All the footage shown for Hideo Kojima's next game Death Stranding has shown gameplay from a third-person perspective, similar to Kojima's previous Metal Gear Solid stealth-action series. Despite what has been shown so far, Kojima says that the game can be played from a first-person perspective. But Kojima was quick to clarify that the game is not a first-person shooter.
The news comes from Kojima himself via a tweet where he said he is asked often about first-person in connection with Death Stranding, so he wanted to clear up if his next mysterious game can be played in more views than the third-person people have seen so far.
But in classic Kojima fashion, after giving some clarity on first-person, he transitions to talk about the game itself and how it is a brand new genre of its own. This is not new language from the creator who used similar terms to describe Death Stranding in the past and has said many times before that it will be a completely different kind of game that players have never experienced before.
In this tweet, Kojima once again calls Death Stranding an "Action Game, Strand Game (Social Strand System)" which appears to pull together pieces of what has been revealed of the game so far. Most obvious, Death Stranding is in the format of an action/adventure game with a third- (or first-) person perspective following a single character. But then he mentions "Strand," which no doubt is a major reason why Kojima has titled the game Death Stranding.
The Social Strand System may be referencing the online multiplayer aspect of the game, which has been revealed to be an asynchronous multiplayer system where players can affect each other's game worlds without ever actually stepping foot in them. A multiplayer that industry insider Geoff Keighley recently said "people are not ready for."
From gameplay and behind-closed-doors demos at Gamescom this month, we now know that Death Stranding is about protagonist Sam Bridges connecting the East and West Coasts of the United Cities of America by connecting a strand of communication arrays across the country. But despite all this new information about the game, much of it still remains a mystery. At least now it's clear that players can try to uncover that mystery in both third-person and first-person.
Death Stranding releases November 8, 2019 for PS4.