A look inside the world of Japanese video game master Hidetaka Miyazaki
Hidetaka Miyazaki's video games are rich on gothic lore and designs, but a subtle ambiguity keeps playersoff-balance, adding to the thrill
When Hidetaka Miyazaki was a child, he was a keen reader, although not a talented one. Often he'd reach passages of text he couldn't understand and so would allow his imagination to fill in the blanks, using the accompanying illustrations. In this way, he felt he was co-writing the fiction alongside its original author.
For Miyazaki to change careers and, within 10 years, become company president [of From Software] – that’s unprecedented. It’s inspiring
The thrill of this process has never left him - and it is very much there in his arcane and fascinating video games, the latest of which, Bloodborne, has just been released to wild acclaim.
After some cajoling, Miyazaki reveals he grew up "tremendously poor" in the city of Shizuoka, 160km southwest of Tokyo. His office-worker parents couldn't afford books or manga, so he borrowed from the library - which was why he ended up with works beyond his reading capabilities. "I found so much joy in those stories," he says. "It was a rich reading experience, even if I wasn't always reading."
Barely known outside the gaming world, Miyazaki's studio, From Software, is responsible for two of the most revered games of the past 20 years: the dark fantasy adventure Demon's Souls (2009) and its spiritual sequel, Dark Souls (2011). These eccentric and demanding games take the basics of Dungeons and Dragons gameplay - combat, monsters, exploration - and place them in terrifying, intricate worlds that work like a series of fiendish clockwork traps, complete with spike pits, poison mists and falling masonry. While gingerly exploring, players must master a uniquely complex combat system to battle a menagerie of Lovecraftian beasts.
Many games require a button-bashing, hit-and-hope approach to fighting, but Miyazaki's take a more lifelike approach: you must meticulously time your sidesteps and parries, and wait for an opening through which to slide an eager pike. And unlike most adventure games, which are overloaded with backstory and cinematic narratives, it's never entirely clear what you're fighting for. Miyazaki's games may be rich in lore, but nothing is made explicit. Your character is always a nameless warrior lost in an inscrutable, archaic realm; the friendly characters you encounter speak in riddles or grunts; everything is arcane, much is hidden.