Overdose is the next game from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Kojima Productions, and there’s a very good🎀 chance we’ll see it unveiled as part of Geoff Keighley’s Summer 🐲Game Fest. We don’t yet know what it is, what it looks like, how it will play, or if it even exists - but leaks point towards it being a survival horror experience from a studio that has long flirted with the field without diving in.
A recent interview from Norman Reedus that teased a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Death Stranding sequel could have instead been referring to this, or Kojima has upped his ambitions with multiple projects in the works that aim to push this medium to new heights. Say what you will about him, but there are few creators in gaming who are willing to take chances on weird and wonderful ideas 𝔍alongside a slew of blockbusters that have long grown predictable, and we should welcome whateverꦏ unexpected nonsense he dishes up when the time comes.
Hideo Kojima finally sinking into survival horror feels like a long time coming. Through 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Metal Gear Solid, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Zone of the Enders, and the ill-fated 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Silent Hills we’ve seꦡen what the man and his team are capable of when they seek to unsettle the player with situations that make them vulnerable and like there’s no way to fight back. With the exception of Silent Hills - and P.T. remains one of the scariest games ever made - the scarier moments in Metal Gear Solid aren’t even primarily focused on horror, but instead exist as part of a wider landscape that uses narrative and mechanics to draw us in and subvert our expectations of what his games are capable of.
A stealth adventure focused on staying hidden and taking out guards evolved into a caper involving conspiracy theories, vampires, ghosts, and so much more that take the mythology to untold places with an aura of welcome spookiness. While the series has always flirted with horror in abstract ways, it wasn’t until Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain that Kojimℱa went all the way. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Silent Hills was likely being born in the midst of this game’s production and his controversial split from Konami. It can be easy to forget that horror doesn’t always need to involve bloody violence and jumpscares, it can also make us feel uneasy or paranoid, transforming the experience before our very eyes into something unknowably alien. Metal Gear Solid is a perfectionist at this.
I remember the initial reveal, which in typical Kojima fashion was unveiled as a game that had nothing to𒆙 do with the franchise and was instead developed by the fictional Moby Dick Studio and an imaginary auteur known as Joakim Mogren, who would promote the game covered in bandages to mimic its main character. It was utter nonsense, but I’d be lying if I wasn’t drawn in by it all. Largely because the concept was so compelling and had us begging to know more without ever unveiling too m🌌uch. Before long all was made clear.
You wake up from a coma in a mꦓysterious hospital with no memory of who you are or what happened to you. Your arm is missing, and a random doctor (who is also bald, which is extra spooky) makes it clear you’ve been unconscious for a long, long time. Suddenly the hospital is attacked, with heavily armed soldiers murdering staff and patients with no remorse. A random man staying in the same room ushers us to safety, having us hide amidst piles of fresh bodies, or take cover from helicopter searchlights slowly overtaking the entire building. We’re completely defenceless, with our body still adjusting to months of absolutely no movement or nourishment.
We cannot fight, we can’t even run, and all we have is the trust of a stranger to keep us safe. To this day, this opening remains iconic because of how it was first introduced as a new property before effortlessly folding itself into the Metal𓆏 Gear Solid universe. Kiefer Sutherland voicing a random dude in this new video game also gave things away a bit, meaning it had to be something major to attract such big names without hesitation. While part of me would have loved for this to be Kojima’s first true foray into the horror genre, it also resulted in one of the greatest stealth games ever made, so I’ll leave my complaints at the door for now.
Kojima’s history lends itself to survival horror so perfectly, and the genre will welcome him with open arms. Metal Gear Solid might be known for its nonsensical plot and eccentric themes, but games across the series are filled with moments and characters that are built to make us uncomfortable, or briefly question the reality in which we exist for just long enough. Imagine something like Psycho Mantis, but instead of a clever little gimmick it’s expanded into an entire game that aims to question our knowledge of survival horror before broadeไning our horizons of what the genre is capable of. Silent Hills wouldn’t have captured the imagination of millions if it weren’t for Kojima and his creative ensemble, and it wouldn’t have broken so many hearts upon its cancellation if the potential wasn’t so clear to see.
We don’t know yet what Overdose is all abou✅t, but it involves Hideo Kojima and the horror genre is moreꦜ than enough for me to surrender myself to it. Let’s get spooky.
