Was Death Stranding 2 reworked because playtesters liked it too much? Composer Woodkid speaks out

Yoann ¡°Woodkid¡± Lemonine is a French composer who¡¯s worn many hats throughout his career. From being a CGI artist in video games to directing the music videos for Taylor Swift¡¯s Back To December and Katy Perry¡¯s Teenage Dream, the man already had a meaty Resume before being hired by Kojima Productions to work on the upcoming Death Stranding 2.

When interviewed by the Rolling Stone magazine, Woodkid was promoting the soundtrack he¡¯d produced for the game, titled Woodkid for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. He then proceeded to reveal many eye-catching details about the game¡¯s production, notably how director Hideo Kojima actually reworked the game because playtesters were too uniform in their praise.

Kojima wanted the game to be more divisive

When asked whether he had any insights to share about Death Stranding 2¡¯s development, Woodkid revealed that Kojima believed the uniform approval playtesters gave in their feedback was a problem. As Woodkid put it, Kojima had said:

¡°I¡¯m going to be very honest, we have been testing the game with players and the results are too good. They like it too much. That means something is wrong; we have to change something.¡±

According to Woodkid, Kojima was very concerned about the finished game having too much mainstream appeal. Worried that these positive reactions were actually indicators of an underlying blandness to the narrative, Kojima actively worked to make the game more polarizing in response. He believed that if players grew to appreciate the story over a prolonged period instead of immediately liking what they saw, the game would end up far more impactful.

Woodkid considers Death Stranding 2 a balancing act

Woodkid calls Death Stranding 2 both mainstream and radical. | Credit: X

Woodkid has called Death Stranding 2 both mainstream and radical at the same time, and he believes that is a tricky balance to achieve. As Woodkid put it, artists frequently compromise their creative vision to appeal to the masses, but Kojima¡¯s an exception. Woodkid admired his singular dedication to his creative vision, but he also considered Kojima to be receptive to feedback, and considered his collaboration with the game director to be a ¡°dialogue¡± rather than a one-sided relationship where he just did as he was told.

Hideo Kojima has often worn his Hollywood influences on his sleeve, but Woodkid ended his interview by claiming that just like the Metal Gear franchise, Death Stranding would also prove to be massively impactful, both in gaming and in Hollywood.

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