During Kojima Productions’ Beyond The Strand 10th Anniversary event, Hideo Kojima showed off a new trailer for his mysterious Xbox game, OD. In typical Kojima fashion, the trailer revealed practically nothing about what OD actually was, but it did contain a lot of striking, bizarre imagery. The gameplay footage revealed here is depicted from a largely first-person perspective, and it shows a woman attempting to light baby-shaped candles in order to accomplish an unknown task. Before she is able to do so, however, her head gets grabbed by some mysterious figure, and faint outlines of other faces start to appear on her own face. The only thing viewers see afterward is the woman screaming out in fear, before the trailer ultimately fades to black.
Although this gameplay footage was relatively vague, Hideo Kojima provided some additional context about OD during the anniversary event. According to Kojima, OD will be somewhat like an anthology, as each part of the game will be centered around a certain type of fear. The ‘episode’ of OD that was shown off in the recent trailer is titled OD: Knock, and it apparently focuses on the fear of knocking. The other ‘episodes’ of OD, on the other hand, are a complete mystery.
OD Will Be Divided into Several Parts, Each of Which Focuses on a Different Fear
Despite touting it as a revolutionary experience, Hideo Kojima has provided very little information about OD‘s actual gameplay. He did, however, make an interesting comment about Jordan Peele and his involvement with the game. For those who don’t know, Kojima Productions originally revealed in 2023 that Peele would serve as one of OD‘s main creative leads. In this recent event, though, Kojima clarified Peele’s role by stating that “there’s a different kind of fear Jordan will do.” While he didn’t explicitly state as such, his comments seem to imply that each of the game’s sections will be directed by a different director. If true, this aligns with an important piece of information that Kojima shared about the game back when it was first announced.
Each Member of 'The Horror Avengers' Will Likely Direct a Specific Part of OD
OD is going to be the brainchild of not just Hideo Kojima and Jordan Peele, but of several other famous film directors, as well. The two are apparently members of a team that Kojima likes to call “the Avengers.” While neither Xbox nor Kojima Productions have revealed who the other members of this group are, the recent news about OD makes their roles in the game much clearer. Since OD will basically be like the video game equivalent of Masters of Horror or The Twilight Zone, it makes sense why so many talents have been attached to its development.
Some fans believe that Junji Ito and Guillermo del Toro are likely contributing to OD in some way, since they were both involved in the development of Kojima’s canceled Silent Hills game.
As Kojima has basically confirmed, each director involved with OD will likely tackle a completely different kind of horror and give each episode of the game their own directorial flair. OD will, in that sense, be a compilation of horror’s “greatest hits,” as the game will likely change drastically over the course of its runtime, and it will attempt to scare players in a variety of unique ways. Such an ambitious project wouldn’t really be possible under the guidance of Kojima and Peele alone, so it’s no wonder that Kojima decided to get a group of horror masters together for this game.
The Amount of Narrative Connectivity Between OD's Episodes is Still a Mystery
Despite all the information about OD that has recently been shared, it’s still unclear if the episodes of the game will be narratively disconnected or if they will tell a greater story. If the former is true, then maybe each of the game’s episodes will have a completely different cast of characters, featuring A-list actors and other Hollywood celebrities. If, on the other hand, the latter is true, then that means OD won’t be an anthology in the traditional sense, and the gameplay in each of its sections may not be as varied as initially assumed. Either way, since OD just entered full production in July, it may take a while for Kojima Productions to reveal more details about the game.