Of FromSoftware's impressive lineup of recent games (Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Dark Souls III, Déraciné, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Elden Ring), Dark Souls II is the only title not directed by the sadistic master of Souls-Like gameplay, Hidetaka Miyazaki (but he did serve as supervisor). This fact separates the unfairly maligned game from its infernal brethren, whether warranted or not. Fans of the Souls series had better get on board with the idea of the auteur creator passing the torch for future games, however, as Miyazaki himself says there's a "high probability" he won't be director of "other Souls-ish games going forward".
Speaking to IGN, Miyazaki prepared the audience for the day when another would be the architect of their nightmares and frustration, explaining that there "is a high possibility that we would delegate the director's responsibility to those other Souls-ish games going forward." Pondering that thought, he went one step further: "I think it's very likely that we'll see new directors going forward. And I think if we do that, I'd like to step away from that supervisory role and give them full direction and full control over those projects. I think really this is the best way and the easiest way for them to flourish within that environment and with those new projects."
While Dark Souls II is considered the black sheep of the Souls family, Miyazaki remembers it fondly: "In regards to Dark Souls II, I actually think this was a really great project for us. I think without it, we wouldn't have had a lot of the connections and a lot of the ideas that went forward and carried the rest of the series." Here, the developer first experimented with semi-open world sections, the foundation on which the masterful Elden Ring would later be built.
In other FromSoftware news, Elden Ring's eagerly anticipated DLC expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, was finally revealed and will be released in June.