Few AAA games of recent years are as unique or as divisive as Death Stranding. While the unconventional gameplay of Hideo Kojima’s open-world post-apocalyptic delivery sim failed to resonate with a lot of players, plenty of fans have been curious to see it expanded upon in a potential sequel. To that end, Kojima has clarified a few things about a piece of concept art that had fans thinking that he was teasing such a game.
For the uninitiated, Kojima caused a stir this summer when he tweeted what many believed to be concept art for a new Death Stranding game. Back in June, the developer shared a photo of his desk, and eagle-eyed fans took notice of an illustration of a never-before-seen vehicle branded with “BRIDGES,” the name of the corporate government that protagonist Sam Bridges works for. Naturally, this has resulted in plenty of speculation as to what it could mean for the future of Death Stranding.
However, Kojima has set the record straight regarding the illustration. IGN recently spoke with him during an interview for a video about how Death Stranding predicted the future, and when the topic turned to his tweet, he explained that it doesn’t represent “major plans, but just fragments of new ideas.”
"I'm always thinking about ideas as I'm working on games,” he said. “These aren't major plans, but just fragments of new ideas. I think about these ideas myself, and then I explain them to other people, in order to get opinions about them.” Going on, he explained that the illustration in the photo was created by Metal Gear character designer and Death Stranding art director Yoji Shinkawa, who often creates drawings based on his ideas.
So while Shinkawa’s illustration isn’t a solid indication of what could be coming to Death Stranding 2, it is possible that the sequel is in fact in development. Kojima Productions recently confirmed that it’s hiring for a new project, and Kojima himself has teased ideas for Death Stranding’s potential followup ever since the game launched last November. On the other hand, it’s also possible that this version of the sequel was the big Kojima Productions project that recently fell apart. One can't say for sure until Kojima says otherwise.
Speculation about a new Death Stranding game aside, fans of the original do have something to look forward to in the near future. It was recently confirmed that the first part of Death Stranding’s official two-part novelization will be released in February, penned by the game’s co-writer Kenji Yano. It might not be entirely new, but it will still give fans a way to bide their time while they wait to see what the future has in store.
Death Stranding is available for PC and PS4.
Source: IGN