Hidetaka Miyazaki, director of Elden Ring, said in an interview with VGC that Demon’s Souls Remake‘s success and universal praise of its graphics put extra pressure on his team. This was naturally most felt by the people responsible for Elden Ring‘s graphical fidelity.
Bluepoint’s remake of Demon’s Souls (2009) was one of the biggest titles of 2020. Many were expecting great things because of Bluepoint’s previous remakes. Shadow of Colossus being the biggest one. Others wanted to relive one of the best games of the PS3 era. While others yet strapped in for their first experience with the title.
Almost everyone was left dazzled by the spectacle put on by Bluepoint. From textures to lighting to environmental detail. Demon’s Souls Remake was simply stunning. And it was a perfect tool to show off the power of the PS5.
Miyazaki, and the fans too I hope, do not expect to match Demon’s Souls Remake in graphical quality.
“…[W]ith all the games we make. Graphical fidelity is not something we put as the top priority. What we ask for on the graphics side depends on the systems and requirements of the game itself, and it takes less priority compared to the other elements of development[…]So this is always an area where I feel a little bit apologetic towards my graphics team because I know they work extremely hard. And they’ve worked extremely hard on Elden Ring – our graphics-systems team and our programmers have been pushing a lot of new features to create the best-looking games we’ve ever made,” was Miyazaki’s explanation when further questioned by VGC’s reporter.
The father of Dark Souls also went on to say that he is a fan of the remake. He commended Bluepoint’s creativity when rebuilding the experience. And he was also extremely happy to see the positive response from veterans and newcomers alike.
Neither FromSoft nor Bluepoint is to blame for this extra baggage that Elden Ring team has to carry. This is sadly the norm. Player expectations mount up and when not met, the backlash is directly felt by developers. And while I think that most sane individuals will understand why Demon’s Souls Remake looks better. I’m still expecting a wave of complaints and unfair comparisons between Elden Ring and Demon’s Souls graphics.
It should be noted that Elden Ring is being produced for both the PS4 and PS5, while the DS remake was a PS5 exclusive. Bluepoint was able to ‘go nuts’ because they didn’t have to worry about how it would run on the previous generation. I have zero doubt Miyazaki’s first PS5 exclusive will be every bit as gorgeous.