Hideo Kojima gave us the first gameplay look at Death Stranding this year at E3. That didn't necessarily reveal too much in terms of what's going on in the game, but it certainly looked good running on PlayStation 4 Pro hardware.

　　Kojima also spoke with several outlets over last week's course and in an interview with The Telegraph, he rejected the notion that he could be trying to legitimize games as a medium via Death Stranding's stellar cast of actors (Mads Mikkelsen, Norman Reedus, Lindsay Wagner, Léa Seydoux, Guillermo del Toro) and offered a very different explanation for his choices in this regard.

　　That’s not my aim at all. Game development is something that takes a lot of energy and requires a lot of time and is something you wholly invest your life into. I’m sure it’s the same case for making a movie but when you’re investing so much you don’t think about whether actors sell or whether they’re famous or they’re established. For me, it was more working with people I trust and people I like to work with.

　　Back in the day, we didn’t use actors - we created characters from scratch like they did in anime. In my case, I’ve been making games for 32 years and the technology now means I can create whatever I can think of with 100% validity. But that’s not interesting because it has no analog element, it has no organic, living element. For example, if I had Norman here I might say I want him sitting in this chair and he’ll say, no, I think it would be better if I sit over here. And I’ll be, right, let’s see what comes out of it.

　　I want to get the kind of chemical reaction that comes out of using these actors, to create the game and develop the game together. Working with Norman, working with Mads, working with Lindsay, working with Lea - all of them contribute a lot and have a lot of ideas. Especially Mads - he’s the guy who takes over the whole set at times!

　　Death Stranding does not have a release date and we probably shouldn't expect to be able to play it before a year and a half or even longer. Still, we'll make sure to update you once Kojima-san graces us with a launch date; until then, stay tuned.