By Todd Black

When it comes to Hideo Kojima, you never quite know what to expect. Whether during his time at Konami or making games independently through Kojima Productions, he has a knack for doing whatever he wants and somehow making it work. Equally important, he can make nearly every project he works on sell well. Enter Death Stranding 2. The game was confirmed to be in development at The Game Awards, and Kojima has been heavily hyping his title. He has dropped plenty of teases for the game, and he is not alone. Elle Fanning, one of the lead actresses in the game, has also shared some thoughts about the project.

Her comments came on Hideo Kojima’s podcast, where the conversation turned to the game’s technology. According to Elle magazine, Kojima is pushing motion capture to new heights to make the game look even better than the original.

She noted that Kojima “always says ‘It’s not finished yet. This isn’t what it’s going to look like at all.’ But when I see it, I think ‘It looks amazing.’ But in his head, ‘Oh man, it’s going to be so much better, don’t even look at this.’”

Kojima is famously a perfectionist, yet this time he seems determined to go beyond that standard. From the trailers, we have already seen how striking and surreal the game looks. Imagine if the final version can surpass that visual quality — it would be incredibly impressive.

Elle Fanning is already impressed by the game. As she shared on the podcast, it “already looks incredible and realistic, but I know it’s going to get even better.”

“I can’t reveal much right now,” Kojima added on the podcast. “But we are using a new technology this time. The scanning process was a bit challenging, though Elle had a great time.”

Taken at face value, Kojima is striving to make actor scanning and motion capture more lifelike for better in-game representation. He recently revealed the game will adopt “new technology”, meaning Kojima is not merely relying on existing proven tools. Instead, he wants to keep pushing the boundaries forward.

In other words, it is classic Kojima.

With all that said, it is hard to imagine what the finished version of Death Stranding 2 will look like. But the bigger question might be: “Will we even understand what is going on in the game once it is complete?”