Hideo Kojima Talks ‘Death Stranding 2’ and Importance of Connection

In the main square of the Tuscan town of Lucca, Japanese games designer Hideo Kojima stands on the balcony and receives the kind of fevered welcome reserved for rockstars from the crowd below. Lucca Comics and Games, Europe’s answer to Comic-Con, is the final stop of Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding World Tour 2, promoting the release of “Death Stranding 2: On the Beach,” the long-awaited follow up to the highly successful “Death Stranding.”

Set 11 months on from the previous instalment, the new saga has players control Sam Bridges (Norman Reedus) who crosses a post-apocalyptic Australia and connects survivors and colonies to the Chiral network. Kojima said that the game was conceived during the pandemic when he was rethinking the notion of connection. “In the 2000s, the internet became a normal thing, and we could now be connected in real time, anywhere, everywhere, and that connection was supposed to be a strength, but social media went in a different way, because it’s anonymous, so people say whatever they want. I am actually for this technology. However, I wanted to have everyone to experience the analog that we have as well. So ‘Death Stranding’ is actually not just about connection, but it’s about a loose connection. It’s not connection with headshots and shooting each other. We don’t actually do that here.”

Art director and character designer, Yoji Shinkawa, was also in Lucca to shed light on his continued collaboration with Kojima. “I’ve been working with Hideo for quite a long time, and any conceptual art that I write, the first step is always a word from Hideo Kojima. There are sometimes hints or a strange wording, but that gives me a direction, because if you try to draw something from scratch, it’s very difficult. So this word from Mr. Kojima always kind of gives me the basic idea, so I kind of chew it over and draw the illustration and some characters and show them to him, and the biggest surprise is that he always tries to pull more things out of that drawing. So I rethink and do the drawing over again. I work with other directors or other projects other than games, but this is very unique with Mr. Kojima.”

Kojima spoke about the challenges of topping the original game: “In ‘Metal Gear Solid,’ every time I did a sequel, the game design was totally different. This time, it was a more normal sequel. I had to keep the best parts of ‘DS1’ to satisfy the people who loved it. But I also acknowledge that a lot of people didn’t play till the end, because maybe it was too tough for them to walk in the Stone Mountains or traverse a lot. Theme-wise it was totally 180 degrees different. But I also made it more speedy, more comfortable for the players, but also more playable and enjoyable, with more freedom. And as a result, I see that a lot of people have cleared a lot in ‘DS2,’ more than the first one. So I’m kind of happy that I hit the mark with this change in the game design.”

Kojima said that the music was important to the game but although he admitted to loving Joy Division – he’s often photographed sporting an “Unknown Pleasures” t-shirt – it wasn’t appropriate to the game. “In ‘DS2,’ we worked a lot with [French composer and musician] Woodkid. Of course, we worked with Ludvig Forsell as well. With Woodkid, we got quite close, and we exchanged a lot of ideas, and I found out our feelings, our way of thinking was quite close. So we got to know each other very well, and he came to the studio a number of times, and then he started to create something. And we went back and forth with feedback, and it’s almost similar to Yoji’s design of what he explained earlier. He stayed in an office, right next to my office.”

What is his favorite character in the new game? “There was a character called Cliff, played by Mads Mikkelsen, and he was very popular. However, in the story of ‘DS1,’ he died, and I couldn’t bring him back in ‘DS2.’ So I thought about Neil. I’m a big fan of Luca Marinelli and I really wanted to work with him. But my favorite is Fragile, played by Léa Seydoux. You might think it’s Sam, but Sam is the main character. He’s the protagonist, but Fragile is actually one of the hidden main characters in ‘DS2.’ For Léa Seydoux, we brought up the technology level of capturing her so she’s more natural in how she says her lines and how she acts, which is beautiful. I also asked Woodkid to create a song dedicated to Fragile. So every time Fragile comes in the game, you can hear the theme running in the background. Overall, it’s a great character. If you haven’t played the game, you’ll be surprised at how good the acting and how good the character of Fragile is. Make sure you play until the end.”