We already knew Hideo Kojima’s new Metal Gear-style Physint was still some considerable way off, but the acclaimed designer has now shed some further light on its progress, confirming it’s still early enough in development that he’s currently working on its “all by myself”.
Physint was announced to be in the works for PlayStation in January last year, with Kojima Productions describing it as a “next-generation action espionage game” that was due to begin development “in earnest” after Death Stranding 2’s arrival. And with the latter game now out in the wild, thoughts have naturally turned to what Kojima might be prioritising next.
At least some of his time, according to a recent interview with Indiewire, remains focused on Death Stranding 2, as he continues “checking the data of… players all over the world – what kind of weapons they’re using [and] the routes they’re taking” in order to decide “where to fix and what to fix”. He also has “all these interviews every day, and also promotional… so I don’t feel like I’ve finished [Death Stranding 2], to be frank.”
As for what’s next, that would seem to be Kojima Production’s Xbox-backed horror project OD, initially announced December 2023. “I also am starting to work with the team on OD because that’s a new project,” he continued before confirming he’s “also doing Physint all by myself because that’s at the conceptual stage”. The project’s early status probably shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, of course. Back in May, Kojima revealed Physint was now “in development”, noting it would likely take him “another five or six years” to complete.
Physint sounds like a game particularly close to Kojima’s heart. Speaking last year, he described it as a “culmination of my work”, saying his goal was to “transcend the barriers between film and video games”. He later revealed the project was born during a period of sickness and surgery, when thoughts of his own mortality convinced him to ‘change his priorities’ and do something fans had been asking him to do for years.
As for Death Stranding 2, that received a warm reception when it launched earlier this year, with Eurogamer calling it a “busier, louder, and more emotionally resplendent take on this singular hiking sim” in our four star review. And with potential ports still to come, not to mention a Death Stranding anime, we haven’t seen the last of the series just yet.