Bethesda Won’t Make a Soulslike — And Todd Howard Is the Reason

If you live for banging your head against a boss until everything finally clicks, Todd Howard is not your guy. The Bethesda boss has long been vocal about designing for new players and shaving down frustration. That mindset clashes pretty hard with what makes Soulslike games tick. Here is where the disconnect comes from and why Bethesda is unlikely to ever chase that formula.

What Todd actually said (and when he said it)

Back in 2009 at the D.I.C.E. Summit, Howard was asked what trend would shape games going forward. His answer zeroed in on the wave of newcomers entering the hobby and how studios should smooth the on-ramp for them. He put it plainly:

"The number of new people playing games. Everyone needs to think about the player who is playing for the first time and really figure out what confuses them, or how they can have 'real fun' while they learn the game. Frustration is the number one reason people of all skill levels stop playing. Everyone needs to get better at the 'learn-play-challenge' design ramp."

That is very on-brand for Howard, the American designer/director behind Skyrim and Fallout. His whole thing is player freedom, accessibility, and paying you back quickly for your time.

Why that rubs Soulslikes the wrong way

He is not wrong about frustration making people bail. That is human nature. But FromSoftware built an empire on using frustration on purpose. You do not start with training wheels; you are tossed in the deep end and expected to figure out how to swim, then sprint, then style on the boss that used to flatten you.

The genre works because the difficulty is paired with dense, oblique lore, intricate level design, and environmental storytelling. The loop is simple: get wrecked, learn, adapt, overcome. When a fight finally breaks your way, the victory high is real because you earned it.

Bethesda vs Soulslike, at a glance

• Bethesda: Quick reward, wide freedom, low friction. You can become a walking demigod early and often. Fun is front-loaded while you learn.
• Soulslike: Deliberate friction, opaque systems, skill-first. The game teaches by pain and repetition, and the fun spikes when you finally master it.
• Result: Two valid paths to satisfaction, but they rarely meet in the middle.

Will Bethesda ever make a Soulslike?

Probably not. Howard’s design philosophy has been consistent for years, and it is a big reason why Bethesda RPGs reach massive audiences. Smoothing the curve is a smart business play and it produces sprawling, crowd-pleasing worlds. The trade-off is obvious: when a game avoids friction, you seldom get that 'I actually learned and improved' rush after a boss falls. You get power, not a personal skill arc.

The bottom line

Howard’s 2009 comments did not name Soulslikes (that label was barely a thing then), but the gap is clear today. FromSoftware has perfected a style that treats frustration as the point. Bethesda treats frustration as a problem to solve. Both approaches work. They just aim at different players and different kinds of satisfaction.

Where do you land: make me strong fast, or make me earn it the hard way?