Is FromSoftware OK? I don't mean to pry, but I can't help but notice that most of From Software's recent games are set in bleak worlds where wreckage and ghosts are slowly falling into oblivion. Were some of the most important games of the past decade a sustained cry for help?

This is more or less the question posed to FromSoft president Hidetaka Miyazaki in a recent IGN interview (opens in new tab). Hidetaka Miyazaki, director of Dark Souls, was asked why the studio so often sets its games in bleak, apocalyptic settings. There are several reasons, but first and foremost, the development team really likes it.

It's all a matter of "taste and the tastes of the game directors and game developers," Miyazaki said. This is true for FromSoft's former CEO, Naotoshi Jin, and for past games like "King's Field" and "Armored Core," as well as current games. It's an aesthetic taste that runs through From's DNA: Miyazaki's tastes "happen to be similar" to Jin's, so "a lot of that taste can be seen" in the latest Soul's Bone games, including "Elden Ring".

But the second reason is ...... Technically speaking, "creating a lively and bright setting is a bit beyond From Software's capabilities and experience as a developer," Miyazaki said. Rather than bash their heads against "cookies and cream" (open in new tab), From Software's developers prefer to focus their energies on "what we're good at, what we're familiar with." In other words, more ashes, death, and cackling homunculi. The usual. Miyazaki says it's easier for Fromm to get his message across in a "dark and dry" setting than in a bright and glittering one. Hayao Miyazaki says that Fromm finds it easier to get his message across in a "dark setting" than in a bright, sparkling setting.

It's a little funny, but makes sense, that a legendary developer like FromSoft would shy away from designing a setting filled with buttercups and hopscotch because it's too difficult. No wonder "Armored Core 6: Fires of the Rubicon" (opens in a new tab), set in the post-collapse "Burning Star System," seems to carry on Fromm's bleak legacy. But there are also some boneheaded preferences.