Who directed the original Dark Souls?

Hidetaka Miyazaki directed the original Dark Souls. He joined FromSoftware after working in the video-game industry and became the director of Demon’s Souls, whose design approach strongly influenced Dark Souls.

Miyazaki’s direction helped shape the game’s interconnected world, cryptic lore, severe but readable combat, and storytelling through locations, item descriptions, and character encounters. These features encouraged players to reconstruct the setting rather than receive its history through constant exposition.

Some players incorrectly credit Dark Souls II’s director with the original game. Dark Souls II was directed by Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura, while Miyazaki served as a supervisor and later returned as director of Dark Souls III.

Miyazaki also directed Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Elden Ring. His involvement is therefore a useful way to distinguish the original Dark Souls from the second game in the trilogy.