The highly anticipated Death Stranding 2 — the latest game from Japanese auteur Hideo Kojima — is set in a post-apocalyptic Australia. He had the help of some local icons to make it happen.
Hideo Kojima isn't just widely regarded as video gaming's first auteur — as the mind behind cerebral and ground-breaking series Metal Gear Solid — he's seen as a bit of an oracle, too. If the Japanese developer's track record is anything to go by, perhaps Australia should be a little wary.
Our country is the main setting for his latest game: the post-apocalyptic Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, where bushfires, floods and earthquakes are as much danger as its anti-matter ghosts, who can be fought off with boomerangs infused with blood. History has revealed several of the Japanese developer's games to be eerily prescient: The shadowy antagonists of 2001's Metal Gear Solid 2, for example, work towards a digital world where disinformation runs rampant, decentring objective truths in favour of echo chambers.Death Stranding 2's subtitle 'On The Beach' is a reference to Nevil Shute's 1957 sci-fi novel, set in Australia after a nuclear war.It centres on courier Sam delivering parcels across a post-apocalyptic landscape filled with deadly ghouls invisible to most. It was released in November 2019, just before millions became reliant on delivery drivers for food and everyday items due to the invisible threat of COVID-19. "Everyone was also isolated in real life — it was almost like the world of Death Stranding," says Kojima, speaking to journalists in Sydney via translator. While divisive upon release, the game began to widely resonate with more than 10 million players as Death Stranding's overarching themes of connection — with Sam also digitally reconnecting a disparate United States — took on new weight. Now, thanks to some clever COVID workarounds and inspiration from such Australian film greats as George Miller, Death Stranding 2 is here, showing a familiar but stark Australia to the world.While gamers found solace in Death Stranding, Kojima was struggling with the sequel, which he calls "the most difficult challenge" of his career. The Japanese developer, now 61, fell seriously ill during production of On The Beach, and felt as though he may never recover. At the same time, eye pain prevented him from both focusing or escaping, unable to work or watch film — a favourite past-time. Hideo Kojima and George Miller came together at the Sydney Film Festival to talk about their work on Death Stranding 2."It got to a point where I almost gave up. But I came back. I reconnected with myself, with this project," he says. There were also logistical issues, with travel restrictions leaving Kojima unable to travel to either Australia or Los Angeles, where he was to work on motion-capture with the game's main actors, including Reedus, Elle Fanning and Léa Seydoux. "Usually, when I decide on a location, I go scouting. I go to scan or interview — and the last time was Iceland. This time, I was thinking a little warmer," he laughs. "This is a game where Sam traverses, so you need a lot of great environments, deserts, mountains, animals as well, its own plants, species. That's another reason.") So, Kojima worked with a local photographer who travelled across Australia, with the designer watching via a real-time live stream.But Death Stranding 2's setting is probably more indebted to Australian New Wave cinema than any reference photos — Kojima is a noted film buff, and credits watching Mad Max as a teenager as the inspiration to enter gaming. Mad Max creator George Miller, who appeared in conversation at a Sydney Film Festival event with Kojima this June, even features in On The Beach, with his likeness used for a new character. keep coming. "Sometimes, I see movies and get ideas," he says. "But usually, it's just talking to people. Eating, walking, or maybe when I'm in the bath. "It's almost like a disease. I'm imagining things all the time. Even when I'm talking with my family, in my head I'm in a totally different world."
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