As Death Stranding approaches the end of its second month after release, Hideo Kojima has graced fans with an in-depth breakdown of a key scene from his latest title. Joined by Yoji Shinkawa, Death Stranding's Art Director, the two break down the second major scene that also worked as one of the game's early trailers.
While some of the smaller details of the video include a confirmation about Kojima's cameo in Death Stranding, some of the more prominent details explains a number of design features in the game. Kojima and Shinkawa even admit to some inconsistency in the design and original background lore of the BTs, as well as a mistake that improved one Giant BT's appearance.
The video showcases a scene from early on in the game, where players are first introduced to the consequences of people dying and what happens when BTs capture a living person. Kojima and Shinkawa go in-depth into what BTs are and why they seem to attack people, as well as the function of the Odradek and how it responds to the presence of the recently dead. According to the duo, Shinkawa had to talk Kojima down from adding too many features to the Odradek, claiming that he should think of the developers for a second before brainstorming new ideas.
One of the most interesting reveals from the video is that the Giant BT that appears in the scene, and becomes one of the game's best bosses later on, owes one of its standout attributes to a technical glitch. According to Kojima, this massive Catcher was meant to have large strands that protruded from its shoulders, but thanks to an error, they appeared out of where it's hands would have been. Both Shinkawa and Kojima agreed that this design was better and that is how Death Stranding wound up with the iconic design for one of its most terrifying monsters.
Another focus of video explains why so much of Death Stranding leans heavily onto the sci-fi aspects of the futuristic game world. This genre leaning has a lot to do with how Kojima apparently can't handle horror, leading him to not being able to even test out P.T. during development. So regardless of where players stand on Death Stranding vs Silent Hills, it seems that Kojima was at least able to appreciate the former's development process a little more than the title that may never come.
Death Stranding is available now on PS4, with a PC release set for Summer 2020.
Source: YouTube
