Hideo Kojima reflects on his legacy of creating 'experimental' games and says OD will be 'just as different'

A screenshot from the OD teaser trailer.
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)

Game designer Hideo Kojima has been discussing his legacy of creating “experimental” games, and has teased that the upcoming horror project, OD, will be “just as different.”

Over on Twitter today (January 4), Kojima wrote: “It seems I have been acknowledged by creating games that go against the current of the times, such as ‘hide-and-seek’ games where you sneak into a building without being detected by the enemy, or ‘delivery games’ where you enjoy moving around in an open world.”

He continued, noting that “the most experimental game was ‘defeating vampires outside your house’ using actual sunlight around you,” referring to the Boktai games. These utilized an in-built solar sensor, which was required to play the first three Game Boy Advance games (although it was optional in the fourth title which was released on Nintendo DS, named Lunar Knights). 

“It was met with fierce opposition from the staff and even within the company,” Kojima said of the Boktai series. “In that sense, OD is just as different.”

Currently, we know very little about OD, which was officially announced last month during The Game Awards 2023. It will star Sophia Lillis, Udo Kier, and Hunter Schaffer, but it’s not known at the time of writing what their roles will be, or how the game will play. Filmmaker Jordan Peele is also working on the project.

Speaking on stage at The Game Awards, Kojima teased: “It is a game, don't get me wrong, it's also a movie, and at the same time a new form of media.” 

OD is being developed with Xbox Game Studios using its cloud gaming technology, but it’s not been announced when we can expect it to be released.

Looking for some new games to play? You can find some excellent recommendations on our lists of the best Xbox Series X games, the best PS5 games and best Nintendo Switch games.

Catherine Lewis
News Writer, TechRadar Gaming

Catherine is a News Writer for TechRadar Gaming. Armed with a journalism degree from The University of Sheffield, she was sucked into the games media industry after spending far too much time on her university newspaper writing about Pokémon and cool indie games, and realising that was a very cool job, actually. She previously spent 19 months working at GAMINGbible as a full-time journalist. She loves all things Nintendo, and will never stop talking about Xenoblade Chronicles.