Death Stranding is as weird and fascinating as the name suggests. Here, we discuss the potential release date, along with what to expect from the game.
Death Stranding is the first game produced by Kojima Productions with ex-Metal Gear Solid director Hideo Kojima, and it’s as weird and fascinating as the name suggests. It’s one of the most anticipated new games of the year.
Here, we discuss the potential release date for Death Stranding, along with what to expect in terms of gameplay and storyline.
Of course, the biggest question right now is “When is Death Stranding coming out?” and sadly, it might not be for a while.
There was no official release date window mentioned during its reveal at Sony’s E3 2016 press conference, and talking to Digital Spy after the event, Hideo Kojima admitted that the game wasn’ t yet in full production, and that the teaser trailer we saw at the show was made in just over two months. Why? Due to the game engine.
“We are getting to a very good point about how we are feeling about the visuals so we are very close to making a decision on the game engine” Kojima said, speaking to Digital Spy. “and once that is decided we will be in full production”. Well we think we speak on the behalf of gamers everywhere when we say “Decide sooner rather than later!”.
More recently, Kojima told fans at Tokyo Games Show that it would be out before the 2020 Olympics. He later set a slightly earlier deadline: „To go a little further, there is a movie called Akira, and it will be out before the year in which Akira is set.“ Akira is set in 2019, which means we could see the new game in 2018.
We were expecting to hear more about Death Stranding at E3 2017, but Kojima has dashed those hopes on Twitter with the latest teaser for the game:
That mention of Geoff Keighley refers to the fact that Keighley is hosting E3 Coliseum, a series of panels and talks. Kojima appeared alongside Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts to discuss the intersection of videogames and cinema, but there weren’t any major new reveals from Death Stranding.
While we’re still some time away from a potential release, Kojima has confirmed on Twitter that the initial testing of Death Stranding looks good, and that the script writing for the game is well underway.
We were treated to a rather cryptic announcement trailer (shown above) during Sony’s E3 2016 press conference featuring The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus, a disappearing baby and a fairly bleak, almost post-apocalyptic setting, but not much else.
Another trailer (shown at the top of this page) aired during the Game Awards in December, and reveals that Mads Mikkelsen will also star. This came alongside the release of two new posters:
Death Stranding was unveiled during Sony’s E3 2016 press conference with one of the most cryptic announcement trailers we’ ve ever seen. So, what do we know? The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus is the main character in the upcoming game set in a mysterious, fairly bleak setting but beyond that, we don’ t know too much.
That was until Hideo Kojima sat down with Digital Spy and shed some light on the game, and the behind-the-scenes action. „It will be an action game if you really want to put a genre on it“ Kojima explained, but it won’ t be your typical action game – and coming from the man behind Metal Gear Solid, we’ re not surprised.
„The player will be controlling Norman Reedus‘ character and it will be an action game if you really want to put a genre on it. For example, when I made Metal Gear, it was an action game but it was different because the main thing was about hiding. People eventually ended up calling that ’stealth action‘. In this game the player will be controlling Norman but by playing it they will find something different, something that won’t fit in established terms.“
But what about the name of the game? Kojima offers a bit of an explanation for that, too. „A strand in psychology is often used to refer to ties or chains, “ he explained. „So how all the crabs [in the trailer] have this weird umbilical cord and how the baby is tied to Norman [Reedus‘ character] is a representation of this.“
Since then, Kojima has spoken to Wired and revealed some more about the game. In reference to the trailer and what the game is about he said:
„You can see the crabs, the whales, all things, they all have these umbilical cables. Norman, as he stands up. It’s a very important part, this connection. That’s the keyword. What people are playing today in open-world action games, or linear action games, it will compare naturally to them. It will feel familiar.“
„But after an hour or two of playing, you will start to feel something different, something new that you haven’t played. The story is about connections, what you call „strands“ in psychology—how people are connected.“
He also added that you see a lot of games with items relating to the stick, the first tool humanity invented, such as guns and the like. However, in Death Stranding, it will be more about rope.
„T here will be the equivalent of sticks. But also, I want to tie people together with the equivalent of ropes, “ explains Kojima.
Whatever Death Stranding is, we’ re really excited for the future of this game, and we’ ll be keeping our eyes open for the latest announcements and rumours as they appear.
