Junya Ishizaki, the director of FromSoftware's new Elden Ring spin-off Nightreign, is no newbie. He has a list of credits at FromSoftware dating back to Dark Souls, which he worked on as a designer (or "planner," in Japanese game terminology) in 2011. He also worked on Bloodborne and served as one of four lead game designers on Dark Souls 3 before really stepping up to the big leagues with 2022's Elden Ring as battle director. Now he has the top job, a position he was encouraged to take by FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki.
"The original suggestion to become a director came from Miyazaki-san," Ishizaki said via an interpreter in an interview with PC Gamer last week. He recalled Miyazaki telling him "It's about time you try yourself," and Ishizaki "had some ideas he'd been cooking," which he presented to Miyazaki and "got the green light."
I asked Ishizaki if he'd gotten any key advice from Miyazaki for directing his first game. "The one thing that sticks out is that he basically said 'do it as you please,' for this project," Ishizaki said. Was that clear show of trust a big confidence boost? "Yes, absolutely," he said.
I told Ishizaki that as encouraging as that vote of confidence must've been, the idea of directing a whole game—particularly one connected to Elden Ring—sounded terrifying, but I acknowledged that maybe I was just projecting. "Of course, no projection necessary—that's entirely true," he responded.
Jokes aside, while Japanese developers often refrain from talking in detail about the inner workings of their studios, I have no doubt Miyazaki was there to give more detailed feedback and guidance whenever it was needed. After all, if he can so effectively weigh in on the aesthetics of undead dragons, I have a feeling he's more than capable of helping a fellow director out with any design conundrums that stem from building a roguelike spin-off of Elden Ring. You can read much more about how FromSoftware is going about that challenge in my hands-on preview here.
