Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima says he's proud of "many" aspects of the game, but the one thing he's most proud of is the way it encourages a positive online multiplayer experience for players to share.
In an interview with PlayStation Access, the veteran game designer spoke about the just-released Death Stranding and reflected back on a number of subjects around its development. When asked what he was most proud of looking back, Kojima took a moment to internally sift through a few of his latest project's best features, before landing on Death Stranding's comparatively positive approach to a shared online world.
"If you look at the world right now, we are connected to the internet 24 hours a day. And that technology was supposed to be there to make us happy. However, what you see today is people anonymously fighting each other or discriminating against each other. Some people are getting tired of social media or the internet as a whole. But when you play Death Stranding, your connection with other people is entirely positive."
"Because there isn't anything negative," he continues. "It's all based on positive intent and positive feedback. You start to care for each other. If there was any point at which I was worried about the game, it would be whether or not this positivity would work. But looking at the feedback people are saying things like, 'Oh, I'm a bit nicer now!' When I saw that, I was really happy. So I'm proud of that."
Death Stranding has polarized the internet since reviews began pouring in with scores across the spectrum. Leon Hurley found Death Stranding's core gameplay loop unengaging but found a lot to love in its atmosphere, visuals, and shared world mechanics. Sam Loveridge also writes about how the game's asynchronous multiplayer design encourages community involvement and building positive human connections.
The entire interview with Kojima shares a lot of insights into Death Stranding and Kojima's mindset for making games, and it's more than worth a listen for fans.
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