Hideo Kojima has revealed Death Stranding's hidden theme in an absolutely bananas interview.
Game-Genome is a series that's been running on NHK World Japan for a while now, and earlier this year, it featured Hideo Kojima as a special guest in one episode. The tweet below captures one of the more bizarre moments from the episode, where musician and actor Gen Hoshino breaks down some of the hidden inspirations behind Death Stranding to Kojima.
Here's an interesting fact about Death Stranding! @Kojima_Hideo pic.twitter.com/gIpWz0UTQDJune 26, 2023
Hoshino reckons Death Stranding is a tribute to the high points of video game history. The driving elements are a tribute to racing games, the shooting sections with Cliff are a reference to shootouts from Metal Gear Solid games, and the fight against Higgs is taken from 2D fighting games. That's what Hoshino makes of Death Stranding, at least.
- Hideo Kojima says Death Stranding's themes of connection came about because "I thought I lost everything when I became alone nine years ago"
- Death Stranding 2 packs on a third obvious Metal Gear Solid reference with cover art throwing back to MGS2's bizarre box art featuring Japanese pop superstar Gackt
"You discovered the hidden theme of Death Stranding!" Kojima remarks to Hoshino at the end of the clip. Apparently the hidden theme of Death Stranding was making extensive, and very abstract, tributes to some of the most recognizable imagery in the history of video games. Either that or Kojima's just being nice to Hoshino's extensive theorizing.
If this is the hidden meaning of Death Stranding, what does Death Stranding 2 have in store for us? Perhaps it'll visit more touchstones of video games, like the dating sim genre or sports games. After all, who wouldn't want to play a dating sim starring the likes of Norman Reedus and Elle Fanning?
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