[ad_1]
Summary
-
OD
, the new horror game from Hideo Kojima and Jordan Peele, may be haunted in the real world, adding to the eerie atmosphere of development. - Kojima’s studio, Kojima Productions, has performed a Shinto ritual called oharai to cleanse the project but may need to do another due to mysterious sounds.
- The supernatural presence in the studio is unlikely to deter
OD
‘s development and may even inspire the game, making it a unique horror experience.
The new game OD is a major horror venture from Hideo Kojima and genre expert Jordan Peele, and it sounds like there might be some real-world haunting to cast the right sort of specter over development. Revealed at the Game Awards 2023, OD marks Kojima’s return to horror after the canceled Silent Hills game that he was working on with Guillermo del Toro in the early 2010s. This time, OD is in the hands of the independent studio Kojima Productions rather than Konami, so OD shouldn’t run the same risk of meeting its doom too early.
The newest updates on OD come courtesy of a new video called HideoTube: Special Edition on the official Kojima Productions YouTube channel, which features discussions of the upcoming titles OD, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, and Physint. When talking about the star-studded OD trailer, Kojima says that a clanging sound in the trailer was actually recorded in the Kojima Productions studio, where the noise recurred throughout the night.
The team already insured the project by doing a Shinto ritual known as Oharai or Ōharae-shiki, but according to Kojima, the mysterious sound is an indication that they might need to do another. This, of course, isn’t the first time that a studio has been plagued by an apparent haunting, though it is rare to occur during video game production.
How Kojima Is Dealing With The Haunting Of OD
Oharai, or Harae for the more general term, has a long history in Shinto religious ceremonies, where the process is regularly performed at the beginning of rituals to purify participants before offerings are given. In the new HideoTube video, Kojima refers to a common practice of performing the ritual ahead of making horror projects, which meshes with the idea that the spirit is cleansed through the process. Although it’s quite possible Kojima has undergone oharai before, it’s likely the first time for Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, who’s pictured in a photo alongside Kojima and other members of the Microsoft team.
Kojima proposes visiting a “more powerful place” in light of the mysterious noise in the studio, offering Mount Osore as a suggestion. This particular mountain lines up nicely with many elements of Buddhist beliefs about the afterlife, so it’s often viewed as the closest place to the dead. Mediums known as itako are associated with Mount Osore, so perhaps Kojima is thinking that some direct communication with the ghost of Kojima Productions could be the best way to address the issue.
No release date for OD has been given, but estimates have speculated 2025-2026.
Regardless of whether Kojima Productions does end up taking on any additional security measures, the haunting presence in the studio is unlikely to deter OD‘s development as much as the factors that led to the cancelation of Silent Hills. As the use of the sound in the trailer indicates, the idea of a supernatural presence might actually be the perfect inspiration for work on the game. There’s a lot going on at Kojima Productions right now between the three games on the roadmap, but OD could be the one that lands closest to home if the mysterious noises don’t abate.
Source: Kojima Productions
OD: A Hideo Kojima Game
- Developer(s)
- Kojima Productions
- Publisher(s)
- Kojima Productions , Xbox Game Studios
- Genre(s)
- Psychological , Horror
- ESRB
- Rating Pending
[ad_2]
Source link
