Death Stranding Aiming for 'Photorealistic' Graphics
By Jasmine Henry 06 December 2016
Hideo Kojima reveals that Death Stranding is aiming for ‘photorealistic graphics’ and that he and Guillermo del Toro are ‘collaborating on a deep level’ on the Hollywood director’s character.
Earlier this month, Hideo Kojima revealed that his upcoming game, Death Stranding, uses the same game engine as Horizon Zero Dawn. But fans shouldn’t expect the veteran game developer’s new title to end up looking similar to Guerrilla Games’ Pixar-esque robot-dinosaur game, as Death Stranding‘s graphics will be going in another direction.
Speaking to Red Bull Games, Kojima calls the Decima game engine “groundbreaking,” also praising Horizon Zero Dawn‘s “fantastic artistic vision.” Though the famed video game developer says that “there’s no point” in using Decima to create the same worlds and that the team is aiming for a “very photorealistic style” for Death Stranding instead. He also says that he’s a “big fan” of physics based lighting, also detailing “Glass Room” which Kojima describes as a “meeting room” where the team can “we can check the quality of reflections and accuracy of lighting on every single object, like tanks or the baby doll.”
Moreover, Kojima says that the recently revealed Death Stranding trailer was “rendered in real-time on a PS4 Pro,” though the game will “look much better” once it is released. While the PS4 Pro’s sales are doing fine by themselves, the news that one of the most talked about PS4 exclusives will make the most of the hardware’s improved tech (it will run in native 4K on the console) certainly provides even more of a reason to buy the new console model.
Additionally, Kojima has shed some light on the working relationship between himself and his friend, Hollywood director Guillermo del Toro. Kojima says that although he planned to do “an indie game, something on a smaller scale” after he officially left Konami, it was del Toro who told him “no Hideo. You can’t do that, people want more and you have to give them a new big game’.”
He also reveals that del Toro was “pretty sad” that their previous collaboration, Silent Hills, was cancelled. That del Toro has some strong feelings about Silent Hills is hardly surprising as the director recently insulted Konami on Twitter, slamming the company for its decision to cancel the game.
Kojima says that he and del Toro are “collaborating on a deep level” as they’re developing del Toro’s Death Stranding character together. It’s still unclear how del Toro’s character fits into the game, alongside Norman Reedus’ protagonist and Mads Mikkelsen’s antagonist, though fans, who have been comparing Death Stranding trailers looking for clues, may have their own suggestions. Hopefully Kojima reveals more on the game’s plot and its characters soon.
Death Stranding is in development for PS4.
