After decades of putting PlayStation first in his development career, Hideo Kojima has pivoted to Xbox for his next project: OD, short for Overdose. In typical Kojima fashion, the first trailer didn’t reveal many details, but instead focused on disturbingly realistic renditions of its main cast reading out bizarre passages.
It’s light on plot, setting, gameplay, or even genre, but Kojima took the stage after the trailer’s debut to clear up a few lingering questions—but only a few.
Overdose, which leaked last year, is a horror game—the first one Kojima has done since 2014’s ill-fated P.T.—that is promised to deliver an as of yet unparalleled level of immersion. Kojima has always been interested in blurring the lines between player and character, going all the way back to 2001’s Metal Gear Solid 2, and OD looks like the next step of that process.
This time around, Kojima has enlisted famed horror director and producer Jordan Peele, as well as Xbox’s cloud computing, making it likely that Peele’s statement that Overdose is like nothing else anyone has ever played will ring true. With the power of cloud computing, Overdose‘s technical requirements can soar far beyond the technology currently available to Xbox players—perhaps even allowing it to render at the stunning level of fidelity shown off on the trailer. With this in mind, that claim of immersion no one has ever seen in a game before seems more feasible than ever.
Of course, there’s no official platform list (will it be on PC?) or release window yet, but Kojima has teased he’s working with a dream team of fellow creatives on the game, who he calls “the Avengers.” At the moment, Peele is the only name on that list, but as information continues to come out of Overdose, expect it to expand. Between this and Death Stranding 2, how does Kojima find the time?
Published: Dec 7, 2023 09:19 pm