Despite all the marketing and hype around Hideo Kojima’s latest mind-bending project, it has yet to be revealed what type of game Death Stranding actually is. In a Tweet Kojima attempts to clarify what his game is about and describes it as a “brand new game genre” called ‘Social Strand System’. That gives fans two things to be confused about: What the hell is a ‘Social Strand System’ and what’s up with all the weird babies?
The full, slightly confusing Tweet by Hideo Kojima reads as follows:
Since I get this question alot, DEATH STRANDING is different from stealth game. You can enjoy First Person View but not a First Person Shooter game. It's brand new game genre that adapted the concept of strand that we call Action Game, Strand Game (Social Strand System). pic.twitter.com/W1oWfvO7B5
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) August 27, 2019
The legendary Japanese developer reveals that players can see the hallucinogenic world of Death Stranding trough the eyes of Norman Reedus’ character, and while that could be interpreted as a variation on the First Person Shooter genre, Kojima describes it as a brand new type of game he calls ‘Action Game, Strand Game’.
Meanwhile fans sarcastically respond to the Tweet by saying that Kojima’s description ‘clears everything up’, with user @TomBlargh writing: ” Very sad that people still can’t get their heads around the concept of an Action Game, Strand Game (Social Strand System)!”
Not much is known about the actual gameplay of Death Stranding, apart from it’s engaging storytelling and trippy concepts. However, some lucky journalists like GamesRadar’s John West have even seen the project firsthand. West describes the game as surprisingly simple at it’s core, stating: “Death Stranding is a game about walking.”
Gameplay as seen in the trailer above suggests an open world (in which you indeed walk but sometimes ride a bad ass bike) with a lot of story elements and the use of gadgets and tools to overcome enemies and the environment. That, and a whole lot of babies in belly sacks, on the ceiling and yes, even inside Norman Reedus’ throat!
Death Stranding releases on November 8th exclusively for the PlayStation 4.