Few people in gaming can tweet and cause quite as a big a fuss as Hideo Kojima. Today, he authored a characteristically cryptic tweet accompanied by an image of what seems to be rocks covered in verdant moss.
His tweet reads ‘+1 on the T-minus 3 weeks. #E32018 Decima×Kojima=DS’. Breaking it down, he is referring to an upcoming feature at E3 for his newest project, Death Stranding, which is being made with Gorilla Games’ in-house Decima game engine. Decima was used to craft the critically acclaimed Horizon Zero Dawn.
+1 on the T-minus 3 weeks. #E32018
Decima×Kojima=DS. pic.twitter.com/OxNrqaxQJS— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) May 22, 2018
At face value, that’s pretty much all there is to the tweet and its simply Kojim a stirring the proverbial hornets nest in anticipation. ‘+1’ is somewhat more ambiguous; is he referring to another day marked off on the calendar or something related to what he plans to unveil?
As you’d expected, not everyone is satisfied with the rather practical nature of the tweet given Kojima – the man responsible for the Metal Gear Solid series – has a made a habit of inserting hints and Easter eggs everywhere. Many a fan is hard at work trying to extract concealed meaning woven into the image. Some of the more outlandish estimations involve hidden faces and, of course, a steady stream of memes.
For all intents and purposes, Kojima is showing off Death Stranding in-game footage and I have to say moss, rocks, and errant weeds have never looked so good. The level of detail found in each furry strand and the discoloration on the rocks, presumably caused by the weather, are spectacular. Put side by side with a real world photograph, it would be hard to tell the difference, which is a testimony to how photo-realistic games have become.
The image may have a link to Death Stranding’s narrative or may even form part of some sort of game play element. Who knows? E3 can’t arrive soon enough. Hopefully, we’ll get a few answers as well as the invariable new questions surrounding Kojima’s next masterpiece.
