As the Elden Ring DLC beats the snot out of players, Hidetaka Miyazaki says toning difficulty down would "break the game itself"

Elden Ring.

What you need to know

• Elden Ring's DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, is now officially available on all platforms, including Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PS5, and PS4.
• The expansion is proving to be very difficult, which is unsurprising given FromSoftware's "tough-but-fair" design ethos. Shadow of the Erdtree, though, is perhaps one of the toughest pieces of content the developer has ever released.
• In my experience, the DLC is extremely difficult, but also, ultimately, completely fair. This made overcoming its challenges incredibly satisfying, which is the feeling FromSoftware targets with its action RPGs.
• In a new interview with The Guardian, Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki stated that toning down the difficulty would "break the game itself" while discussing the design philosophy of Elden Ring and FromSoftware's other games.