Death Stranding is one of the most eagerly anticipated games coming to the PS4, although it doesn’t have a release date yet.
However, Kojima Productions (the people behind the game) have been teasing video game fans with several stunning (and weird) trailers, showing Death Stranding’s world and characters. And Japanese designer Hideo Kojima’s new magnum opus features some pretty familiar faces, including renowned director Guillermo del Toro, Mads Mikkelsen of Casino Royal fame and also US actor Norman Reedus.
And speaking of Reedus, he and Kojima came together during this week’s Tribeca Film Festival, revealing more information about Death Stranding in the company of well-known video game journalist Geoff Keighley, who’s famous for creating and hosting The Game Awards.
In this interview (via CNET) Kojima explained how his new game will focus on eliciting emotion from the player. “I think people will cry, yeah“, said Kojima about Death Stranding at some point in the interview.
Regarding the nature of the game, as expected this will be an open world game in the vein of Grand Theft Auto, with players being free to walk their own path, although certain places must be visited in order to move the story forward.
Kojima also discussed the conflict between allowing more player freedom and the story focus of the game, and his desire that both sides work well in the game. “I want the player to play freely but at the same time there’s more dramatic storytelling … It’s really difficult but I’m trying really hard to do both”, said the Japanese designer.
Also, as expected from a Kojima game there will be a secret in the game that the main character has to deal with, having to make a decision related to it at some point in the adventure.
What Kojima didn’t mention is whether Death Stranding will be coming to Sony’s recently announced next-gen PlayStation console. For the time being, Death Stranding seems to be headed to PS4 (and PC) only.
Also, with Kojima praising the virtues of game streaming in an interview with Nikkei Business (via Variety) earlier this week, it remains to be seen whether Death Stranding will ever be offered via some kind of streaming service such as Sony’s own PS Now. This remains a possibility, as Kojima appears to be truly enthusiastic about the technology and its potential to revolutionize gaming in the coming years.
“Now that 5G has launched, we’ll see a huge shift to cloud gaming during the next five years. Entertainment as a whole will change and allow more liberty”, said Kojima.
But regardless of whether Death Stranding or other Kojima games ever make it to cloud gaming services, hopefully Death Stranding will live up to the hype and turn out to be another superb open world game like Kojima’s earlier Metal Gear Solid V was when it hits shelves at some point in the future.