Hideo Kojima, creator of Death Stranding, has commented on the name of the enhanced version of his game which will be released on PlayStation 5 on 24th September 2021. In short, he doesn’t like that it’s called a Director’s cut.
“A director’s cut in a movie is an additional edit to a shortened version that was either released reluctantly because the director did not have the right to edit it, or because the running time had to be shortened,” tweeted Kojima.
“In the game, it is not what was cut, but what was additionally produced that was included. Delector’s Plus? So, in my opinion, I don’t like to call ‘director’s cut’.”
Presumably that was a typo and he meant ‘Director’s Plus’. He has a point though, nothing is being cut from the game as he was happy for it to be released as is back in November 2019. However, many games have had a ‘Game of the Year’ edition despite not being he actual game of the year, so the name appears to be a decision by Sony’s marketing team.
The allegedly misnamed Director’s Cut features expanded gameplay with advanced combat mechanics that include upgraded melee, the taser-like Maser Gun, mounted machine guns and a firing range to test them all out. Handy when there’s new battles for you to face and new story missions to grow the narrative that bit further.
Getting around the world will be enhanced with new delivery support options. These include a Cargo Catapult, Support Skeleton to let you carry more, a Buddy Bot to carry you, and jump Ramps to let you zip across big gaps on your bike. There’s also new Fragile Circuit Racing that I’m sure will be popular.
In our Death Stranding PlayStation 4 review I wrote wrote:
Death Stranding is like nothing I have ever played; beautiful, heart racing, heart breaking, frustrating, epic, stunning, and utterly nuts. I laughed, I cried, I cursed, and I went to the toilet an awful lot. Death Stranding isn’t just my Game of the Year, it’s a contender for Game of the Generation too.
Check out our Death Stranding Hub for everything you need to know about the game.
Source: Twitter
Lieutenant Fatman
I get what he’s saying but it’s the most obvious way to convey to customers that this is an improved release with additional content.
MrYd
Is he implying that a director’s cut of a movie has to be longer than the original version? Not always the case. One of the most famous director’s cuts was Blade Runner, which cut out a load of studio interference (the voice over, leftover footage from The Shining), added unicorns, and still managed to be shorter. Only by a minute, but still counts.
Of course, that had another release later with the Final Cut, which managed to be a minute longer again.
Hopefully, there’s not too much extra stuff added to Death Stranding. But it’s Kojima, so there’s probably an extra dozen hour long cut scenes and he’ll insult you if you point out that they’re probably not really necessary.