UPDATE 17-05-2025: Sony has issued its own translation of Kojima’s quote. According to Sony, what Kojima actually said was, “…in America there are a lot of FPS fans, maybe those fans are saying this is like a different game and are not rating it very high.” Original story follows.
Death Strandinghas so far proven to be a polarizing game, with some publications giving it perfect scores and others being far more critical. Game director Hideo Kojima recently spoke about this mixed response to the game in an interview with Italian publication Tgcom24, where he expressed his belief thatDeath Strandinggot some poor reviews in the United States because the game was too difficult for reviewers to understand and that Americans prefer first-person shooters.
“I must say that the game received rave reviews, especially in Europe and Japan. Here in the United States, however, we have had stronger criticisms. Perhaps it is a difficult game to understand for a certain type of critic and audience. Americans are great fans of first-person shooters andDeath Strandingisn’t one, it flies higher,” Kojima said in the interview.
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Kojima then expanded on his statement. “I always attempt to create new things and disputes and discussions are fine, but it must be said that the Italians or the French have a different artistic sensibility that allows them to appreciate this kind of very original product, not only in video games but also in cinema.”
It’s reasonable to assume that some fans may take offense to Kojima’s statement, as it appears to dismisscriticisms levied atDeath Strandingwhile also implying that some Americans don’t like it because they don’t “understand” it. Some may also take issue with Kojima’s claim thatDeath Strandingis a “very original product,” as while it does have some unique ideas, it is still essentially yet another open world game.
Others may agree with Kojima and feel as though the new features inDeath Strandingare enough to make it a completely unique experience. One such feature is theDeath Strandingsocial strand system, wherein players can change others' worlds with the structures that they build in their own. The social strand system encourages cooperation and givesDeath Strandingan admittedly unique sense of community.
Even so, some will point toDeath Stranding’s slow paceand the fact that the vast majority of the game consists of fetch quests as reasons why it may perhaps be deserving of some of its low scores. Wherever one falls in their opinion ofDeath Stranding, though, it’s clear that it’s going to be quite the divisive game, which is a little ironic as one of its main goals is to bring people together.
Death Strandingis out now for PS4 with a PC release to follow in the summer of 2020.
