One of the most mysterious and intriguing projects in the pipeline right now has to be Death Stranding. Announced at E3 2016, the game is the brainchild of Hideo Kojima—following Konami’s ejection of Kojima Productions—and renowned filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro. It’s no secret that Kojima is an obsessive and hands-on creative, having spawned the legendary but overwhelming Metal Gear franchise, but it seems his eccentric genius has even left Del Toro, a visionary himself, on the outside of the project looking in.
In an interview with IGN, Del Toro revealed a bit about what the process of creating the game has been like—and, perhaps unsurprisingly, he has yet to actually see the game in motion. “In Death Stranding I’m just a puppet,” he says. “I don’t know what he’s gonna make me do. He’s supposedly going to show me the gameplay at some point in the next couple of weeks.”
This isn’t to say that Del Toro has felt closed out, or otherwise underutilized. He does note, “It’s been great as a friendship, and it’s been great as a learning experience,” regarding his partnership with Kojima. It appears he’s well aware of the vastness of Kojima’s game design knowledge and willing to let the maestro go to work.
Death Stranding is actually not the first time Del Toro and Kojima have partnered up. The two began working together on P.T., the surprise horror phenomenon for PS4 that would serve as a backdoor prologue for their then-planned Silent Hills. The project was owned by Konami, however, and after their falling out with Kojima the game was abruptly canceled. With so much buzz generated by P.T., however, the duo stayed together and struck out on their own—aided by the independent reformation of Kojima Productions.
Aside from a couple trailers and the high-profile inclusion of actors Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead) and Mads Mikkelsen (Rogue One, Doctor Strange), not much is known publicly about Death Stranding. No gameplay, no release date, nothing. Kojima diehards are no doubt foaming at the mouth for more info, but for now, we’ll just have to let the two captains do what they do best—and hopefully Del Toro gets a chance to see the game soon.