In the lead-up to Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, composer Yoann “Woodkid” Lemoine shared a rather baffling revelation: That director Hideo Kojima made story changes because playtesters liked it “too much.” This resulted in script changes and “the way some crucial stuff [happens]” since he felt it wasn’t “polarizing and not triggering enough emotions.”
In a new interview with The Washington Post, Kojima clarified (with a smirk), “I think the nuance of what Woodkid said didn’t really go through. I didn’t really deliberately make it weird or anything. What I said was it can’t be a game that is digestible. Something that is not digestible stays in that person for a long time. So that’s what I meant by, ‘I want to do things differently.’”
What he did change based on feedback is making the game “more playable and fun.” It certainly fits the more multifaceted gameplay approach, with players able to trek across landscapes similar to the original, engage in combat more freely or sneak around (if not a combination of all three). Vehicles are available much sooner, and the overall pacing is quicker.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is available for PS5 – check out our review here. While Kojima Productions is working on O.D. and Physint, the director clarified that the latter remains in the “conceptual stage” and he’s working on it “all by myself.” As always, stay tuned for any updates and potential announcements in the coming months.
