Death Stranding

"Once, there was an explosion. A bang which gave birth to time and space. Once, there was an explosion. A bang which set a planet spinning in that space. Once, there was an explosion. A bang which gave rise to life as we know it. And then, came the next explosion. An explosion that will be our last."

- Sam, describing four explosions that have, and will, shape reality

Death Stranding is an action video game developed by Kojima Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment exclusively for the PlayStation 4. It is directed by Hideo Kojima – the first game he and his reformed studio have worked on since the disbandment of Kojima Productions as a Konami subsidiary in July 2015. The game was officially announced during Sony's E3 2016 press conference.

A release window of 2018 has been given by Kojima. The director has stated that, "[Death Stranding] will be out before the Olympics", referencing the Tokyo 2020 Games. More precisely, he has revealed that "there is a movie called Akira, and [Death Stranding] will be out before the year in which Akira is set", with Akira being set in the year 2019.

Story
Little has been revealed regarding the story of Death Stranding thus far. One crucial plot point will be the stranding of something otherworldly into the world.

In the TGA 2017 teaser trailer, it is mentioned that a series of explosions have given rise to all of known existence, and that a fourth, final explosion is impending.

Official synopsis from PlayStation's YouTube video description for the E3 2018 teaser trailer: "From legendary game creator Hideo Kojima comes an all new, genre defining experience for the PlayStation®4. Besieged by death's tide at every turn, Sam Bridges must brave a world utterly transformed by the Death Stranding. Carrying the stranded remnants of the future in his hands, Sam embarks on a journey to reunite the shattered world one step at a time. What is the mystery of the Death Stranding? What will Sam discover on the road ahead? A genre defining gameplay experience holds these answers and more."

Gameplay
Death Stranding is an open world, action game that is heavily story-driven, while also possessing online elements.

According to Hideo Kojima, most modern action games consist of players communicating with the equivalents of 'sticks' – swords, guns, punches, kicks and other avenues of physical communication – with the stick metaphorically being humanity's first invention. Kojima aims to "tie people together" by utilizing humanity's second invention: the rope. With ropes, a primary focus of the gameplay will be building 'connections', or more precisely, what are called 'strands' in psychology – the way people are connected. Despite there being an increased emphasis on 'ropes', 'sticks' will still be utilized in the game as well, in conjunction with said 'ropes'.

Kojima has taken an unconventional approach to the concepts of life and death in Death Stranding, and has stated that "'death' is about to have a new meaning". Death will not mean a conventional "Game over" as in most video games, and instead will be more analogous to a "Continue?" screen, never truly pulling players out of the game. Furthermore, player-derived changes to the game world will be persistent, remaining present even after player death.

Additionally, it has been suggested that Death Stranding won't fall solely into one specific gaming genre. Its potential genre-defying nature has been described in a similar vein to that of Metal Gear: In its infancy, Metal Gear was initially thought of as merely an action game; in time, however, it came to be perceived as something more specific and unique due to its stealth elements, ultimately ushering in the stealth genre of video games.

Development
The development of Death Stranding began following Kojima Productions' reformation in December 2015. Hideo Kojima formally revealed the game at Sony's E3 2016 conference, through a reveal trailer featuring the then-unidentified lead character Sam, portrayed by Norman Reedus. According to Kojima, a key concept present in the trailer is the idea of a life-death connection. The inclusion of a heroine that will accompany Sam has also been strongly suggested.

Kojima has revealed that in previous games he has worked on, he had to make compromises to bring them to fruition. With Death Stranding, however, he stated that the need for compromise is no longer present, and is confident that the game will be "something completely new that no-one has seen so far", as well as his best creative work yet.

Death Stranding runs on Guerrilla Games' in-house engine, Decima. Kojima opted for Decima after being sent a box containing the engine's source code, which "made [him] very happy". Additionally, Kojima set up a small satellite studio at Guerrilla Games, in order to work in close liaison with the Dutch developer.

In early October of 2016, Kojima took the development team of Death Stranding to visit the Meguro Parasitological Museum, with the purpose of showing his staff members how fundamental parasites are to our ecosystem.

At TGA 2016, Kojima Productions revealed a teaser trailer featuring a character portrayed by Mads Mikkelsen and another bearing the likeness of Guillermo del Toro. The trailer was running in real-time 4K on a PS4 Pro. A year later at TGA 2017, Kojima revealed a second teaser trailer, providing a more expansive look at the game's unique setting and story. For E3 2018, an extensive teaser trailer premiering gameplay and incorporating the song "Asylums for the Feeling" by Silent Poets (feat. Leila Adu) was released, featuring two new female leads portrayed by Léa Seydoux and Lindsay Wagner.

Music
The first two trailers for Death Stranding used songs produced by the Icelandic band : "I'll Keep Coming" in the reveal trailer and "Easy Way Out" in the TGA 2016 teaser trailer. In February 2017, a limited edition 12" single containing the aforementioned two songs was published by Mondo Records, in conjunction with Kojima Productions. This was the first piece of merchandise released for Death Stranding. At E3 2018, the revealed teaser trailer used ' "Asylum for the Feeling" as a background song.

The official soundtrack of Death Stranding will be composed by Ludvig Forssell, who previously worked with Kojima on Metal Gear Solid V.