I wouldn't take that bet.
From MG1 through Snatcher up until MGS3, the man has directed or been involved with really good games. Games with good gameplay and really cool and inventive senerios and ideas. Plenty of moments that use games in cool ways.
My take on Kojima and as someone who has grown up with MGS games, is that the guy was a talented "otaku". He made games that were heavily inspired by the things he liked and was interested in. He was the nerd the made good. He liked movies like Blade Runner and Escape From New York and loved to read Neromancer and about the internet. So he made cool things that yeah were goofy, but no more goofy are less worthwhile then a nerd writing American Comic books while being inspired by Aliens. And his things did well and were well received. He kept on getting more praise and fans and whatnot. He started to believe now he was among the people that inspired him. And you know what, Death Stranding is the conclusion of that. It's the result of the fan finally making his magnum opus after years of smelling his own farts.
Or yknow thats the feeling I get from this game.
I think it would be dumb to say Kojima is'nt talented. He is and he must be a good game director. He's lead several AAA games to technical, critical, and financial success. But Death Stranding just looks like the project of someone trying to go bigger then thier means. I love Metal Gear Solid, Snatcher, Zone of the Enders, whatever. I loved the personality that Kojima games had. But a lot of that detail and personality comes from someone creating they love as a fan. Kojima loves 80s action movies so he made one. He loves giant robot anime, so he was involved in one. He loves Blade Runner so he made Blade Runner. MGS3 up till 4 honestly feels like homages to everything a nerd of his age would like. Sure it's it's own spin, but at the end of the day...it's easy to see where the inspirations are.
MGS5 to me is Kojima saying "fuck that corny shit" I'm a real artist now. And it dosen't work. It lacks any of the feeling and personality of MGS.
Death Stranding is giving me that feeling. "Fuck I'm an artist and I can do whatever the fuck I want. Here are my artist friends to validate me. Here is the budget and creative control Sony has given me to validate me".
I mean I'm going to check it out obviously. I don't want to go in with a bias. I just think the game looks like nonsense and not in a cool mysterious way.
