Hacker Cinema
Death Stranding: Inside Kojima Productions
2019 · Film · documentary · 26 min
Directed by Matt Wareham
Exclusive behind-the-scenes access to legendary game creator Hideo Kojima's new studio, Newsbeat shows the making of Death Stranding - the first game from Kojima Productions in Tokyo.
1 negative3 neutralfrom 4 commenters
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4 comments on Hacker News
I suppose that's not what you meant, but I love the idea of "Lars Von Trier" as a persona being good cinema.
At the very least, it made me understand that I need him to appear as himself in the next Death Stranding game.
I honestly doubt that guess. Mostly because while his name is shown a bunch on the screen and in the trailers, his games are usually so long and full of dense content. Which usually means you only see his name in the beginning and the end.
And he doesn't just bombard you with his own name. I remember playing Death Stranding, and every time a new character is introduced for the first time, in a cutscene, there is a movie-style text appearing with the character's name and their actor's name below, e.g. "Sam - Norman Reedus", in the same style as Kojima's own name. Except for him instead of character name + actor name, it is usually "Director - Kojima", then "Producer - Kojima", etc.
Realistically though, his games aren't as mainstream these days, and I doubt that a giant chunk of modern gamers (in the 15 to 22 range) have played any of his games. Which makes me think it definitely isn't due to those "10-second bombardments of his name" at the beginning of his games.
Kojima makes (or wants to make) movies that are interactive, rather than actual games.
Which is good, cinema would be way less popular if more talented people worked in the videogame industry and would likely be regarded as the medium for all kinds of art. Specially now with VR.
Death Stranding in particular is very lackluster gameplay wise.
If you take Kojima games at surface value, then yeah, nothing makes sense and he seems insane. Even the most die-hard fans will admit the plot of the Metal Gear games was incomprehensible batshit. If you look at his games the same way you would an art film that is obsessed with understanding why the modern world feels so inhuman, they start making a lot more sense.
He's basically showing us what impressionism / magical realism looks like dressed up as a AAA video game. He focuses on themes and emotion rather than then who/what/why of the story. His games are subversive as fuck; Death Stranding is a game about how the modern world has isolated us from other people, and the only way out of that grey and black world is by reconnecting with individuals. By doing so, you can literally carry more weight -- the "weight" you have to carry around and balance is literally a stand-in for emotional weight. The more people you connect to, the more you can withstand. Every funky random mechanic that seems random in his games is a metaphor for something.