Hideo Kojima has a lot of ideas in his head. I mean, clearly, since we have a host of upcoming Kojima games already announced, with Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, OD, and Physint. But even outside of game concepts, he can come up with a lot of weird ideas, his latest being the idea of the "forgetting game," which will have the character forget information and abilities if you take breaks from playing the game.
This new idea was mentioned in the latest episode of Kojima's Japanese radio show KOJI10 (and translated by IGN). Kojima said that you would have to play through the game quickly; otherwise the character will forget details such as "how to fire their gun or what their job is," saying that "players would have to take a week off work or school to play it."
Kojima also mentioned ideas for games designed to be played over a long time, like a life simulator, "It starts out with the player being born, you’re a child and then gradually over time you become an adult." He adds, "if you keep playing the game, you will become a 70 or 80 year old man. However, at this age you will be weaker, your eyesight will worsen. When you are a teenager you’ll be able to run faster but by the time you reach 60 you’ll slow down a bit." Although Kojima isn't too confident about the idea, saying "no-one would buy it!"
While this sounds pretty bizarre, it's hardly the strangest idea Kojima has talked about, or even implemented into one of his games. Famously, Metal Gear Solid 3's boss fight with The End – which is an epic sniper duel in the jungle – can be beaten by simply not playing the game for a week, wherein he will die of old age. Plus there's Boktai, the GBA game that was easier when you were playing in sunlight.
This is the same Kojima who once told GameSpot back in 2004 that he wanted to create a game that would destroy itself once you reach game over. This isn't a new thing either; in the 80s for his classic adventure game Snatcher, Kojima wanted to coat the floppy disks in paint that would emit the smell of blood when heated so that the player could smell the crime scenes in the game.
Even for someone who has always wanted to make films, Kojima really does have some wild ideas on how to make games even more immersive. But nobody tell him that I forget all the info and abilities in games after I stop playing for a week anyway; I don't need the game to do it for me.
