Death Stranding 2: On The Beach composer Woodkid shared an interesting tidbit about the game’s development that really caught my attention. Apparently, Hideo Kojima decided to change parts of the game because early testers enjoyed it a little too much. Yeah, it sounds wild, but hear me out.
Woodkid, whose real name is Yoann Lemoine, talked about his experience working on the soundtrack and collaborating with Kojima in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. There was a moment halfway through development when Kojima told him, “We have a problem. We have been testing the game with players and the results are too good. They like it too much.” That’s pretty unusual, right?
Kojima felt that if everyone liked the game straight away, it meant the experience was too safe, too mainstream, and maybe even predictable. He wanted the game to challenge players, to make them feel something more complex, even if that meant some people wouldn’t like it at first. So, he changed parts of the script and some key moments to create stronger, more polarizing emotions.
Woodkid explained, “If everyone likes it, it means it’s conventional. It means it’s already pre-digested for people to like it. And I don’t want that. I want people to end up liking things they didn’t like when they first encountered it, because that’s where you really end up loving something.” Honestly, that’s a pretty bold move from Kojima. How often do you hear developers admit to tweaking their game because it’s too liked?
