Highlights
- Hideo Kojima’s new game, OD, has a teaser trailer that is even weirder than his previous game Death Stranding.
- The trailer features strange characters repeating a nonsensical phrase and leaves viewers with many questions.
- Kojima is known for subverting player expectations and creating a terrifying experience, and OD is touted as a new style of game.
Visionary game designer Hideo Kojima has unveiled his latest creation, OD, and its trailer is arguably his weirdest yet, somehow trumping that of Death Stranding. Kojima revealed Death Stranding at E3 2016 with a provocatively surreal trailer that featured Norman Reedus, who at the time was largely known for his role in the hit series The Walking Dead.
The Death Stranding reveal trailer left the gaming world scratching its collective head, and now Kojima has done it again. The teaser for the upcoming Xbox-exclusive OD trailer is somewhat minimalistic by comparison but is by no means less confusing. In fact, one could go so far as to say it is downright disturbing.
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OD Trailer Breakdown
OD‘s teaser features Sophia Lillis in a dark room and somewhat confidently says: “The hungry purple dinosaur ate the kind, zingy fox, the jabbering crab, and the mad whale, and started vending and quacking.” It’s almost as if her character is being prompted to say this. It makes no sense yet out of context besides being a phonetic pangram, and it may not be clear what exactly it means until more is revealed about the game.
Another character portrayed by Hunter Schafer repeats this strange phrase, but is visibly distressed, as if she is about to break down in tears. It isn’t clear what the source of her discomfort is, since all that can be seen is her face. The characters do have a strange reflection in their eyes, but it’s not clear what it is.
The hungry purple dinosaur ate the kind, zingy fox, the jabbering crab, and the mad whale, and started vending and quacking.
The same bizarre phrase is repeated more slowly and deliberately by German actor Udo Kier, who also has a strange reflection in his eyes. The view then cuts back to Sophia Lillis, who remains silent for the most part. Her eyes appear heavy, as if she is struggling to stay awake. A door is heard opening in the background. Lillis doesn’t immediately react, but whatever comes through that door makes her scream briefly, as if she is initially frightened, and then realizes she is looking at something familiar. Many fans have been waiting a long time for Kojima to make something this frightening.
How OD’s Trailer Is Stranger Than Death Stranding’s
The reveal trailer for Death Stranding gave viewers a lot more information to work with, even though it was filled with unsettling and confusing imagery. The trailer for OD is far more minimalist, and this is perhaps what makes it so disturbing.
Viewers are left with so many questions about what the seemingly nonsensical phrase means, why the characters are repeating it, where the characters are, and why they are there in the first place. It would also be interesting to know exactly what comes through that door. Less is more here; a lot is left to the imagination, where the Death Stranding trailer all but bombarded the viewer with unsettling and confusing imagery with relatively little explanation.
What The OD Trailer Means
It seems unhelpful to speculate too much about what exactly is going on with OD‘s trailer. Hideo Kojima excels at subverting player expectations and turning conventions on their head. All that is known for certain is that Kojima has set out to make a truly terrifying experience, and is touting OD as an entirely new style of game.
One detail from Hideo Kojima’s appearance at The Game Awards 2023 stood out to long-time fans. The doorway he entered through seems to be a reference to PT, the playable demo of what was meant to eventually be a new Silent Hill game that ended up being scrapped when Kojima parted ways with Konami. The doorway clearly has something to do with OD itself, but it could also have been a deliberate and cheeky reference to the ill-fated game.
Death Stranding
The first title from iconic game designer Hideo Kojima since starting his own game studio, Death Stranding stars Walking Dead icon Norman Reedus as a sort of Sci-Fi-Fantasy-inspired delivery man. Players will need to make their way past mysterious creatures known as BTs as they attempt to make it from one location to the next.
- Released
- November 8, 2019
- Engine
- Decima
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language
- How Long To Beat
- 40 Hours
- Metascore
- 85
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
