Kojima reckons Death Stranding won't get "really fun" until about halfway through the story

(Image credit: Kojima Productions)

If someone ever tells me a game gets good around halfway into the story, that's an instant turn off, but Kojima doesn't seem to think admitting it for his new project - Death Stranding - is a bad idea for publicity.  

In a recent interview with GameReactor at Tokyo Game Show last week, the famed Metal Gear Solid creator opened up about the length and difficulty barriers of his genre-defying PS4 exclusive, which recently debuted hours of new gameplay at the Japanese expo.

"Some people say it’s almost like the movie Alien, where you are gradually finding out what the whole world is about, what you can do and not do", Kojima explained. "Maybe it gets really fun when you have completed 50 percent of the game."

Ah yes, because nothing quite exemplifies the art of salesmanship than postulating when your new piece of interactive entertainment becomes, you know, entertaining. We hope Kojima is wrong, frankly, and his continued comments about the deliberateness of the game's obfuscation suggests he's instead trying to explain why Death Stranding won't be to everyone's taste. 

"The player, like in shooters and other genres, go into the game with a known rule and you think you know what a game is about. I didn’t want to have that feeling. Everyone should start from ground zero. Not knowing how to pick up and play the game. What I have shown makes you puzzled, but it all really makes sense when you play the game."

We'll just have to take the Quentin Tarantino of video games at his word, for now, as Death Stranding isn't due to release until November 8, later this year. Hey, if it sells enough copies, Kojima has already floated the idea of a Death Stranding sequel.

Check out more Death Stranding gameplay below, or read up on all the other big new games of 2019 and beyond still on the way.

Alex Avard

I'm GamesRadar's Features Writer, which makes me responsible for gracing the internet with as many of my words as possible, including reviews, previews, interviews, and more. Lucky internet!