Kojima’s trailer for Death Stranding was an absolute showstopper and the most Kojima-trailer we’ve ever seen.
The imagery was gloriously strange and mystical, hinting at who-knows-what. Kojima’s explanation of ‘sticks and rope’ didn’t do much to clarify.
While the trailer looked good enough, some grumbled that it didn’t have the graphical wow factor of other bleeding-edge showreels. The good news is that the reason it didn’t look as shiny as other pre-rendered cutscenes is that it wasn’t pre-rendered at all (yes I know we’ve heard that before). At Comic-Con Kojima claimed the scene was running in real-time and would appear in the finished game. Apparently it was possible to pause and move the camera independently. Not playable by any means, but still impressive.
Back to the stick and rope comments.
“The stick is the first tool that mankind created to put distance between himself and bad things – to protect himself” Kojima told IGN back in June (before GameSpot was able to spoil it).
“The second tool mankind created is a rope. A rope is a tool used to secure things that are important to you.”
“Most of your tools in action games are sticks. You punch or you shoot or you kick. The communication is always through these sticks,”
“I want people to be connected not through sticks, but through what would be the equivalent of ropes.”
Kojima would like to make “something different” and I couldn’t be more excited to see it. This is a man who has been chained to Metal Gear since 1987! His rare forays outside have been very compelling (Snatcher, Zone of the Enders) and I can’t wait to see the flood of new ideas he must have been holding back all of these years (though it does seem like Metal Gear Solid games were not creatively limited).
As an aging gamer I’m also delighted to hear of this ‘rope’ business. I’m all for killing but dear lord AAA games need an injection creativity. The indie realm is delivering wonderful experiences while the majority of the top dogs churn out the same experiences again and again. If Kojima’s Rope: The Game is a hit, expect to see EA/Ubisoft/Satan all make their own Rope.
With all this rope let’s just hope he doesn’t hang himself; metaphorically of course.
