Death Stranding 2: On the Beach director Hideo Kojima has compared the upcoming sequel to its predecessor by bringing up the differences between classic sci-fi horror movie Alien, and its more action-packed sequel Aliens. In an interview with Edge magazine (via GamesRadar), Kojima brought up how Ridley Scott’s Alien was more frightening and mysterious.
“The first Ridley Scott film was so frightening,” said Kojima. “There were facehuggers and monsters bursting from people’s chests, and at first nobody knew what it was all about.”
In comparison, Cameron had to work on a movie where the audience was already quite familiar with some of the scarier aspects of the original Alien. According to Kojima, Cameron was able to bring in a new layer of mystery and unfamiliarity by making the sequel an action movie.
“When James Cameron came to make the sequel, Aliens, he made a very smart decision to make the film not about horror, but about action,” he explained. “It gave the story a new dimension, which was unfamiliar.”
Kojima explained that this is the approach he wanted to take with the sequel to Death Stranding. Whereas the original had quite a bit of mystique to it, especially considering how strange and alien some of aspects of the game’s world feel, like DOOMs and BTs, since players will be more familiar with these things in the sequel, the game can feature more action.
“That is what I wanted to do with this sequel,” he said. “Everyone understands Death Stranding’s world, so now we’ve introduced battles to give it this new dimension.”
Previously, Kojima has also compared Death Stranding 2: On the Beach to Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, saying in an interview that “I felt that myself when I played the game.”
He has also revealed that internal audience reception to Death Stranding 2 has been quite positive. In an interview, he revealed that audience test reviews for the upcoming sequel have been even more positive than they were for the original Death Stranding. Kojima also spoke about how he takes different types of feedback into account. While gameplay elements might see some changes depending on feedback, he will never make changes to the game’s themes and stories.
“I do listen to criticism, if the controls need tweaking or if a camera pan is too slow or too fast. But I don’t alter themes or story based on feedback,” Kojima said. “Of course, I want people to play my game, so I must listen to them to a certain extent. But also, I’m not interested in making something that appeals to everyone.”
When it comes to making games with mass appeal, Kojima just doesn’t seem to be a fan of the idea. Rather, he said that he was more interested in making a game where 4 out of 10 players liked it, while the others hated it.
“In fact, I did a lot of monitoring tests for the original Death Stranding. I’d find that four out of ten people would love the game, but six would say it was a terrible game. For me, I think that’s a good balance. But with the playtests for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, everyone seems to be positive.”
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is coming to PS5 on June 26.