Hideo Kojima loves to drop little references to Hideo Kojima in his games – and Death Stranding 2 is no different – but he's admitted that it's all him, and that his team at Kojima Productions won't humor him.

For Kojima, those experiences led to a different approach for the sequel. His own sense of isolation that arose from having to develop Death Stranding 2 with a remote team saw him reconsidering its tale — yet it’s also this isolation that led to Kojima realizing the perils of digital connectivity.

Death Stranding 2 is so much more than a retread of the first game — and it might be Hideo Kojima's best game yet.