Hideo Kojima’s new game, Death Stranding, has garnered significant attention due to the director’s legendary reputation and the inclusion of The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus, but it will be a while before fans will be able to get their hands on it.
Speaking at the Tokyo Game Show this weekend, Kojima gave a few very Kojima-like answers when asked when Death Stranding will release, saying that “it will be out before the year in which Akira is set” and “it will be out before the [next summer] Olympics.”
The animated film Akira is set in 2019, and given that the project just began earlier this year (prior to its official unveiling at E3), it appears that this puts Death Stranding‘s launch window in 2018.
Development of the game should be accelerated due to Kojima Productions’ use of a third-party engine instead of developing its own. Death Stranding will also make full use of the upcoming PlayStation 4 Pro, with 4K resolution and HDR support.
While Kojima has been, as always, tight-lipped regarding just what Death Stranding is, he did describe the project as “open-world” and “action,” with an online component designed to draw players together. The game’s announcement trailer, naturally, offers no information on what to expect from the final product — instead, we see a naked Norman Reedus attached by an umbilical cord to a baby, surrounded by dead whales and oil.
It’s heavily rumored that another big-name actor, Hannibal‘s Mads Mikkelson, will also be featured in the game. He was reportedly in London to act in a “Japanese video game” recently, and Hideo Kojima is a fan of his work. Like Reedus’ project Silent Hills, which was canceled after being teased at E3 a few years ago, Hannibal came to an abrupt end before its story was completed. Perhaps Kojima plans to resurrect the iconic killer in Death Stranding!
