Death Stranding was first unveiled during 2016’s Sony E3 conference by Hideo Kojima, who is known for creating the critically acclaimed Metal Gear series. The crowd erupted into applause as he took the stage and stated, “I’m back”. Since this declaration, gaming fans and the press have been desperate for details about the new project he’s developing. But it seems like he’ll be keeping us waiting a while longer for any descriptive info. Instead, in a recent interview with PlayStation, Kojima gave us a few small details about Death Stranding.
Game Concept
Death Stranding will be an open world, action game with “a certain new type of depth to it”. When Kojima was asked about the gameplay, he stated: “You have a lot of freedom of choice to do what you want to do and you can get in vehicles and so on. If you are a fighter, there’s plenty of opportunity for that. If you’re not that type of player, there are other ways to play this game.” He continued with, “I can’t really say much more, but it’s an open-world, action game that’s very intuitive to play. Once you get into the world and start to explore more, we’re hoping there’s something there you’ve never seen before.”
Actor Norman Reedus is confirmed to be a part of the project and stars in the reveal trailer. Reedus will be working alongside actor Mads Mikkelsen who is also confirmed to be in Death Stranding.
A New Kind of Multiplayer Mode
Kojima hinted there would be “a new type of online play”. He didn’t go into too much detail, but had this to say: “We do have an online component and, again, it’s different as there will be something different versus what most people expect from an online game. A lot of games have a ‘campaign mode’ and once you’re done with that you take it to the online mode. This game is not that kind of structure.”
Search for the Perfect Engine
Hideo Kojima and his partner, Mark Cerny visited 15 studios in different locations around the world. Following this, they spent another 6 months visiting the studios of people that Kojima knew. Overall, they visited 30 studios in search of the perfect game engine to support Death Stranding. Guerrilla Games’ engine, the “Guerrilla Engine” looked like a worthy choice. The Guerrilla Engine was used to develop the upcoming game Horizon Zero Dawn, which is out tomorrow on PS4 and focused on the particular use of colour detail. Kojima wanted a “photo-realistic presentation” instead of “an artistic sensibility”.
However, the game engine does also include open world support and the ability to render incredibly detailed scenes that house several objects. Hideo Kojima got the permission to use their engine and set out to fine tune it for his game. The Guerrilla Engine had adjustments made on it over the course of 6 months in a collaborative project between Kojima Production and Guerrilla Games. After completing the coding for the new game engine, they decided to rename it because it was now so different from the Guerrilla Engine. The two game studios settled on ‘Decima’, which comes from the artificial Japanese island used for trading between the Netherlands and Japan during the Edo period.
Death Stranding’s Reveal Trailer:
This will be Kojima Productions’ first independent project and will include collaboration from Guerrilla Games. The game seems promising so far and could possibly be another massive success for the acclaimed game developer. We wish Kojima the best of luck on Death Stranding and intend to update you in the future on any new developments.
