Hideo Kojima has players refusing to play OD over plans to use 'real' ghosts

Hideo Kojima has given us a fascinating peek inside his notoriously twisted mind, offering horror fans a glimpse of what's to come with OD. Known as one of the greatest gaming auteurs of all time, Kojima is known for creating the Metal Gear franchise. We could sit here all day trying to unpack the various quirks of that particular story, but further proving his gaming genius, he also created the Death Stranding universe.

While we're sorry he never got to realise his vision for Silent Hill with Silent Hills, here's hoping OD can bring some of those ideas back to life. Talking of coming back to life, Kojima Productions apparently wants to use 'real' ghosts when making OD.

Who you gonna call?

Strap on your proton packs and get the Ghostbusters on speed dial because Kojima wants to ensure OD is a horror hit by using actual scares. In a resurfaced interview with GamesRadar, Kojima explained his unique way of making OD and how he supposedly captured the sound of a spook haunting Kojima Productions HQ for a September 2025 trailer featuring It's Sophia Lillis: "But you hear this cracking sound. That's actually a sound that was recorded in our studio."

He said there were' queeks' in the Kojima Productions studio, but this spectral visitor has apparently moved on: "Maybe the ghost was there, but she's no longer there anymore. But anyways, and that's why we went to the shrine together with Microsoft to make sure that we have a safe build of the game."

Planning on getting more ghosts for the finished game, Kojima added: "For OD, I want to go around, all over the world where [there] are scary kinds of places. I want to scan a ghost for the first time, and I want to get an award for that."

The likes of Alien: Isolation and Resident Evil 7 are frequently cited as some of the 'scariest' video games of all time, but that's thanks to pulse-pounding jump scares and heightened tension. Just imagine how terrifying OD would be knowing that there's an actual ghost lurking in the background.

Of course, that depends on whether you believe in ghosts, as we're sure some people reading this are probably mocking Kojima right now.

When the news was shared recently on X, one gamer replied: "I'm definitely not playing whatever comes out of this."

Another added: "IRL Black Mirror episode incoming…"

A third said, "Don't do it, bro. That's all I'm gonna tell ya. You might be scarred for life."

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What do we know about OD?

Kojima has dabbled in horror elements before, and as far back as 1988's Snatcher, he was trying to give us the willies. Still, OD is a first as a full-blown horror. The man himself has pitched it as a game that will explore what it means to "OD (overdose) on fear," describing the mystery title as a game, a movie, and a brand-new form of media.

OD was supposedly pitched to multiple studios, but most didn't 'get' his concept until Phil Spencer agreed to publish it for Xbox.

Developed on Unreal Engine and using Epic's Metahuman system, we'll get photorealistic characters that will seemingly make Death Stranding's hyper realism look like a kid's cartoon. With this, the impressive cast of Lillis, Hunter Schafer, and the late Udo Kier will come to life in video game form.

More than this, OD will apparently have a unique system that will help players to keep going if they get too scared to carry on.

Kojima has suggested it will be an anthology horror game, with different parts written by a so-called 'Avengers' of horror legends that include Jordan Peele.

OD has survived the recent cull over at Xbox, although there's no release date, and it's still expected to be years away. With this in mind, we'd expect OD to release on the mysterious Project Helix. Well, that's assuming the game can survive another potential Microsoft massacre.