With the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach coming up on June 26, we recently sat down with Hideo Kojima to discuss how the theme of ‘connection’ played a part in the development of the sequel during COVID, and what challenges he faced when redesigning the gameplay.
Familiarizing players with a new genre and offering more choice and freedom
PlayStation Blog: What were your goals when creating the sequel to Death Stranding? Were there any major changes or enhancements you were looking to implement?
Hideo Kojima: As we made the jump from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5, most of the changes were focused on game design and story. As you may recall, Metal Gear Solid was one of the first stealth games, and you had to go completely undetected to survive. There were no weapons available on the elevator at the beginning of the game, because if there were, players would most likely fight the enemies instead of sneaking past them. That defeats the purpose of a stealth game, so we intentionally left them out. Some said it was too difficult to reach the elevator (laughs), but the game included various mechanics to teach players how the stealth mechanics work. Then in Metal Gear Solid 2, we made some enhancements, like making weapon handling easier, or being able to target parts of the body from a first-person perspective.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach was designed with a similar philosophy. Players familiarized themselves with the ‘delivery game’ genre with the first game, and the sequel builds on that and provides players with more choice and freedom, particularly around combat; you can go in guns blazing, or you can choose not to use weapons at all. We also made cars and motorcycles more accessible.
As for the story, the predecessor was centred around Sam and Cliff. This time, the story delves deeper into who Lou is, her relationship with Sam, as well as Sam’s backstory.
Did the way players utilize the Social Strand System (SSS) surprise you in the first game? Did that have any impact on the development of Death Stranding 2?
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, the highly anticipated sequel to the genre-defying open-world adventure, launches on June 26 on PlayStation 5, with 48-hour Early Access available for select editions. I recently had the chance to go hands-on with the first 30 hours of the game.
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Sam’s next journey takes him from Mexico to Australia
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is set 11 months after the previous game. Sam Bridges, now living a quiet life with his BB (bridge baby) Lou, finds himself in Mexico following a request from Fragile. In Mexico, Sam gets caught u
Today, I am thrilled to officially unveil a new studio in the PlayStation Studios family. teamLFG originated at Bungie, but has also rallied developers from across the industry to bring to life an ambitious incubation project that I’m very excited about. The studio is now fully formed and ready to be introduced to the world.
I’ll let teamLFG introduce themselves properly and give a tiny glimpse of what they’ve been working on.
“Hello, world. It’s a delight to meet you, and we’re very grateful to be joining PlayStation Studios.
Our studio is headquartered in Bellevue, WA, with team members working both on-site and remotely throughout the U.S. and Canada. We are a team composed not just of industry veterans who have shipped titles like Destiny, Halo, League of Legends, Fortnite, Roblox, and Rec Room, but also industry newcomers with fresh creative perspectives and skills. We are passionate about exceptional action-based gameplay, moment-to-moment game feel, and richly social virtual worlds.
The “LFG” in “teamLFG” stands for “Looking For Group.” We are driven by a mission to create games where players can find friendship, community, and belonging. We want our players to feel excited when they log on to discover their teammates already hanging out online. We want our players to recognize familiar names and to make myths and memes out of each other. We want our players to love remembering that one time where they pulled off That Play that changed the whole story of the match. As we say on the team – dat’s da good stuff.
We will make immersive multiplayer worlds propelled by action games that players can learn, play, and master for countless hours. We want to build our games with our communities, inviting players to be a part of our development process through early access playtests. It’s critical that we stay nimble enough to react to player feedback, not just in our lead-up to launch, but throughout live service as we continue to grow the game and community for years to come.
Our first game is a team-based action game that draws inspiration from fighting games, platformers, MOBAs, life sims, and frog-type games. Players will inhabit a lighthearted, comedic world set in brand-new, mythic, science-fantasy universe. We can’t wait to reveal more.
‘Til then, we’ll do our best! Thanks for reading.”
– teamLFG
You can find more information on teamLFG via the links below:
https://www.playstation.com/corporate/playstation-studios/teamlfg/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/teamlfg/
Elden Ring Nightreign, a spin-off action adventure set within the Elden Ring universe, launches on May 30.
We spoke with the game’s director, Junya Ishizaki, about what we can expect from FromSoftware’s upcoming co-op multiplayer.
Game design focused on compelling combat
PlayStation Blog: You have experience working on level and combat design for FromSoftware’s past titles. Was there anything you gave particular attention to when creating Nightreign? What were some of the challenges?
Junya Ishizaki: If I had to pick one aspect that we focused on the most, it would be combat. The game’s main goal is to defeat the Nightlord at the end of each night, and the elements that form the character builds and the world map are placed around the world to make the gameplay more compelling and to encourage players to be more strategic in their combat.
In terms of challenges, honestly, everything was a challenge (laughs). Especially when it came to making major changes to the game mechanics, we had to make sure the game was still viable and truly enjoyable. We could have changed the mechanics without putting much thought into it, but there was a risk that the game would become something completely different, even though it was part of the Elden Ring universe. Finding the perfect balance between something that felt fresh and new, while still feeling true to Elden Ring, was challenging.
What was the idea behind the unique revival system that allows you to rescue incapacitated teammates by attacking them?
Since we were using many existing assets from Elden Ring, we wanted to find ways to leverage them in interesting ways. As we were tossing around ideas, we realized that ‘attacking’ is the most consistent element of Nightreign’s gameplay. We tested to see if it would work for resuscitation, and we discovered a wide variety of tactics depending on range, frequency, and probability, so we formally implemented it. We also found it quite amusing (laughs).
After playing the network test, while I enjoyed building my characters, I also felt like the strategy aspect became a little repetitive. Can we expect more unpredictability that encourages players to be more tactical, in the final product?
Yes, we’re also pursuing that approach, so the same strategy won’t always work when fighting the bosses. Your initial strategy may be effective for a while, but the bosses will gradually evolve and your tactics will no longer be viable, forcing you to rethink your approach.
Also, in the final version of the game, you’ll be able to determine the weakness of each boss before heading out. So, if poison is effective against an upcoming boss, you may proactively search for and loot items that inflict poison more often in that run. Taking advantage of their susceptibility will give you an edge in the fights. We intentionally designed the game so that you’ll need to adapt and evolve your strategies along with the changes that happen in the game.
