Death Stranding has been one of the most polarizing yet anticipated games of the year. Hideo Kojima, the man behind the “Tactical Espionage Action” video game series Metal Gear Solid finally cleared things up about the game’s genre.
Viewers can find Norman Reedus, AKA Sam, running around with a child in a jar attached to his body doing deliveries far from a “strand” game but apparently, that’s what Kojima says Death Stranding is.
“DEATH STRANDING is not a stealth game,” says Kojima in one of his tweets upon receiving hundreds of questions on twitter, “It is a brand new action game with the concept of connection” meaning strand, so he calls it a “Social Strand System, or simply Strand Game.”
The game world is altered by the actions of online players, say in the form of constructed camps, placements of ladders for climbing mountains, or overcoming obstacles. The alteration to the world isn’t always positive and you’ll find yourself being mad at players leaving huge craters behind them.
Game’s page on the Playstation store mentions that asynchronous multiplayer is going to be an integral part of the game. The ripples of actions of other players will reach you only when you reach the desired point in the main story, making the “Social Strand” experience asynchronous in nature.
Here’s the official description for the game:
From legendary game creator Hideo Kojima comes an all-new, genre-defying experience for the PlayStation®4 system.
Sam Bridges must brave a world utterly transformed by the Death Stranding. Carrying the disconnected remnants of our future in his hands, he embarks on a journey to reconnect the shattered world one step at a time.
With spectral creatures plaguing the landscape, and humanity on the verge of a mass extinction, it’s up to Sam to journey across the ravaged continent and save mankind from impending annihilation.
What is the mystery of the Death Stranding? What will Sam discover on the road ahead? An unprecedented gameplay experience holds these answers and more.
As Norman Reedus says, Death Stranding will be more than just “sitting in the room in front of the TV and playing” game; it is about making physical contact. We don’t know how this new genre is going to affect upcoming open-world titles but with creators like Kojima still around we can safely stay optimistic about creators experimenting and bringing new things on the table and gamers experiencing games like never before.
