Hideo Kojima "changed stuff" in Death Stranding 2's script because playtesters enjoyed themselves too much: "If everyone likes it, it means it's mainstream"

Hideo Kojima apparently changed parts of Death Stranding 2 because too many people were enjoying themselves, and he couldn't let that slide.

That comes from Death Stranding 2 co-composer Woodkid, who tells Rolling Stone "There's a key moment where we had a discussion, probably halfway [through] when we were doing the game, where [Kojima] came to me and he said, 'We have a problem.'

"'We have been testing the game with players and the results are too good,'" Woodkid continues. "'They like it too much. That means something is wrong; we have to change something.'"

But why would people liking a game be a problem? For most people, that's surely the goal. Kojima explains to Woodkid: "If everyone likes it, it means it's mainstream. It means it's conventional. It means it's already pre-digested for people to like it. And I don't want that. I want people to end up liking things they didn't like when they first encountered it, because that's where you really end up loving something."

You can call Kojima games a lot of things, but "conventional" isn't one of them. To mitigate the praise, Kojima "changed stuff in the script and the way some crucial stuff [happens] in the game because he thought his work was not polarizing and not triggering enough emotions."

So, when you're playing Death Stranding 2 (or any Kojima game) and you feel yourself finding something weird, asking yourself, "what?" or not gelling with a mechanic, make a note of it and see if you've changed your mind by the time the credits roll.

In the meantime, check out all the upcoming games of 2025 you have to look forward to.