The founder of Kojima Productions officially unveiled the sequel at tonight’s Game Awards and, after taking a first look, kept up for a while to answer some questions from host Geoff Keighley.
“I had written history before the pandemic, but after living through the pandemic, I rewrote everything from scratch,” he told Keighley after being asked how the pandemic had affected the game. “I didn’t need to wait for the future either, so I rewrote it.
It is true that Kojima has earned a notorious reputation for predicting the future with his games; Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was ahead of its time in describing how temporarily incorrect information can spread online. And the loneliness themes of the first Death Stranding had unsettling parallels with the COVID-19 lockdown that would be implemented just a few months. after its release in 2019, so it’s understandable that Kojima had to put away the crystal ball for a while.
Otherwise, Kojima has remained discreet about the future. “I put a lot of stuff in [the trailer], so I need you to let me know about it and locate the main points,” he joked.
For everything announced at tonight’s Game Awards, you’ll find a full recap here.