Dark Souls creator and the president of developer FromSoftware, Hidetaka Miyazaki, recently shared insights on the influence of Dark Souls 2 on the series, stating that he is uncertain about how the series would have evolved without the divisive second installment.

When Dark Souls 2 was released, it received a mixed reception from the fanbase, with both admiration and criticism. The game deviated from its predecessor in various aspects, such as the Estus Flask’s slow healing process and changes to dodge roll invincibility frames. It’s important to note that Dark Souls 2 is the only soulsborne game not directed by Miyazaki; instead, he served as a supervisor for the project.

Despite the controversies surrounding the sequel, Miyazaki expressed fondness for it in a recent interview with IGN, referring to it as “a really great project for us” and acknowledging the contributions it made to the series’ development: “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.”

Miyazaki also highlighted the significance of having different directors, Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura, for Dark Souls 2, as they brought fresh ideas that might not have been explored otherwise. He emphasized that predicting the series’ trajectory without Dark Souls 2 is challenging.

Considering the increased openness of Dark Souls 2‘s world compared to its predecessor, it’s plausible that the game had an impact on FromSoftware’s critically acclaimed 2022 RPG, Elden Ring.

The upcoming paid expansion for Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree, debuted its first trailer this week and is scheduled for release on June 21.

For more challenging games similar to Dark Souls, explore our selection of the best soulslike games for your next adventure. Alternatively, if you’re interested in expanding your PC gaming collection, take a look at our compilation of the best PC games.