We all remember getting frustrated in From Software’s games, thanks to their difficulty level. In an interview with GameSpot, the company’s president and director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, explained why From Software’s games only have one difficulty level.
“We don’t want to include a difficulty selection because we want to bring everyone to the same level of discussion and the same level of enjoyment,” Miyazaki said. “So we want everyone … to first face that challenge and to overcome it in some way that suits them as a player.”
He further added: “We want everyone to feel that sense of accomplishment. We want everyone to feel elated and to join that discussion on the same level. We feel if there’s different difficulties, that’s going to segment and fragment the user base. People will have different experiences based on that [differing difficulty level]. This is something we take to heart when we design games. It’s been the same way for previous titles and it’s very much the same with Sekiro.”
Finally, he said “probably even more challenging than previous From games.” Inspite of the difficulty level Sekiro possesses and the similarities it bears with Dark Souls and Bloodborne, Miyazaki insists Shadows Die Twice is not part of the Soulsborne series.