It seems that Hideo Kojima's first post-Konami project, "Death Stranding," now has a more definite release date window according to hints dropped by Kojima himself which also revealed that the game will feature a main heroine, possibly as another protagonist.
The weekend saw the occurrence of this year's version of the annual Tokyo Game Show, an event that functions much like E3 with news and announcements for current and upcoming video games. Some of the newly released information at the event was for Hideo Kojima's "Death Stranding," which was first announced during Sony's press conference at E3 2016 last June.
One of the new details for Kojima's "Death Stranding" is the game's expected release date according to IGN. Although instead of outright saying when the game might launch, Kojima instead chose to deliver the news in a more roundabout way as is wont for one of the video game industry's biggest trolling creators.
Kojima said that "Death Stranding" will release "before the Olympics;" which could refer to either the 2018 Winter Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea or the 2020 Summer Tokyo Olympics in Japan.
Maybe realizing the hint is not enough, Kojima then referred to the legendary 1988 Katsuhiro Otomo film "Akira," indicating that "Death Stranding" will release before the year "Akira" is set in. The film was set in a dystopian future dated 2019, so that lands 2018 as when the "Death Stranding" release date will be set.
Combining both hints together, it could be surmised that Kojima plans to have "Death Stranding" out by January 2018 as the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics will begin on February. If he is only referring to the 2020 Summer Olympics however, considering it will take place in his home country, then the "Death Stranding" release date window will be extended by a year.
Other hints Kojima dropped for "Death Stranding" recently is the fact that the game will have a heroine. The official Kojima Productions Twitter account recently posted a message to its followers, announcing that casting for the game is still ongoing and asking fans who they might want to play the heroine.
Though a game having a heroine is not exactly big news, the possibility exists that "Death Stranding" will actually have two protagonists with the heroine actually being playable. Currently, the only confirmed actor working with the game is "The Walking Dead" star Norman Reedus, who featured in the game's concept trailer.
