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1 month ago
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FromSoftware has made its name on making games that frustrate and challenge players, and it made that name over the course of multiple games and DLC expansions.
It’s part of why the studio is so revered by players, which is at least partially why despite the frustration players feel in each new FromSoft game, they still buy whatever comes next from the developer. S-Game, the studio behind the upcoming Phantom Blade Zero sees that as a “privilege” that it doesn’t have as a brand new studio.
To be clear, Phantom Blade Zero isn’t a Soulslike, a point that S-Game has insisted on ahead of its release scheduled for sometime this year. S-Game purposely wasn’t making a Soulslike, and game director at S-Game who goes by “Soulframe” said in a recent interview “We want our players to enjoy the pure combat, the story, and the world; that’s the point.”
Soulframe went further to say “As a new studio, I don’t think we have the privilege of FromSoftware to make you frustrated while you’re playing. We’d rather keep it accessible to everyone so that everyone can enjoy it.”
Difficulty has been a hot-topic in game discourse for as long as anything else, one that was stirred up recently with FromSoftware’s latest release, Shadow of the Erdtree.
But FromSoftware, as previously stated, didn’t just build its reputation by frustrating players. It developed a reputation of creating challenging, but extremely rewarding and well-built games.
Phantom Blade Zero could be the most frustrating games in the last two decades, but if it reaches the same quality bar as something like Elden Ring, then FromSoftware has proven there is a market for games like that.
At the end of the day, no developer is making games to exclude players. FromSoftware, just like S-Game, wants as many players as possible to enjoy its games.
Soulframe’s comments here only help to set expectations for Phantom Blade Zero higher, as it seems that they are proposing Phantom Blade Zero is built to lean more towards fun than frustration, whether S-Game has the privilege to frustrate players or not.
It’ll be interesting to see then if Phantom Blade Zero ends up being more fun than Elden Ring.
Source – [PC GamesN]
