Everything we know about Kojima's Mystery Game

At this very moment Kojima is working on a new game, of which very little is known. Usually we don’t get more information than a photo of Kojima’s lunch on Twitter, accompanied by the text that he’s having a ‘Project Ogre’ lunch meeting. However, over the last few years we have had little snippets of news regarding Hideo Kojima’s mysterious project. Because it was easy to miss some of them, we have collected them all in one place, while separating rumors from facts.

Updated April 13th 2012

• Aside from ‘Project Ogre’, Kojima also refers to the title as ‘Devil Project’. Kojima stated on his Twitter that the title doesn’t refer to a game ‘like an ogre’, but a game ‘with the use of ogre’. What this means exactly remains to be seen.
• Some time ago Kojima talked about a taboo game that was so controversial it could cost him his job. It’s not entirely clear wether the taboo game and Project Ogre are one and the same thing, but it seems likely. At the Smithsonian Museum interview in March 2012 Kojima mentioned that Project Ogre would confront delicate issues.
• Project Ogre will be ‘a Hideo Kojima game’, which means Kojima is the ‘author’ of the game, he plays an important role in the game’s development.
• It will be a multiplatform title, but won’t come to Wii U.
• It will be transfarring enabled.
• It will run on the Fox Engine.
• Project Ogre will be a ‘subdued experience’, as Kojima describes it.
• On the surface it will look like Kojima’s previous work (Metal Gear), but once you get into it, it will be a different experience.
• Project Ogre will take a lot of time to develop, according to Kojima.
• Rather than making something very cinematic, Kojima wants to make something very open and free with this game, where players can walk around and explore.
• Players should even after 100 hours of playing be able to find new stuff in the game.
• Kojima released a single screenshot on his Twitter:

Which looks similar to this earlier photo of a presentation:

The jungle environments in turn look similar to those in the Fox Engine tech demo Kojima showed at E3 2011:

It is unknown wether or not they are related.

• In the Kojima Productions podcast of January 26th 2012, in reaction to the complaints that Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance wouldn’t feature stealth, the staff members mentioned that Kojima is working on a more traditional title that the fans would appreciate, and that uses the Fox Engine. It isn’t confirmed wether or not this is Project Ogre, but it is likely, since it was talked about in the context of Kojima working on a new IP. It’s the most logical conclusion we can draw.
• Project Ogre will probably be shown at E3 2012.

Sources: Kojima’s Twitter, OPM, CNN, GameTrailers, The Kojima Productions Report (Hideoblog)