Highlights

  • OD, the next project from Hideo Kojima and Jordan Peele, aims to push the boundaries of gaming by creating a new medium of interactive content.
  • OD will likely feature cinematic experiences and unconventional multiplayer interaction, similar to Death Stranding, with players overcoming horror scenarios collectively through Cloud Gaming technology.
  • The main focus of OD seems to immerse players in a deeply disturbing and terrifying gameplay experience, with their choices and actions potentially impacting how they are perceived by others.

2023's The Game Awards was a huge boost for the industry, letting fans reflect on the best gaming experiences of the year while giving fascinating glimpses into what can be expected for the near future. One of the most exciting announcements of the show was OD, the next project to come from the mind of Hideo Kojima, working in collaboration with accomplished actor and director Jordan Peele.

In true Kojima Productions fashion, the presentation gave fans the first bizarre glimpses at OD, bringing up more questions than it did answers about what experience the game will eventually entail. Of course, the commentary from both Kojima and Peele gave more insight into what the project is trying to achieve, and it seems that OD is attempting to be even more genre-bending and transformative than 2019's Death Stranding.

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Death Stranding and OD Signify Kojima's Unique Mark on the Industry

Recent projects from Kojima Productions have made a concerted effort to push the boundaries of what is expected from the gaming industry, with Death Stranding being the most glaring recent example of this. In the run-up to Death Stranding's release, Hideo Kojima stressed how the game transcended the traditional labels of genres through the gaming lens, with the project having an overall focus on delivering a thematic experience like no other.

Death Stranding has been widely labeled as the first in a new genre known as strand games, with the title's ability for fans to help other players outside the usual parameters of multiplayer experiences being the core of what makes this new genre tick. Death Stranding is a deeply isolated and lonely experience, seeing players make deliveries in a barren and perilous landscape with many geographical hazards to navigate. Players can place invaluable tools like ropes and ladders to circumnavigate these hang-ups, which can then appear in other people's games to give a sense of community and a shared approach to achieving goals.

OD Will Build On the Unconvential Success of Death Stranding

This revolutionary approach to developing games is seemingly going to a whole other level with the release of OD, with Kojima himself stating how the game is attempting to transcend the concept of video games as a whole to usher in a new medium of interactive content. The trailer for OD featured highly realistic and emotive performances that became increasingly distressed and disturbing, immediately showcasing the creeping horror elements that are set to be at the heart of the title.

Kojima also stressed how OD can best be described as a merging of gaming and film, likely meaning that fans should prepare for a deeply cinematic experience that showcases interactivity away from the usual gameplay loops that games have historically employed. While this may still seem confusing, the fact that OD will be working closely with Microsoft Games Studio's revolutionary Cloud Gaming technology may give some serious insight.

This could hint towards OD featuring unconventional multiplayer interaction in the same way Death Stranding did, with players potentially tackling horror scenarios as a collective through the Cloud. With OD presumably being an abbreviation of overdose, the main purpose of the title is to supposedly push fans to the limit of overdosing on fear itself, and players pulling out of experiences may directly impact how they are perceived by others who are still braving the terrifying gameplay of the title. While more will become known about exactly how OD functions in the near future, it is clear that Kojima and Peele are attempting to create an entirely new medium in their most ambitious project yet.

While it is confirmed that OD will use Cloud Gaming capabilities, it is currently unknown if this will have multiplayer implications for the game.