied Flame." A man chasing glory gives it all up for love, not for power, not for dominion, but to save someone who was viewed as disposable. And in doing so, he loses his mind, his purpose, and is eventually imprisoned, his journey cut short. 'A fate worse than death' doesn't begin to cover it. This is pure Garland material, a character at war with himself, torn between love and destiny, slowly unraveling under the weight of a cursed world. Vyke isn't a Chosen One. He's not a god or a myth. He's a tragic reflection of the player, the path that could have been, and that makes him the perfect protagonist. "Vyke's story is a cautionary tale about the consequences of choosing the Frenzied Flame path and the struggle between love and duty. He represents the player's mirror image, a Tarnished who embraced the Frenzied Flame to avoid a seemingly inevitable sacrifice." With Garland's eye for psychological nuance and A24's appetite for boundary-pushing cinema, this could be as massive and epic as The Lord of the Rings. This could be a stunning fantasy film that gives us something intimate, brutal, and emotionally honest, and Vyke's story is exactly that, a poetic nightmare about love, power, and the cost of choosing your own path. If A24 and Garland are serious about doing this right, they'll let us burn with Vyke first.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Watch: 'Elden Ring Nightreign' highlights multiplayer gameplay in launch trailer
May 27 (UPI) -- Publisher Bandai Namco highlights the multiplayer action coming to Elden Ring Nightreign in a new launch trailer. Three player-controlled characters known as Nightfarers team up to take on towering monsters in the clip released Tuesday. The Nightfarers explore an open fantasy world before facing more foes, including a dragon. Elden Ring Nightreign is a standalone adventure in the Elden Ring universe and features cooperative gameplay with up to three players. Each player will take control of a hero with unique skills and abilities. Players will take on procedurally generated runs that end with a challenging Nightlord boss. Every new run gives players the chance to try out new abilities and to explore other areas of the map. Elden Ring Nightreign comes to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and PC on Friday. The original Elden Ring, released in 2022, is a dark fantasy, action role-playing game from acclaimed studio FromSoftware. Renowned developer Hidetaka Miyazaki directed Elden Ring with a story by George R.R. Martin of Game of Thrones fame. The title has sold over 30 million copies and won Game of the Year at the 2022 Game Awards. Filmmaker Alex Garland is set to helm a film adaptation of the video game for studio A24 and Bandai Namco.
UPI
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- UPI
Watch: 'Elden Ring Nightreign' highlights multiplayer gameplay in launch trailer
May 27 (UPI) -- Publisher Bandai Namco highlights the multiplayer action coming to Elden Ring Nightreign in a new launch trailer. Three player-controlled characters known as Nightfarers team up to take on towering monsters in the clip released Tuesday. The Nightfarers explore an open fantasy world before facing more foes, including a dragon. Elden Ring Nightreign is a standalone adventure in the Elden Ring universe and features cooperative gameplay with up to three players. Each player will take control of a hero with unique skills and abilities. Players will take on procedurally generated runs that end with a challenging Nightlord boss. Every new run gives players the chance to try out new abilities and to explore other areas of the map. Elden Ring Nightreign comes to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and PC on Friday. The original Elden Ring, released in 2022, is a dark fantasy, action role-playing game from acclaimed studio FromSoftware. Renowned developer Hidetaka Miyazaki directed Elden Ring with a story by George R.R. Martin of Game of Thrones fame. The title has sold over 30 million copies and won Game of the Year at the 2022 Game Awards. Filmmaker Alex Garland is set to helm a film adaptation of the video game for studio A24 and Bandai Namco.
GMA Network
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- GMA Network
'Elden Ring' live action film in the works
"Elden Ring" is getting a live action adaptation! According to a report on Deadline, Alex Garland will write and direct the film for A24 and video game company Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. No further details have been released. "Elden Ring" is an action RPG directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki with worldbuilding by "Game of Thrones" author George R. R. Martin. It won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2022. The DLC, "Shadow of the Erdtree," was nominated for Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2024. A multiplayer spin-off game called "Elden Ring: Nightreign" was release earlier this May. —JCB, GMA Integrated News
