What to Expect From Kojima Productions in 2023

Death Stranding 2 DLC Stranding's unusual depiction of America proved to be prescient in a number of ways. A country that many of its citizens perceived as invincible was proven to be just as vulnerable to disease and contagion as any other nation, and a country that proclaims itself to be "indivisible" has never been more starkly divided. Civil liberties such as reproductive rights for women, once thought unassailable, have been stripped away, and still more hang in the limbo of future jeopardy. In many ways America has become just as strange and alien as the unrecognizable landscape of Kojima’s game. Some think that poor vehicle options like the Reverse Trike highlight the worst Death Stranding elements the sequel doesn't need or can find ways to fix, but the struggle of transporting goods across the strange landscape was central to the game’s experie


Thanks to his career renaissance as the titular character in the John Wick film series, Keanu Reeves has never been more beloved. He recently appeared in the highly-anticipated yet divisive Cyberpunk 2077 as the charismatic Johnny Silverhand, and fans widely praised his performance despite being disappointed with the game as a finished prod


Thematically, the original Death Stranding focused on the bonds between people, how they've been made tense and even severed as a result of being cut off from the outside world. It's the basis for Sam to deliver in the first place. By the end of the game, though, you've done a pretty good job reestablishing America, though maybe that's not a good th


While Sam’s "fetch quests" may feel arduous from a gameplay standpoint, with some treks easily taking more than an hour, they do not approach the time required to cross the real-world USA on foot, which is generally estimated at about six months. The altered geography of Death Stranding’s America is a result of the Timefall, and synchs well with the game’s themes, while the smaller map size, of course, is simply a necessary compromise to making it a playable game. Traveling through the dangerous landscape feels like a struggle, and reaching a destination feels like an accomplishment. The official Death Stranding novels describe most of Sam’s deliveries as taking days or weeks to accomplish. This means that the game presents an abstracted and compacted snapshot of Sam’s experiences, as opposed to a literal simulation of walking across the


There’s tension, fear, and stress galore in Death Stranding . Not only is stress bound to Death Stranding ’s experience for the player, but BB and Sam will both experience stress. These stressful situations extend to the player and the characters in Death Stranding , as players will need to keep themselves aware of their footing, footwear, stress levels for BB, and m


Among even the most avant-garde tabletop RPGs, few match Death Stranding’s strange surrealism . A version of America that looks like Iceland, that one can walk across in a few hours, could be considered part of that surrealism. The void of animal life and the presence of ghosts and cargo-mad delivery personnel add to that feeling as well. Even before the pandemic forced people to question their notion of reality and realize that human vulnerability to disease crosses the borders drawn on maps, Kojima saw the changes taking place, and made a game to reflect those. The USA was chosen as a setting both for its highly visible role in world politics, and due to the obvious, growing polarization among its people. It is almost a given to note than any modern story about a post-apocalyptic future carries a metaphor for climate change, and likewise Death Stranding’s inhospitable America can also be seen through that l


Hellboy and Sons of Anarchy star Ron Perlman isn't directly linked to Kojima, but they do share an important friend in Guillermo Del Toro. Del Toro, who has collaborated with Kojima on P.T. and their unfinished Silent Hill game, has maintained a long working relationship with Perlman ever since casting him in Cronos , which was Del Toro's debut feature. Perlman went on to star in Del Toro films such as Blade 2 , Pacific Rim , and the Hellboy films. Outside of his collaborations with Del Toro, Perlman is known for his work in genre films, and he would fit in perfectly in the high-concept sci-fi world of Death Strandi


Kiefer Sutherland's casting as Big Boss in The Phantom Pain was controversial, with many fans upset over David Hayter's absence. Then, when Kojima's The Phantom Pain 's prologue, Ground Zeroes , was released, fans realized that Sutherland's version of Snake would be a man of few words, speaking far less than the character that Hayter voiced. While many fans came to appreciate what Sutherland and Kojima accomplished with their reimagining of the character, it was hard not to feel as if a major Hollywood star like Sutherland could have been given more substantial dialogue. Casting Sutherland in a Death Stranding sequel would allow the Lost Boys and 24 actor to show off his full talent in a Kojima video ga