Just the thought of Hideo Kojima making another game gets people hyped up. The legendary Metal Gear creator went independent with Death Stranding in 2019, and now at The Game Awards 2023, Hideo has revealed his next game titled “OD” – likely short for Overdose. According to him, it’s a new “genre-defying” experience in collaboration with Xbox.
The teaser for OD was perplexing, to say the least. It was so confusing in fact that fans weren’t even sure it was a video game until Hideo explicitly said so on-stage. Regardless of Kojima’s cryptic ways, his devoted fan base can’t wait to see what Overdose is all about. If you’re one of those lucky few who can relate to Kojima’s works and are eager to play OD, here’s everything we know so far.
OD Release Date
Kojima Productions hasn’t commented on the release date of OD, however, a realistic assumption would be late 2026 or later.
Right now the impression is that Kojima will release Death Stranding 2 before OD, mainly owing to the fact that DS2 was confirmed a year before. Furthermore, the OD teaser was bare-bones, and felt as if the game was in early pre-production at best. That aligns perfectly with a tweet Kojima made in January 2024 stating that DS2 was nearing completion while Overdose had much filming and production left.
OD’s reveal seemed more like a powerplay from Xbox rather than something definitive to look forward to. In any case, don’t expect any further updates about Overdose until after Death Stranding 2 hits PS5s worldwide.
Which Platforms Will OD Launch On?
Surprisingly, Kojima is teaming up with Xbox to make OD. Kojima Productions hasn’t said it out loud yet, but it is more or less confirmed that OD will be exclusive to Xbox and PC.
Contrary to this, only PlayStation 5 owners will be playing Death Stranding 2 day-one. A fair trade-off wouldn’t you say?
OD Will Be Running On The Unreal Engine
It’s worth mentioning that OD will be the first Hideo Kojima game built using Unreal Engine. Death Stranding was made with Sony Guerilla’s Decima Engine while the Metal Gear series ran on the Fox Engine of Konami.
Is this something to be worried about? Not in the slightest, but undoubtedly, shifting engines does have its hurdles and might cause OD’s development cycle to last longer.
The Cast of Kojima’s OD
In 2022, before even the official teaser of OD debuted, capture footage of a video game with Margaret Qualley as a playable character leaked. The video ended with the words “Overdose, A Hideo Kojima Game”, hence the connection to OD.
However, the footage seemed as if it was from a proof-of-concept stage of Overdose, and it’s possible that Kojima only used Margaret’s scans to test the idea.
The capacity of Margaret Qualley’s inclusion isn’t entirely known, but the official teaser did reveal some of the cast including Sophia Lillis, Hunter Schafer, and Udo Kier. What’s more so is that Jordan Peele is also involved with OD, perhaps as a co-director given his background.
Fans Spotted Silent Hills References
Hideo Kojima’s OD is a horror game or a subgenre of one, that’s one thing we know for sure. Previously, Kojima had a Silent Hills horror game in the works before it was eventually canned.
Fans who paid close attention to OD’s teaser were able to spot a few easter eggs. The letters A-T-A-M-I could be seen in specific frames and grouped together, they represent the name of a city in Japan called Atami. Interestingly, the kanji name of Atami translates to “Silent & Hill”. Maybe this is Kojima’s way of saying OD will be a love letter to fans of the Silent Hills franchise.
Is OD Set In The Death Stranding Universe?
OD doesn’t seem to be set in the Death Stranding universe. It would be weird for both to share universes given that one is an upcoming Xbox IP while the the other is a PlayStation IP.
That said, you can’t help but wonder if the thought crossed Kojima’s mind, if only for a moment.
For more of the latest gaming news, you can read about 11 Bit Studios announcing the new release window for Frostpunk 2 in 2024.
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