Gabriel Stanford-ReisingerKojima Productions lead Hideo Kojima revealed that he rewrote the entire story of Death Stranding 2 following the first trailer released in 2022. At the time, he was vague as always about why, but lately he opened up.
Speaking with Japanese news publication Natalie (translated by VGC), the pandemic wasn’t part of the creative process like some believed it was. Kojima had already had the story written out before it all went down, but after living through the pandemic, things changed and his studio went through restructuring the story.
The original Death Stranding, which was one of the most mixed games out there, had a lot to do with connections and the pandemic led to a lot of development of remote work and “digital connections.” This digital connection thing didn’t sit the best with the former Metal Gear maker, as humans are “inherently explorers.”
He capped it off by noting how different things are now and how we’re now dealing with increased seclusion and division. The crux of the entire game’s story hinges on the message found in its teaser — “Should We Have Connected?”
“I also realized that digital connections alone couldn’t satisfy human needs. We are inherently explorers. Right now, we’re dealing with seclusion and division, and the world is undergoing significant transformations. We can’t rewind to our pre-pandemic reality, so we’ve had to reassess the concept of ‘connection.’ In Death Stranding 2, the interpretation of ‘strand’ evolves. You’ll notice, at the end of the teaser trailer, a message that says ‘Should We Have Connected?’ That’s the crux of what we’re trying to articulate in the sequel.”