Review: Hideo Kojima documentary is a missed opportunity
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
"Hideo Kojima — Connecting Worlds." Image: Official trailer
A new documentary about one of gaming’s most famous creators provides an intriguing but frustratingly shallow look at Metal Gear lead creator Hideo Kojima.
Driving the news: “Hideo Kojima — Connecting Worlds” premiered at New York City’s Tribeca Festival on Saturday. The packed audience of hundreds came for the hourlong documentary and a Q&A with Kojima afterward.
- The movie, which was presented by Sony PlayStation and Kojima’s studio, is heavy on beautiful slow-motion shots of Kojima and reverential to the creative risks he and his team took developing 2019’s marquee PlayStation console exclusive Death Stranding.
- But it skips most of Kojima’s three-decade-long career making games in Japan, and only vaguely refers to the reason for Death Stranding’s existence: Kojima’s acrimonious 2015 split from longtime publisher Konami, where he masterminded the excellent, idiosyncratic Metal Gear series.
Details: In one scene, Kojima offers a hint of his motivations. He was a lonely child who found solace in fantasy worlds, he says. He was also devastated by the death of his father — ”a very scary man” — who he believes would have opposed his desire to make video games.
Kojima will turn 60 this year and is best known for military espionage adventures.
- But he was uncomfortable making games about war, because his parents experienced war. “I don’t want to portray combat as heroism,” he says.
- Those insights are scarce in a documentary loaded with famous musicians (Grimes, Chvrches) and filmmakers (Guillermo Del Toro, George Miller) raving about Kojima’s work ethic and creativity.
- Viewers are shown Kojima and his team setting up the Kojima Productions offices following the Konami fallout, and Kojima is shown giving notes as Death Stranding takes shape. The movie tells viewers that Kojima juggles 200 design problems in his head at once, but barely shows how he resolves them or what about his approach is unique.
What’s next: Plans for a wider release have yet to be announced, but Kojima is certainly keeping busy.
- At the Q&A, he said development of Death Stranding 2 is going well, as is another mystery project he called “a real great one” (likely the game he’s making for Xbox).
- Feedback he got from fans during the onset of the pandemic will inspire yet another game. “The staff is working on two. The third one is in my head."
Sign up for the Axios Gaming newsletter here.
