Hideo Kojima Says 'Death Stranding' Walking Simulator Criticisms Are Unfair

Since first being announced way back at E3 2016, Hideo Kojima's impending PlayStation 4-exclusive Death Stranding has been an enigma wrapped in a mystery peppered with a generous dose of "wtf." In the last few years we've seen precious little of the game, but the gameplay that has been shown has been met with its fair share of criticism from certain fans who insist that the Metal Gear Solid creator's latest effort essentially looks like a "walking simulator" - a term usually leveled at a game that's meant to insultingly imply that there's nothing interesting to do in it.

Keep it down, Norman

Defenders of Kojima have suggested that he's purposefully holding back showing off certain gameplay elements in order to maintain the mystery and surprise people when they finally get their hands on the game in November, which would absolutely be fair enough. However, after an in-depth presentation of the game during the Tokyo Game Show, in which nearly an hour of Death Stranding was shown off, the cries of "walking simulator" only seemed to grow louder.

This prompted Kojima to defend his game from such criticisms in a recent interview with Game Informer. The developer insisted that calling Death Stranding a walking simulator is unfair, reductive, and inaccurate, and argued that people simply just don't "get it" yet, as he's creating a new genre.

Comparing Death Stranding to the original Metal Gear, which he believes to be the birth of the "stealth" genre, Kojima said, "It's the same as when I first brought out a stealth game. If 100 people play it and 100 people say it's fun, it means the genre or the game already exists. But this is a new genre - same as stealth the first time, there will be people who don't get it. It will take time for the real evaluations to come in."

Death Stranding

Despite recently suggesting that Kojima doesn't really understand Death Stranding himself at this point, his excellent Game Informer interview probably painted the clearest picture of the game yet, including the revelation that the game's bleak, fragmented world could be read as a metaphor for Donald Trump and the ongoing mess that is Brexit.

It could very well be that Death Stranding is a title that will break the mold and influence AAA development for years to come, just like Metal Gear Solid did. As with all things, we really will have to reserve judgement on this one until we're able to play it for ourselves, though I can already tell this is going to be a game that splits opinion straight down the middle. The only question now is which side of the fence you'll land on.

Topics: Death Stranding, PS4