It’s worth bearing in mind that Hideo Kojima has not had to go through the process of creating his own graphics engine. Anybody could assume that he would press forward with his renowned Fox Engine, used to power many of his Metal Gear titles. Yet, that remains in the hands of Konami for the yet to be released Metal Gear Survive. Each of the trailers we have seen so far have been powered by the impressive Decima Engine ( the very same engine used to build titles like Horizon: Zero Dawn and Until Dawn) . This has likely rocketed development time forward somewhat. To quote Kojima himself it would “rocket Death Stranding to Jupiter”.
Only a few months ago, Sony PlayStation executive Shawn Layden visited Kojima Productions only to come home and report the game was in a playable state. Yet that remains a subjective statement as, for all we know, he could have meant polygon square people running about in Tron land. However, encouragingly Sony Interactive Entertainment – responsible for funding Death Stranding into existence – is singing Kojima’s praises.
In a recent interview with Japanese publication, Denkenji PlayStation, Kojima stated that he had been informed by SIE “We have never before seen a game being created at such a fast pace. We are planning an announcement that will further surprise everyone in 2018".
The current estimated release date for Death Stranding sits between 2019 and 2020. Here’s hoping Kojima and his team are so efficient that gets brought forward a little. In the meantime, you’re welcome to puzzle over the three trailers released so far, as we have.
