You’ve probably noticed a few similarities between The Legend of Zelda and Dark Souls, especially with regards to the targeting-oriented combat. However, Souls and Bloodborne creator Hidetaka Miyazaki told Glixel of how “deeply unworthy” he feels of such comparisons since they’re of different genres altogether.
“When I was a student, The Legend of Zelda was truly monumental. So to be perfectly honest, I feel deeply unworthy of the comparison. The Legend of Zelda and Dark Souls are different games belonging to different genres though, and they’re guided by different concepts of game design.”
“They don’t need to aspire to the same ideals. If there are similarities, they probably stem from the fact that The Legend of Zelda became a sort of textbook for 3D action games.”
Miyzaki also noted how little Dark Souls actually guides players in the world, especially when it comes to discovering the various mechanics of the game. “Our goal was to allow players to do what they want, define their own goals, make their own discoveries, embrace their own values, and find their own interpretations. Core to that was the importance of getting lost.
“This gives value and meaning to finding one’s way. Also, we’re just not very nimble when it comes to giving good guidance, and rather than try to overcome our own shortcomings, we decided to focus on things that we were good at.”
There’s still more to come from the series – Dark Souls 3 will see its first expansion Ashes of Ariandel in October for PS4, PC and Xbox One. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.