Highlights
- Kojima Productions is working on a Death Stranding movie with A24, promising a cinematic universe never seen before.
- While Death Stranding may be too weird for a movie, A24’s history of unique storytelling could make it work.
- The game’s themes of struggle and selflessness come alive through interactive gameplay, a key element difficult to replicate in a movie.
For die-hard fans of visionary game designer Hideo Kojima, the past few months have provided a wealth of exciting news surrounding Kojima Productions and the Death Stranding franchise as a whole. Perhaps most notably, it was revealed during PlayStation’s State of Play event back in January that development of a sequel to the successful 2019 game was well underway, with the project being titled Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. The game is slated for release in 2025.
The news some fans may have missed, however, is December’s announcement that Kojima Productions are also hard at work on a movie adaptation of Death Stranding.
A Death Stranding movie is in the works
Announced by Kojima himself on X, alongside a blog post on Kojima Productions’ website, popular movie studio A24 – famous for their consistently unique, high quality movies including Everything, Everywhere All At Once, Past Lives and Hereditary – were revealed to be collaborating with the game studio on the project:
A24 was born into this world about 10 years ago, their presence is singular within the industry, they are like no other. The films they are delivering to the world are high in quality and very innovative. I have been attracted to their creations and they have even inspired my own work. Their innovative approach to storytelling aligns with what Kojima Productions has been doing for the last 8 years. Now, we are making a Death Stranding movie together. There are a lot of “game adaptation films” out there but what we are creating is not just a direct translation of the game. The intention is that our audience will not only be fans of the games, but our film will be for anyone who loves cinema. We are creating a Death Stranding universe that has never been seen before, achievable only through the medium of film, it will be born
To those familiar with Hideo Kojima’s obsession with movies, this announcement probably isn’t all too surprising. In fact, a large percentage of Kojima’s social media activity is focused on his recently watched movies and TV shows, frequently sharing his thoughts on the latest releases. Still, Kojima’s specific brand of auteurism within the video game industry is so inherently cinematic that the news is still somewhat unexpected.
With his work often considered a prime example of the increasingly blurred lines between the mediums of cinema and video games, it’s even become commonplace for the designer to hire popular Hollywood talent to star in his projects – with Norman Reedus, Léa Seydoux, Mads Mikkelsen, Margaret Qualley and even Guillermo Del Toro being featured in Death Stranding alone. Whether any of the game’s existing cast will be transplanted into its movie adaptation remains to be seen. Similarly, the movie’s director, writers and plot similarities remain firmly under wraps for the moment.
What are the Death Stranding games about?
Taking place in a post-apocalyptic United States, Death Stranding’s title refers to the mysterious disaster that tore the world apart. Following a series of seemingly supernatural explosions known in-game as ‘voidouts’, the world of the living and a bizarre extradimensional realm begin to bleed into one another, resulting in a series of strange and deadly phenomena entering our reality. These phenomena include the appearance of menacing creatures known as ‘Beached Things’, or BTs for short, which are essentially human beings caught in a state of flux between life and death. A previously impercetible element known as Chiralium has also been discovered in the wake of the disaster, which, amongst other things, is known to cause a type of rain known as ‘timefall’, that rapidly ages any organic lifeform it touches.
Needless to say, the emergence of these phenomena has scattered the human race, leaving humanity adrift and disconnected. It’s the player’s job, as Sam ‘Porter’ Bridges, to gradually reconnect the human race by traversing the treacherous post-apocalyptic wasteland to deliver goods and services – but most importantly, establish the ‘Chiral Network’, which will enable communication between the scattered remnants of humanity. While it’s easy to get caught up in the game’s peculiar sci-fi concepts and extensive backstory, Death Stranding is ultimately about connection, hope, and repairing a broken world.
As far as gameplay goes, Death Stranding puts a heavy focus on traversal and inventory management, though the game does also feature combat mechanics.
Death Stranding is too weird to be a movie
Although Death Stranding serves as a masterclass in science fiction worldbuilding and long-form storytelling, it may well be just a little too weird to work as a movie. While the game doesn’t shy away from its bizarre iconography and heady concepts – trusting players to organically digest and accept its world over the duration of its 35+ hour story – general audiences may not be as receptive to the offbeat world of Death Stranding. While video game enthusiasts are already primed for Hideo Kojima’s idiosyncrasies as an artist and storyteller, glossing over some of the game’s more out-there concepts – take Bridge Babies, for instance – may leave moviegoers unfamiliar with the franchise or its creator scratching their heads.
This issue could be exacerbated by the condensed runtime of the medium. The scope of the game’s concept and narrative would be extremely difficult to adapt to the screen without heaping endless amounts of exposition on the audience, which is generally frowned upon as a method of storytelling. At the same time, it would also do Death Stranding a great disservice to water down Kojima’s vision for the franchise, with all of its quirks and intricacies being a huge part of what makes the game so special – leaving the project feeling like its caught between a rock and a hard place.
It’s also worth noting the distinct difference between movies and video games as mediums. It’s the interactive element of video games that enables them to tell a story in such a unique way, and that concept is particularly relevant when talking about Death Stranding. While the game’s detractors note its finicky traversal system and awkward mechanics as criticisms, these are actually features – not bugs. It’s only by wrestling with the game’s systems that the themes of struggle and selflessness become fully realized for players later in the game, when the time and efforts of other players begin to reveal themselves. Players are able to create shortcuts for other players that prove to be extremely helpful – with many gamers actually opting to ignore the main story in order to help other players across the world. It’s in these moments that the game’s themes are solidified, and it’s something that the passive experience of watching a movie simply can’t replicate.
Still, if anyone can pull this off, it’s undoubtedly A24. The production company has skyrocketed in popularity over the past few years, with its movies providing a consistently impressive alternative to the increasingly stale offerings of most major studios. Proving time and time again that the company is unafraid to take narrative risks and showcase offbeat stories, A24 has earned a significant amount of goodwill amongst movie buffs worldwide – and it seems Hideo Kojima is one of them. Under the wing of A24, unapologetically strange stories like Everything Everywhere All at Once have not only managed to get made, but have flourished, with the aforementioned movie eventually taking home the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2023. With any luck, the collaborative efforts of Kojima Productions and A24 will result in an adaptation of Death Stranding that’s as faithful to the spirit of its source material as possible.
Leave a Reply