The tantalizing teases for βDeath Strandingβ show that, if anything, Kojima seems to be creating work even more immersed in the surreal. But he said he’s mindful that his work needs to straddle a line.
βI want to keep the balance between authorship and having it be entertainment,β he said. βSometimes I see very artistic movies, independent films, but I do want to a go to a midpoint so that people who enjoy indie films and Marvel films can both enjoy this game.β
Each of Kojima’s works also seems to highlight the shrinking distance between a game and a film. But Kojima himself said while he’d love to one day create his own movie, he doesn’t see the two ever completely merging.
Instead, he said, he believes a new form of entertainment will emerge to fill the gap between the two.
While everything shown of βDeath Strandingβ could be described as film, it is very much an interactive work, a video game.
What we know is that the title is a reference to whales that beach themselves for unknown reasons and then slowly die under their own weight. We know that Reedus seems to be a delivery man of some sort and that babies play some bizarre, though important role in this world. It’s unclear if the game is horror, science fiction, action, stealth, or some amalgam of many genres. We don’t even know when it will come out.
That secrecy surrounding the game is in part, Kojima said, a reaction to the social, open, publicity-driven world we all live in.
βWe live in a time of social networks,β Kojima said. βIn this time, people just want immediate answers, but not only answers, they also want to know what they feel. This is good, this is bad. This is a game I should like. This is a game I shouldn’t like. They want answers for what they should think.β
But Kojima has come to believe that publicity-driven approach to a game release is a bad idea.
βIt’s like a math problem, where knowing the answer is not that important,β he said. βThe important thing is the process of getting to the answer.β
Marketing of games create a missed opportunity, he said, it reveals too much of a game and destroys the most important part of what makes a game a game, the interactive journey.
βI don’t want to take away the most fun part for the players.β
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Originally Posted by Valkyre
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