The internet has been having a good laugh over the resurfacing of an old interview with Dark Souls series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki admitting that contrary to the sadistic nature of the Souls series, he considers himself a masochist.

The interview, which was actually from the podcast Game No Shokutaku covers a lot of topics around the Souls Series. During a discussion about Blighttown, the least loved part of any Souls game, the hosts ask Miyazaki about planning how much of the Souls level design is built around thinking about how to hurt players.

“ I don’t know about the other staff members, but I’m actually a masochist”, Miyazaki says, surprising anyone who’s posted a Dark Souls Sadist meme. ” I’m a huge masochist, so when I make games like these… this is how I want to be treated! “I want to be killed this way!” That’s how I make it! “.

Of course, the best thing you can do after dropping a bombshell like this is to double down on your announced fetish. Miyazaki does exactly this, saying that all the extreme and ridiculous ways you can die in the Souls games are things he wants to experience in his game, hence their inclusion:

Miyazaki: It’s just that sometimes other people don’t understand it; it’s for my pleasure.

Murohashi: Really? You want to be killed deep in the forest, getting punched by a huge mushroom?

Miyazaki: Yes, yes. And the curse area… When I get cursed…

Isomura: You want to die from a barrage of arrows?!

Miyazaki: It’s gratifying. I like that, I just wanted to emphasize it!

Murohashi: Incredible!

Miyazaki: I don’t know about the other staff members’ fantasies, but I’m not making it from a sadistic stance, but from a masochistic one. I want this done to me!

Isomura: Oh… wow!

Miyazaki: I actually like that. I got some strong responses from foreign media. They said “what the hell are you talking about?!”

On the topic of Blighttown, Miyazaki does also give another interesting tidbit- the opening area of blighttown is so miserable exactly because it’s designed to be skippable. If you start the game with the Master Key, you can open a shortcut- and your stay in the now iconic swamp of suffering gets shortened drastically.

“Yeah… the first part of Blighttown and the Depths are planned to be avoidable. There are people who have a hard time with those places, but I really like Blighttown”

The interview started making the rounds again after twitter user Albi posted excerpts of it on Twitter.

Over on Reddit, some Dark Souls fans have been taking the opportunity to poke fun at Miyazaki and his Masochistic tendencies, with hypothetical quotes from the man over the revelation.

“So that explains the poison area in every game. It turns him on”, one redditor writes.

“So that’s why I feel like I need a safeword whenever I play a Souls game.”, says one more.

One thing’s for certain- while everyone talks about getting screwed over by the Souls Series, they wouldn’t have it any other way. With Elden Ring coming out, maybe it’s time we consider that Miyazaki might not be the only masochist playing Dark Souls.

Via The Gamer