Hideo Kojima and Sony revealed Death Stranding during E3 with one of (if not the) strangest reveal trailer of all time.
The trailer has already generated some wild, weird, and wonderful theories across the internet, and Kojima himself has now shared a host of behind the scenes images that give us a little more insight into the making of the trailer.
Oh, and sorry to disappoint any Norman Reedus admirers out there, but he wasn’t actually naked during filming. Just thought I’d get that out of the way early.
It’s almost a let down to see that Hideo Kojima stands around helping make stuff like a normal man – I always imagined he that he sat in a cupboard, wishing his games into existence and pulling them from a magic black hat.
Alas, you can see him below working with Reedus to bring the CG trailer to life.
The trailer was recorded between March 22 and 23 at the Sony Interactive Entertainment Visual Arts Service Group (VASG) studio in San Diego.
A description from the Kojima Productions website reads:
The scan data to be used for the game’s 3D data was created through Photogrammetry, based on photos from all angles.
Hundreds of photos were taken to cover everything: the actor’s hands, facial expression, full body, etc.
All of the scan data, as well as the animation data captured at VASG was then taken back to Japan, where it was recreated in the game engine to complete the endlessly odd final product.
And as you might expect, they didn’t actually use a real baby during filming. That might have been a bit weird.
There are loads more images over at the official Kojima Productions site, as well as some high-res stills from the actual trailer – perfect for anyone out there desperate to crack just what the hell is going on in Kojima’s new game.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.