Hideo Kojima has shared a substantial amount of new details about Death Stranding at the Tokyo Game Show. Last week, the renowned game developer gave us a hint about Death Stranding's plot, or at least the meaning behind its title.
“Whales and dolphins sometimes conduct mass strandings. If they live it’s live stranding, if they’re dead, it’s death stranding,” Kojima told the TGS audience. “This title refers to something from another world, stranded in our world.”
So it's about aliens! Or maybe alternate dimensions. In any case, it does offer some context to the bizarre E3 trailer that featured Norman Reedus. What's more, Kojima also announced the game will feature an open-world "with a degree of freedom and you can enjoy the story at the same time. And there are online elements."
But when is the Death Stranding release date? Kojima talked about his game at the TGS PlayStation booth on Sunday, which PlayStation Japan shared on its official YouTube channel (video below). The panel was conducted in Japanese, but Anime News Network was able to catch this important quote from Kojima himself: "There is a movie called Akira, and it will be out before the year in which Akira is set."
So there you have it: the iconic sci-fi movie Akira depicts a dystopian Neo-Tokyo in the year 2019, which means the Death Stranding release date is slated for 2018.
This gives Kojima approximately two years to finish the game, and while that may sound like a sufficient amount of time, there's actually a lot to do: It's not yet clear what role Norman Reedus will play in Death Stranding, but Kojima also noted that the game will include a female protagonist, although the role is not yet cast. And while Death Stranding will have a single player campaign, Kojima also noted that "strand" can also be interpreted as a thread or a bond, hinting towards revolutionary co-op gameplay.
“In Death Stranding I want to propose a next step, a future of games. Here I am to offer a game where players are connected by a strand or rope-like element. Of course, clubs will still be used for battle, but at the end of the day I want to offer an action game where people get connected by different elements than just clubs.”
Finally, Death Stranding will be designed for the PlayStation 4 Pro and is expected to have 4K and HDR graphics.
Stay tuned as we learn more about Death Stranding in the months ahead.
