In a recent interview with Nikkei Cross Trend, Hideo Kojima gave some insights about how Kojima Productions approached development of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, including the tricky subject of difficulty.
“We gave a lot of thought to difficulty,” Kojima says. He notes that despite ultimately attracting over 20 million players, the original Death Stranding had some “pretty sharp edges,” so improving playability was one thing he was conscious of with the sequel. “We wanted to retain the theme and gameplay mechanics, but make adjustments so it’s easier to play. That’s why we added more vehicles, for example.”
Interestingly, he admits to intentionally leaving in some “extreme” design choices in the first Death Stranding, which led to the game having two major points where players dropout rates soared. One of these was the mission in which you deliver President Bridget Strand’s dead body. On the other hand, when making Death Stranding 2, the developers didn’t include these kinds of intentionally punishing moments, and more players are able to reach the game’s ending as a result.
At the same time, Kojima is aware that the milder difficulty made some hardcore players find the sequel “lukewarm” compared to Death Stranding, commenting that the right balance is hard to find when it comes to difficulty.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is available on PS5.
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