Hideo Kojima "Comletely Rewrote" Death Stranding 2 due to the COVID

The game designer explained why he had to rewrite the script for the Death Stranding sequel from scratch and shared that he's taking an "arthouse approach" with the upcoming game adaptation.

The gaming community has always harbored warm feelings for the works of Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions and has always been interested and intrigued by which project from the renowned game designer and his studio awaits fans.

And now, Kojima and his studio once again appeared in the spotlight – two weeks ago, we learned that Kojima Productions is working on a sequel to Death Stranding. In addition, it turned out that the legendary creator, in collaboration with Hammerstone Studios, is preparing a film adaptation of the 2019's hit action game.

Still, not many details have been revealed about the two projects but, in a recent interview with IGN, Kojima shed some light on them.

The game designer shared that the version of Death Stranding 2 that the studio is working on now is completely different from the original idea and the reason for that is the pandemic. The designer compared COVID with September 11, noting that events of this magnitude affect culture so much that they also change the perception of works of fiction. He explained that he wanted to take this into account in the game and this is why he rewrote the script for the sequel from scratch.

"You can't pretend that something this big never happened," Kojima said. "While the games themselves are based on characters who are not bound by our reality, the players themselves have gone through the pandemic, and a story written before that experience just wouldn't resonate with them in the same way, whether it was a fantasy story or a sci-fi one."

Continuing the topic of the pandemic, Kojima noted that because of it, both the world around him and his own view of this world had changed. The game designer expressed his concern regarding remote work and online connections between people. According to him, face-to-face, natural connections that are born offline are much more valuable than most of those that can be built remotely. And the internet cannot serve as a substitute for reality.

Apparently, these moods are set to be reflected in Death Stranding 2. The developer drew attention to the phrase in the first trailer for the upcoming game, "Should we have connected?" noting that people usually want to establish direct connections but it is hard to establish them on the internet and people turn out to be "connected with strangers."

"On the internet or on Twitter, you can be connected without that direct intention. You end up connected with strangers even if you think you never connected," he said. "It makes me wonder if there's a danger in everything being too connected like this, and I think that's what will ultimately end up becoming important."

Kojima also spoke about the Death Stranding adaptation noting that he had received many proposals from Hollywood film studios to make the screen version of the game as well as other projects. However, as Kojima explained, he has no desire to engage in a major blockbuster. That is why he decided to cooperate with Hammerstone, whose head Alex Lebovici shares Kojima's vision for the upcoming film.

"Making money isn't something I'm focused on at all, either. I'm aiming for a more arthouse approach, and the only person who offered to make a film like that was Alex Lebovici, which makes me think he's a rather unusual type," Kojima explained.

It was already known that the adaptation will be different from the original story and that it will introduce new elements and characters within the Death Stranding universe. Speaking to IGN, Kojima added that he is not sure if Sam or other characters from the game will appear in the film adaptation. He said that he wants the film not to copy the game but to be a standalone work and that the Death Stranding film will be very different from other video game adaptations.

"I made Death Stranding to be a game, and games are games. There's no real need to turn them into films. So in a way, the Death Stranding movie is taking a direction that nobody has tried before with a movie adaptation of a game," Kojima said. "I think that what I need to make is something that will inspire some of the people who watch it to become creators 10 or 20 years down the line."

Elsewhere in the interview, the game designer touched upon the Xbox project his studio is working on. Previously, Kojima said that this game is a "never-before-seen concept" that will be a "change in the industry's trends." In the interview, he once again referred to the project as an "unusual title" hinting that it would not be quite a game, at least in the usual sense.

You can learn more by reading the full interview here. Also, don't forget to join our Reddit page and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.

Hideo Kojima "Comletely Rewrote" Death Stranding 2 due to the Pandemics

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