Hideo Kojima Explains the Deep Meanings of Death Stranding; Should be a “New Genre”

Today the official Japanese Twitter account of Kojima Productions relayed a long explanation from Hideo Kojima on the deep meanings of the demo showcased at Sony Interactive Entertainment’s E3 press conference, Death Stranding.

Afterwards, Kojima-san’s assistant Ayako Terashima provided a translation, that you can read below.

1/2
Q:How do you feel after revealing the trailer?
“E3 has always been my favorite game show. It’s been 2 years since I visited last time

— Ayako (Touchy!) (@Kaizerkunkun) June 16, 2016

2/2
but I felt the time was more than 2 years, felt like 10 years instead. With such feeling behind, I’m back.”

— Ayako (Touchy!) (@Kaizerkunkun) June 16, 2016

1/3
Q: what’s the meaning behind the title?
The phenomenon that groups of Whales/Dolphins being beached is called mass stranding.

— Ayako (Touchy!) (@Kaizerkunkun) June 16, 2016

2/3
It says LIVE STRANDING if they are beached alive whereas it calls DEATH STRANDING when they are dead.

— Ayako (Touchy!) (@Kaizerkunkun) June 16, 2016

3/3
In this title’s case, it means SOMETHING has been stranded from SOME WORLD.

— Ayako (Touchy!) (@Kaizerkunkun) June 16, 2016

1/3
However, “strand” has other meaning, it’s “thread” in psychological terminology.

— Ayako (Touchy!) (@Kaizerkunkun) June 16, 2016

2/3
The process of adapting one’s characteristics/sociality is represented as the process of twisting thinner thread becoming thicker rope.

— Ayako (Touchy!) (@Kaizerkunkun) June 16, 2016

3/3
It can also mean chain or bonds. The title of this game has those 2 meanings, stranded and rope.

— Ayako (Touchy!) (@Kaizerkunkun) June 16, 2016

Since it was late at night for Terashima-san, Kojima Productions official English account took over a little while later.

Starting off… pic.twitter.com/OhArIqYuBz

— Kojima Productions (@KojiPro2015_EN) June 16, 2016

Hideo on some of the support we’ve been getting this far. pic.twitter.com/jyI0fr9syE

— Kojima Productions (@KojiPro2015_EN) June 16, 2016

Part 3 of 9. Two and a half months. pic.twitter.com/VqBPHIPPuV

— Kojima Productions (@KojiPro2015_EN) June 16, 2016

Part 4 of 9. Some of the new concepts for the game. pic.twitter.com/YH9VoMZ2FZ

— Kojima Productions (@KojiPro2015_EN) June 16, 2016

Part 5 of 9. On what should and shouldn’t be different. pic.twitter.com/MQ11oPNcz4

— Kojima Productions (@KojiPro2015_EN) June 16, 2016

Part 6 of 9. On Kobo Abe, one of Hideo’s favorite authors. pic.twitter.com/2AkJ0eHSLi

— Kojima Productions (@KojiPro2015_EN) June 16, 2016

Part 7 of 9. On sticks and ropes. pic.twitter.com/RxgkNXOYRG

— Kojima Productions (@KojiPro2015_EN) June 16, 2016

Part 8 of 9, how Kobo Abe’s sticks and ropes are keywords. pic.twitter.com/BcLcWUnjRL

— Kojima Productions (@KojiPro2015_EN) June 16, 2016

Part 9 of 9. When asked about what genre is the game. pic.twitter.com/QtZoGBsPta

— Kojima Productions (@KojiPro2015_EN) June 16, 2016

That was it, and apologies for taking over your feed. Hopefully that gives you an insight of what we are trying to do, and the game is on!

— Kojima Productions (@KojiPro2015_EN) June 16, 2016

It’ll certainly be interesting to see what will come out of this, especially considering how early in the pre-production process Kojima-san’s next game is.

I feel that the last time we saw such a early concept presented publicly it was Kara from Quantic Dream, and that wasn’t even intentionally a game concept. That said, it evolved into something definitely promising.