Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima has said that he expected a mixed response to the game and that this feeling is nothing new for him.
During an interview with PlayStation Access, Kojima was asked how he felt now that people are playing Death Stranding, to which he said that a mixed reception isn’t unusual “when you try to do something new.”
Even with Metal Gear, I was always concentrating on coming up with something fresh for people to play, or showing them a new system of gameplay. So my approach is always the same. In terms of how I feel now people are playing Death Stranding, I believe there will be positive and negative reactions. This happens when you try to do something new, even in movies or games. If people are faced with something they haven’t experienced before, it can be challenging. It was the same when I first did a stealth title.
In the same interview, Kojima was asked what he was most proud of achieving in Death Stranding. The developer replied that the game’s approach to multiplayer encourages positive connections, and he’s very happy with that. He added:
If you look at the world right now, we are connected to the internet 24 hours a day. And that technology was supposed to be there to make us happy. However, what you see today is people anonymously fighting each other or discriminating against each other. Some people are getting tired of social media or the internet as a whole. But when you play Death Stranding, your connection with other people is entirely positive.
Because there isn’t anything negative and it’s all based on positive intent and positive feedback, you start to care for each other. If there was any point at which I was worried about the game, it would be whether or not this positivity would work. But looking at the feedback people are saying things like, ‘Oh, I’m a bit nicer now!’ When I saw that, I was really happy. So I’m proud of that.
For more on Death Stranding, check out our hub.
[Source: PlayStation Access via Video Games Chronicle, GamesRadar]
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