The legendary Game Director and head of Kojima Productions Hideo Kojima shared this week that the upcoming Death Stranding will have several difficulty settings, including “Very Easy” mode. This setting is tailored towards “movie fans” who are interested in experiencing Kojima Productions’s very ambitious and mysterious game and its star-studded cast, but are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with more demanding gameplay mechanics.
Hideo Kojima’s personal assistant posted to Twitter that in month’s time she was able to finish a playthrough of the testing version of Death Stranding on Very Easy mode despite being a beginner and being busy with other work. With the release of the game approaching and this year’s Tokyo Game Show on the horizon, there’s sure to be a lot to do around the Kojima office. She added that the setting is perfect for people who “don’t play game[s].”
Kojima also took to Twitter to explain the reasoning behind the addition of Very Easy option for players. Since the game is promising an interesting and immersive experience and a lot of top-tier acting talent, Kojima and the developers wanted to make sure everyone could take part in Death Stranding. Kojima wrote, “”Normally there’s only Easy Mode, but we added Very Easy Mode for movie fans since we have real actors like Norman, Mads, Lea starred in. Even Yano-san who never completed the 1st stage of PAC-MAN, was able to complete the game on Very Easy Mode.”
Kojima didn’t specify what Very Easy mode will be, but it’s likely a narrative focused setting with a very forgiving combat system to scale down the danger. For gamers that prefer to sweat it out and suffer for their games, Death Stranding will also have “Normal” and “Hard” difficulties for people who want to show their skills, in whatever way Death Stranding will ask for.
It’s also likely that since the Very Easy mode is meant to be a completely kind gesture to help share the game’s world and talent with a wide variety of people, people who choose it won’t have to suffer the humiliation of wearing a chicken hat while they experience Norman Reedus’s Sam Bridges try to reconnect the shattered world.
Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding is set to release on November 8, 2019 for the PlayStation 4.