Miyazaki's influences range across the works of various novelists, manga artists, and game designers such as Fumito Ueda and Yuji Horii.

His games often invoke the use of high difficulty and narratives presented largely through flavor text and environmental cues as opposed to dialogue.

Regarded as an auteur of video games, Miyazaki's works have been cited as among the greatest in the medium, leading to the creation of the Soulslike subgenre.

[3] He later attended Keio University and graduated with a degree in social science, later getting a job as an account manager for the US-based Oracle Corporation to pay for his sister's college tuition fees.

Even though there were no story or setting connections to FromSoftware's previous games, Miyazaki said that it carried the "DNA" of Demon's Souls and its specific level design.

[3] He frequently borrowed from his local library, including English language fantasy and science fiction that he did not fully understand, allowing his imagination to fill in the blanks by using the accompanying illustrations.

[25] He was also a fan of manga such as Berserk, Saint Seiya, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure,[26] and Devilman,[21] as well as the literature of H. P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker, and George R. R.

[8] As the lead creative director on a project, Miyazaki usually writes the majority of the story, dialogue, and text, while having the final say on character, monster, and level designs.

The multiplayer mechanics of the Souls series were inspired by his own personal experience of driving up a snowy road as cars ahead began slipping back and were pushed uphill by other people in the area.

[30] He stated that death in his games is used as a trial and error learning tool, adding that the idea became accepted by the public following the success of Demon's Souls.