Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Director Adds Easter Eggs to Games to Reward Long-Time Fans

While the games that Hideo Kojima has worked on are famous for having plenty of Easter eggs and other small surprises, in an interview with The Washington Post, the director spoke about how these references aren’t really a self-homage. Rather, he said that he adds these things to games for those that have been fans of his previous works.

“It’s the same person making the games, right? So it’s kind of unavoidable in that sense,” Kojima said. “Also, I play little tricks and fun jokes, leaving white whales and things like that. I don’t want to say it’s a self-homage, but it’s more of a service to the fans who have been playing my games.”

In the same interview, Kojima also spoke about how he didn’t initially have plans for a sequel to Death Stranding. The original title was meant to just be his first project as head of an independent studio. However, eventually, he started getting ideas for new stories and subplots. These he noted, first came to him when he was thinking about potential sequels, spin-offs and DLC during the development of Death Stranding.

“Ideas, stories and subplots began to surface naturally. Even while we were still in the middle of production, I was already thinking about downloadable content, sequels and spin-offs,” he said. He felt the need to expand on what he refers to as a “rope game”, and how it needed to be established further.

“I felt that this new gameplay concept of delivery, a rope game, was something that needed to be established within the industry, more so than just the story or the worldview,” he said.

Kojima had also spoken about why he stopped trying to surprise players by using deceptive trailers for his projects. The subject came about because of his history with the practice, dating as far back as Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, which had made no indication that Raiden would serve as the protagonist for most of the game rather than fan-favourite Solid Snake. The current media environment, he noted, was a major reason he decided to hide little when it came to trailers for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.

“Harrison Ford played the Red Hulk, if you remember that movie, and this was supposed to be a big reveal. But when we went to see it, the poster was already on display at the movie theater,” Kojima said, referring to Captain America: Brave New World. “We’re living in that kind of era of information, and I wanted to use that as a hook.”

“I’m trying to make it different from a movie or a book, where people say, ‘Oh I knew that all along,’” he continued. “It’s more like if you play 60 hours, and at the very end you feel it’s great that it was a happy ending, just as you hoped at first. I put that in deliberately. I deliberately drip-feed those kinds of spoilers.”

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is available on PS5. Check out our review for more details.