Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Hideo Kojima confirms Very Easy Mode in Death Stranding for non-gamers

Aaron Mamiit
By

Hideo Kojima’s cryptic Death Stranding will offer a Very Easy Mode to allow anybody to finish the game and its story.

Some video games, such as Dark Souls and Bloodborne, intentionally ramp up the difficulty as their core experience, resulting in frustrating play sessions and, in extreme cases, smashed controllers. Kojima, however, will apparently head towards the other direction for Death Stranding.

Recommended Videos

Normally there’s only Easy Mode, but we added Very Easy Mode for movie fans since we have real actors like Norman, Mads, Lea starred in. Even Yano-san who never completed the 1st stage of PAC-MAN, was able to complete the game on Very Easy Mode ???????????????? https://t.co/fMZmuZltZw

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) September 6, 2019

Related

The Very Easy Mode was first mentioned by the personal assistant of Kojima, who said that the difficulty level was for non-gamers, movie fans, and RPG fans, while Normal and Hard Mode are for action game fans. It is unclear why RPG fans are in the mix for Very Easy Mode, though it is probably because of the slower nature of RPGs compared to action games.

Kojima confirmed Very Easy Mode, which will be great for movie fans who will be playing the game for the story. Death Stranding features a star-studded cast that includes Norman Reedus from The Walking Dead, Mads Mikkelsen from Casino Royale, and Lea Seydoux from Spectre in the lead roles. Director Guillermo del Toro, a good friend of Kojima, is also attached to the project.

With names like that on board, it is easy to confuse Death Stranding with a Hollywood film. But then again, it is easy to confuse Death Stranding with anything, as despite the release of several trailers, the game’s story and mechanics remain mostly mysterious.

Death Stranding made its debut at E3 2016, and it has since piled up eccentric trailers that have masked the story while showing off its cast. Kojima previously said that the theme of the game is “connections,” and that it will take place in the near future when the extinction of humanity looms as a very real threat.

The Tokyo Game Show, which will run from September 12 to September 15, will reportedly show more Death Stranding footage in preparation for the game’s November 8 release date as a PlayStation 4 exclusive. Very Easy Mode will be readily available for non-gamers, as well as gamers who just want to find out what the story is all about, and at this point, that includes everyone.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Aaron Mamiit
Aaron Mamiit
Contributor
Aaron received a NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was 4 years old, and he has been fascinated with…
One of Game Pass’ best titles leaves PC on August 15 and you don’t want to miss it
Death Stranding

While Xbox Game Pass frequently adds new games to its library, some titles do leave the service every fifteen days. Sometimes, those games are fantastic and PC Game Pass will lose a heavy hitter on August 15: Death Stranding. If you aren't familiar with this game, it, ironically, is a PlayStation console exclusive that's part of Microsoft's subscription service only on PC. Death Stranding first released on PS4 in November 2019 and tells a story about a man who is trying to reconnect a post-apocalyptic while dealing with lots of supernatural threats along the way.

It didn't come to PC until July 2020, before that was followed by Death Stranding: Director's Cut for PC and PS5 in the following years. The version of the game that's available through Xbox Game Pass is based on the July 2020 PC release, although it only came to PC Game Pass in August 2022. After a year on Microsoft's subscription service, the deal is up, and it's going to leave on August 15. Death Stranding is a game with a very compelling and socially relevant story and gameplay not quite like anything out there, so Game Pass subscribers who haven't tried this game yet need to before it leaves the service soon. 
It's all connected
Death Stranding follows the journey of Sam Porter Bridges, the adopted son of the President of the United Cities of America, as he attempts to reconnect what's left of America with a Chiral Network and save his sister. Of course, this game has Kojima's signature eccentricity, as Sam also carries around and starts forming a deeper connection with a baby in a pod (called a BB) that helps him avoid deadly creatures called BTs and gives him visions of a mysterious figure played by Mads Mikkelsen. On that note, Death Stranding has a stacked Hollywood cast as it stars people like Norman Reedus, Lea Seydoux, and Margaret Qualley and features characters modeled after Lindsay Wagner, Guillermo del Toro, Nicolas Winding Refn, and more. 
I'm not a huge fan of this game's melodramatic dialogue exchanges and arduous pacing that leaves a lot of the most interesting reveals for the end. Still, it undeniably has some prescient themes about how important connection is, something that became even more apparent and relevant in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Few video game writers can craft narratives that are as engaging and memorable as the ones in Hideo Kojima's games. Though what I like most about Death Stranding is its gameplay, which isn't quite like anything that came out before or since. 
For the most part, Death Stranding is a game about delivering packages. It initially seemed like a shocking change in style for the man behind the Metal Gear Solid series, but the connections become a bit clearer to me as I had to stealthily avoid BTs and saw the Metal Gear Solid V-level of freedom the game gives players in making deliveries. To maximize profits from deliveries, I have to balance all of the packages in Sam's possession, keeping a close eye on the terrain, and finding the best ways to get Sam to his destination without damaging much of the goods he's carrying.

Read more
Macs are getting a ‘Game Mode’ feature and Death Stranding: Director’s Cut
Sam Bridges gives a peace sign in Death Stranding: Director's Cut.

Death Stranding: Director's Cut is coming to Mac, Hideo Kojima announced today during WWDC 23. The news came amid a brief gaming section during Apple's annual showcase, which also introduced a new Game Mode for Macs.

During WWDC's gaming block, Apple highlighted how the likes of No Man's Sky and Stray have made their way to Mac before announcing a dedicated Game Mode for Mac that prioritizes the CPU and GPU and minimizes latency on Xbox and PlayStation controllers. Apple also announced the Game Porting Toolkit for Metal, which should make it easier for game developers to bring their games to Mac.
After all that, Apple introduced Kojima, who said he's been an Apple fan since he bought a Mac in 1994 and confirmed that Death Stranding: Director's Cut is coming to Mac. This enhanced version of Kojima's 2019 hit was previously released for PS5 and Windows, with new missions, features like a firing range and racing, and more.
The Mac version of the game will benefit from utilizing technology like Metal 3 and MetalFX Upscaling, although it doesn't seem like Apple fans should expect anything in the way of new content. That will likely be saved for the game's upcoming sequel, Death Stranding 2.
At the end of his segment, Kojima also stated that "we are actively working to bring our future titles to Apple platforms." This potentially hints at the fact that games like Death Stranding 2 and his Xbox-published title could eventually make their way to Apple's devices.
Death Stranding: Director's Cut will launch for Mac on an unspecified date later this year, with preorders opening soon. 

Read more
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s sequel should go full Death Stranding
Sam Porter walks across a landscape in Death Stranding: Director's Cut.

During my The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom playthrough, I couldn’t stop thinking about Death Stranding.

Hideo Kojima’s one-of-a-kind “strand game” sprung to mind every time I crafted an ingenious device that would let me traverse Hyrule more easily. I felt like Sam Porter Bridges laying down ladders and ziplines to cut through the rough landscapes of postapocalyptic America. I kept joking to myself that Tears of the Kingdom is a strand game. The more I see players sharing their creations, though, the more serious I’m becoming about that claim.

Read more