From the archive

A Video Game Auteur’s Quest for Connection

A Video Game Auteur’s Quest for Connection

As Sam, players scale jagged mountains, slickened by pouring rain, and fall down backward, damaging the cargo that is key to restoring communication between isolated cities.
“That’s why I added this indirect online connection in the game — so that people will feel it’s alright, it’s okay.
He developed such a feeling of protectiveness toward her that when he launched his independent studio post-Konami and began developing Death Stranding, Kojima kept it a secret from her.
From Metal Gear to Death Stranding, the DNA of a Kojima game involves confrontations with disquietude and suffering without rendering hope inaccessible.
Death Stranding — and the careful, touching way it deals with family, communication, and connections to life and death — is his most fully-realized version of that yet.