Hideo Kojima Made Significant Changes To Death Stranding 2 Because Playtesters Thought It Was 'Too Good'

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach creator, Hideo Kojima, reportedly changed the crippled halfway done due to the fact that playtesting results were "too good," and helium doesn't privation his enactment to beryllium "mainstream."

The revelation comes from Yoann "Woodkid" Lemoine, who worked intimately with Kojima connected the upcoming game's soundtrack. Talking to Rolling Stone, Lemoine talked astir his process — some with Kojima and without — and the challenges of penning euphony for a mean that's changing successful real-time arsenic players advancement done the game.

Interestingly, helium besides reflected connected Kojima opening up astir the "problem" of having players "like [Death Stranding 2] excessively much." "That means thing is wrong," Kojima told him. "We person to alteration something."

"There’s a cardinal infinitesimal wherever we had a discussion, astir apt halfway [through] erstwhile we were doing the game, wherever helium came to maine and helium said, 'We person a problem,'" Woodkid explained.

"Then helium said, 'I’m going to beryllium precise honest, we person been investigating the crippled with players and the results are excessively good. They similar it excessively much. That means thing is wrong; we person to alteration something.' And helium changed worldly successful the publication and the mode immoderate important worldly [happens] successful the crippled due to the fact that helium thought his enactment was not polarizing and not triggering capable emotions."

According to Kojima, "If everyone likes [your work], it means it’s mainstream. It means it’s conventional. It means it’s already pre-digested for radical to similar it."

"I don’t privation that," Kojima reportedly told Lemoine. "I privation radical to extremity up liking things they didn’t similar erstwhile they archetypal encountered it, due to the fact that that’s wherever you truly extremity up loving something."

Woodkid added "that was truly a acquisition for [him]," convincing him "not doing worldly to delight people, but to marque them displacement a small spot and determination them."

Not agelong to spell present — Death Stranding 2 is retired connected June 26, 2025. Hideo Kojima is besides moving connected a live-action Death Stranding movie with A24, and we precocious learned that a Death Stranding anime is successful the works, too. He's besides moving connected a PlayStation exclusive enactment espionage task called Physint, and called the upcoming Xbox-published OD "a crippled I person ever wanted to make."

Earlier this month, the U.S. Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) suggested Death Stranding 2 players volition beryllium capable to bash worldly to decease with a guitar.

Vikki Blake is simply a newsman for IGN, arsenic good arsenic a critic, columnist, and advisor with 15+ years acquisition moving with immoderate of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's besides a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her astatine BlueSky.