FromSoftware has delivered some of gaming’s biggest modern hits, from the Dark Souls trilogy to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and the massively popular Elden Ring. With that success, the studio is often credited with “inventing” what players now call the Soulslike genre. But director Hidetaka Miyazaki sees the story a little differently: he believes the audience was already craving tough, skill-testing games, and FromSoftware simply found the right way to satisfy that appetite.
In a recent interview, Miyazaki reflected on how the term “Soulslike” took hold and why it resonated so widely. While the label is commonly linked to FromSoftware’s work, he explained that the core philosophy behind these games wasn’t created out of thin air. The idea of death and learning as a central gameplay loop, where failure is expected and improvement is the real progression, was something players were ready for. There just hadn’t been a clear, “perfect” answer to that hunger yet.
That perspective helps explain why these games feel punishing, yet strangely motivational. In a Soulslike-style experience, dying isn’t just a loss screen or a waste of time. It’s information. Each defeat teaches timing, positioning, patience, enemy patterns, and decision-making under pressure. The challenge becomes addictive because the game is quietly coaching you to get better, and each victory feels earned rather than handed out.
The roots of that formula trace back to Demon’s Souls, released in 2009. Miyazaki has said he asked to work on it after spending a long stretch on the Armored Core series and wanting a different creative direction. Rather than chase what was popular at the time, he leaned into ideas that connected to the company’s earlier identity—especially the influence of King’s Field, one of FromSoftware’s 1990s dungeon-crawling RPGs known for its tense exploration, deliberate combat, and ominous atmosphere. Those ingredients became foundational to Demon’s Souls, and later to the wider Soulsborne structure players recognize today.
From there, the blueprint expanded. Dark Souls refined the interconnected world design and the now-iconic risk-reward loop. Bloodborne pushed speed and aggression. Sekiro reworked the fundamentals around posture and precision. Elden Ring brought the formula into an open world and introduced new freedom in how players tackle challenges. Across all of these games, the principle remained consistent: death is part of the learning process, and mastery is the real reward.
Miyazaki summed it up by suggesting the studio didn’t so much “invent” something entirely new as it did uncover a space in the market that was waiting to be filled. FromSoftware discovered that it was not only acceptable to make games where dying is built into the core loop—it could be the very thing that makes them compelling. In his view, the studio’s design instincts and internal creative “DNA” simply overlapped with what many players felt was missing from modern games.
That overlap also explains why Soulslike influence is now everywhere. Many newer action RPGs and adventure titles borrow familiar elements: stamina-based combat, tightly designed boss fights, high consequences for mistakes, minimal hand-holding, cryptic lore, and environmental storytelling that invites theories and discussion. Whether players love or hate the pressure, the genre’s footprint is undeniable—and it continues to shape how developers think about challenge, progression, and satisfaction.
At the center of it all is a surprisingly optimistic idea: players don’t just tolerate difficulty, they often seek it out—especially when the game respects their intelligence and lets improvement speak for itself. According to Miyazaki, that desire existed long before “Soulslike” became a buzzword. FromSoftware simply delivered a version of it that clicked with millions.
