Death Stranding development: Kojima is now holding the controller ‘the whole day’, embedding new elements while playing
Some new Death Stranding information has emerged, as website IGN posted their own translation of the TGS event that took place last Sunday. The site reports that Kojima’s panel was ‘by far and away the largest gathering’ of Tokyo Game Show, and Kojima remarked he couldn’t believe how many people showed up.
In this video shared by a crew member of IGN Japan’s livestream studio, you can see just how busy and noisy it was.
https://twitter.com/chyadosensei/status/1044041745804156928
Kojima was asked about the current development status of Death Stranding, and he said: “At the moment we’re in the phase where I’m holding the controller the whole day, embedding new elements while playing the game.”
He also added that this means the development is beyond the phase of overseeing the work of the individual staff members, and Kojima is now looking at the project coming together as a whole.
In short, development is going according to plan, although the SAG-AFTRA voice actor strike in 2016 caused some delay in recording, so that’s still ongoing (just recently, right before the stage show, Kojima flew to the UK for some additional recording). However, according to Kojima the release schedule for the game has not changed.
We also learn that there was a small easter egg in the TGS trailer: when Troy Baker’s character takes off his mask to summon the monster, one of the figures appearing from the black substance is the famous director himself. “You should be able to recognize one character who’s wearing glasses, so that’s me.”
As for the exact release date, some are expecting it to be announced soon. Tommie Earl Jenkins, who was revealed as the actor playing Sam’s boss, published a post on his website announcing his role in the game, closing off with the statement: ‘more details regarding release date coming soon’. Although ‘soon’ is always a relative term, so what this means exactly remains to be seen.
In the meantime, enjoy these character artworks by Yoji Shinkawa that Kojima has been sharing on Twitter:
Source: IGN
