‘Death Stranding 2’ creator had to “rewrite everything” due to COVID-19

3 August, 2023

Hideo Kojima said that he was forced to “rewrite everything” he had in Death Stranding 2 as a result of the impact of the pandemic on popular culture.

As reported by The Loadout, the Kojima Productions founder and director spoke with singer Ayano Ōmoto in an interview with the music and entertainment website Natalie.

“The Death Stranding 2 story was written before Corona. I had to rewrite everything because of Corona,” he said, and explained that the original game’s themes were centred on “how to connect” with others. Kojima would have been staring down even more rewrites if actor Elle Fanning turned down her role in the sequel.

So, following the enormous overhaul of cultural, economic and social systems in the lockdowns, “pseudo-connections such as remotes have come to be emphasised”, continued Kojima.

‘Death Stranding 2’ Credit: Kojima Productions

“On the other hand, I felt that such pseudo-connections alone would not lead to fulfilling human lives. After all, humans need to go out into the outside world and move,” said the auteur. At time of writing, very little is known about Death Stranding 2, excluding the return of Sam Porter Bridges and Fragile (played by Norman Reedus and Lea Seydoux).

Kojima was willing to share one detail in this new interview though. “In Death Stranding 2, the meaning of ‘strand’ has changed. At the end of the teaser, there is a message ‘Should We Have Connected?’,” he queried. As such, it’s possible that the resurgence of the Chiral Network has allowed something else to break through from the Beach.

Kojima said the same last December, and justified that “fiction changes when something that big happens” and the rewrites were a necessity. “When something takes place that nobody thought was possible, works of fiction written before it become less effective as entertainment,” he explained.

In other gaming news, the developer of The Callisto Protocol has made 32 employees redundant in “strategic changes that realign the studio’s priorities”.

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