“A game for everyone is a game for no one” Helldivers 2 director says about Shadow of the Erdtree

Gabriel Stanford-Reisinger

As Shadow of the Erdtree, Elden Ring’s one and only DLC, launched, it was quickly blasted for its difficulty and while criticisms are warranted, FromSoftware stands its ground at not adding a way to modify the game’s difficulty. It appears Helldivers 2 director Johan Pilestedt sees no reason for the game to get a change in difficulty.

As reported by PC Gamer, Pilestedt takes the stance that games don’t have to be for everyone and that if it tries to appeal to all, it appeals to none. More specifically, “A game for everyone is a game for no one,” which is directly taken from the motto of Arrowhead Game Studio. Both developers are fairly niche in the markets it targets and while the two share vastly different audiences in a way, that doesn’t take away from the mindset.

“Good game design is evoking emotion more than anything. Helldivers 2 aims to evoke different emotions—edge-of-the-seat gameplay that turns into epic wins or fails. Shared laughter or collective ‘f**k yeah.'”

Obviously, Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree isn’t something for everyone, but rather the people starved for more Elden Ring, the ones who have played the game tirelessly and want more. Smash Jump’s “in-house” Soulslike pro, Luke Gittens, immensely enjoyed the DLC in spite of the difficulty, as that’s something that makes it a part of its experience.

Editor-in-Chief

Gabe has been a gamer since he was young, playing games like Pajama Sam, Freddi Fish, Guitar Hero, and whatever looked cool on GameFly. Ever since 2018, he's been infatuated with the inner workings of the gaming and entertainment industries, covering a wide range of topics from video games to TV and film. Starting as a contributor for PSX Extreme, he's worked his way up to its Managing Editor. Using what's he learned over the years, he founded Smash Jump to remind everyone to smash jump.