During a recent public appearance Hideo Kojima explained more details about his upcoming game, Death Stranding. As his statements suggest, Kojima has designed the game to be a somewhat relevant commentary on the modern era. The name certainly alludes to this theme for the game, but the marketing and Kojima’s own statements are still pretty vague. Luckily for curious fans though, Kojima did share some more details recently during a visit to the Garage Museum of Modern Art in Moscow. During the talk he gave about the project, the game designer discussed themes and artistic intent, making it clear that the game has a central theme that acts as a pillar to hold up the rest of the narrative.
You see, Sam works for the mysterious and potentially nefarious BRIDGES organization. On the surface, it appears that this mysterious group views themselves as both chroniclers and saviors. The have seemingly taken on the mission of reconnecting humanity through a potentially invasive network called the Chiral system. I say it’s nefarious because the main character Sam seems to reflect this feeling from what little we’ve seen of him and his mission. In a recent trailer, Sam was recruited for this mission, but seemed very reluctant for some reason. It appears as though establishing connections within the Chiral network can also have some lasting consequences, with these left intentionally ambiguous.
Kojima made it clear though that this would be explained to some degree. Sam will still have a choice though, even as he works for this strange BRIDGES group. “We have a character who lives deep underground. He is sick and needs medicine, and Sam can deliver it. Since this happens at the beginning of the story, this is a must,” Kojima explains, as reported by Reddit user Keqpup.
“After completing this quest, the player himself chooses the following actions: you can constantly go to the old man and carry medicine; can deliver other items; you can listen to his stories from the past.” This narrative thread of being able to pick a path will have major impacts though, as Sam can certainly inadvertently choose who lives and dies in this cruel world. Failing to complete a mission like carrying the medicine will have consequences, as Kojima explains. Although if you find this a bit too taxing, the game will feature a narrative-focused Very Easy mode.
“Since they have not carried medicine to him all this time, he will die by this moment. Through such actions, a connection arises with the character. We really hope that the significance of the connection between people – how it is formed, how it develops – will be revealed, and it will be interesting for you to play it.”
Fans also learned more about Sam’s motivations and the perilous world he’s stuck in with another trailer, which teased more story and gameplay elements, and you should check out.
Death Stranding is due out on November 8th for PS4, and will release onto PC some time later.
