Director Hideo Kojima says he "completely rewrote" Death Stranding 2 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic; speaking to IGN, Kojima explains that the sheer magnitude of the impact Covid-19 had on the world was so great that he couldn't not consider it.

"You can't pretend something as big as this didn't happen," he said.

"The game itself is based on characters who are not tied to reality, but the players themselves have experienced the pandemic, and a story written before that experience would not resonate with them in the same way."

Kojima elaborated on the pandemic in an interview. Aside from its impact on "Death Stranding 2," he also expressed his concern that the pandemic continues to bring people closer together. He said, "Personally, I feel threatened by the pandemic's continued push to leave Tokyo, promote remote work, and minimize face-to-face contact. 'People are present in physical reality. When I went to America and was finally able to hug people again, the feeling was so different."

It is worth noting that "Death Stranding" itself was eerily prescient about pandemics, especially the theme of humanity being scattered and isolated after a disaster. This is something Kojima commented on directly in an interview. In Death Stranding, making connections was the right thing to do. After the pandemic really happened, there are many isolated people who were able to survive thanks to connections. But I am not sure if we should do that just with the Internet."

Kojima further believes that these "isolation and division" issues that are now affecting the world are not solely related to Covid. He does not specify what the other factors are, but it is reasonable to assume that he is referring to the war in Ukraine and perhaps the rise of fascism in the U.S. and Europe (although it should be said that humanity struggling with issues of social and political division is not necessarily a new problem). In any case, Kojima believes that entertainment can play a role in solving these problems. Entertainment cannot intervene in politics, nor can it be used as a weapon. The existence of entertainment can change the world, and by providing entertainment, I want to help bring vitality to people."

Kojima also believes that "entertainment is the only thing that can change the world, and I want to help bring vitality to people by providing entertainment.

At the same time, he is concerned that technology will continue to have the effect of reducing the distance between individuals and between people and art. I think the hardware platform of games will eventually disappear, and we will be able to share them anytime, anywhere, with anyone," he said. But my concern is that we're going to end up in a world where entertainment is falling from above. Even now, AI will recommend things it thinks you'll like, and I think we'll get to a point where individual videos will change depending on who's watching them"

.

This is not all Kojima told IGN. He also elaborated on Kojima Productions' planned film Death Stranding (opens in new tab).