Hideo Kojima’s upcoming game, Death Stranding, may be set in Iceland based on clues left by the legendary game director.
We know very little about Kojima’s upcoming blockbuster, Death Stranding. We know the game will feature some advanced motion capture and facial scanning that will allow some world-class actors to be more than just voices of characters. The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus will play what is probably the main character, while Denmark’s Mads Mikkelsen will play a likely villain.
Fellow director Guillermo del Toro will also play a role.
Whatever else we know come from the teaser videos released which seem to portray a post-apocalyptic and otherworldly landscape. It also bears a striking resemblance to Iceland, which is kind of the same thing (sorry, Iceland).
Last week, Kojima tweeted a screenshot from the game that depicted a moss-covered rock, obviously to show off some next-level textures.
One eagle-eyed Twitter user noticed that Kojima’s rock bears a striking resemblance to rocks found in lava fields in Iceland, almost done to the same shade of green for the moss. He even provided a side-by-side comparison for you to draw your own conclusions.
Kojima himself retweeted the image in what we can only assume to be a confirmation.
There’s also quite a bit of resemblance to the Icelandic lava flows in the official teaser images. Check out the moss-covered rocks behind Reedus’ character and compare to the image below. Notice something familiar?
There’s more of course. Back in 2014, Kojima posted an image of the Icelandic rocks while working on location for Metal Gear 4.
That landscape seems to have inspired the bizarre and almost alien world that we see in the 2017 teaser trailer. Note the jagged rocks combined with sprawling moss.
In the 2016 trailer, the music heard was from Icelandic band Low Roar. And finally, promotional imagery for Decima, the game engine that powers both Death Stranding and Guerilla Game’s blockbuster hit Horizon: Zero Dawn, also has imagery from Iceland. Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach, to be exact.
Now, this could all just be that Kojima was inspired by Iceland to be the strange setting of his game. Or it could mean that Iceland will play a pivotal role in the game’s story. All we know or sure is Kojima really likes moss-covered volcanic rock.
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