Hideo Kojima is using the start of 2020 to help reminisce about his most recent project. Across his social media pages, Kojima-san shared an early concept art fromÂDeath StrandingÂfrom before the script was written. Even more interesting, Kojima-san shared the original title for the game which is similar-yet-different: “Dead Stranding.“First shared via Hideo Kojima’s Instagram, we first see the quick black and white sketch:
A post shared by Hideo Kojima (@hideo_kojima)onJan 4, 2020 at 5:51am PST
Showing two unnamed characters holding guns and in heavy military gear, we get a much different vibe than the horror-esque vibe ofÂDeath Stranding.
Kojima-san provided some more context:
Roughly translated:
“Found in my iPhone, the sketch by [Kojima Productions' Art Director Yoji Shinkawa] from early days ofDeath Stranding’sconcept period. At that time there was no written script so I just verbally explained what the Warriors space is like to him. We used to call it DEAD STRANDING as another name.”
This is a fascinating perspective we rarely see from other studios, and both the new name and gear of the characters make for an entirely different game.
In otherÂDeath StrandingÂnews, the recent December update added in vehicle disposal and text size options,along with some other minor tweaksalong the way. The game recently won a bevy of awards in theDualShockers 2019 Game Awards, including Readers' Choice Game of the Year 2019 alongside Best Art Direction, Best Audio Design, and Best Graphics. And while we in the West are still keeping our fingers crossed, Japan gamers can pick uptwo-part novelizations– steel books coming in February– that are currently exclusive to the East. Last but not least, Kojima-san recently shared some of themovies of 2019 that caught his interest.
Death Stranding– not Dead Stranding – is available now exclusively on PS4. If you haven’t, make sure to check out the DualShockers review of the game wherewe gave it an 8 out of 10. If you are interested, you can grab the gameon Amazon to support us.
