In the run-up to Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, previews have been positive all around. For most developers, this would be excellent news, but not Hideo Kojima. He's now a little worried that perhaps what he's made isn't divisive in the way that he’d like.
He explained his feelings to Game Informer during a premiere event for Death Stranding 2. "Anything that lasts 10 years, 20 years, it has to be new. And most of those are not received well at the start," Kojima says. "That exists for 20 or 30 years, and then looked back on, with people saying 'This is great.'"
A considerable amount of entertainment at the moment is "easy to digest," Kojima argues, and in his mind, Death Stranding needed emphatic fans, thus he wanted to make something where a minority loved it, but those people became truly dedicated to it. He mentions how Metal Gear wasn't talked about much until a decade after the original.
"For Death Stranding 2, when I tested it, it wasn’t like that," he admits. "Everyone liked it. That’s why I said, 'Maybe this is a problem.' It was more than my prediction, in the first Death Stranding, everyone had pros and cons."
The audience dynamic he's looking for is more like four out of 10 players who are profoundly moved by the work, while the rest are unsure. This seemed closer to the truth for Death Stranding, an odd game in many respects, that some players got thoroughly into straight away, and plenty more were left a little bemused.
For Death Stranding 2, the climate is different. It seems like more people are on board from the off. When the game comes out on June 26, we'll know if players are having an easier time with it compared to its predecessors. Kojima's comments speak to a creative anxiety about creating something that lasts in the cultural lexicon, rather than being a fleeting sensation.
He's spoken openly about his desire to inspire others and leave a legacy of encouragement for anyone creative. Regardless of how On the Beach fits into that paradigm, it should spur plenty of discussion.
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