Xbox Kojima horror game resurfaces with spooky new trailer and P.T. vibes

A new OD trailer has been shared by Hideo Kojima and Xbox’s Phil Spencer, and it seems very reminiscent of Silent Hills.

With Death Stranding 2 now out of the way, it appears Hideo Kojima’s next priority is his Xbox horror game OD, which saw its first teaser at The Game Awards 2023 and was described as not just a game but ‘at the same time a movie and at the same time a new form of media.’

Combined with the brief trailer, this didn’t really tell us anything, aside from the fact that it’s got a bunch of celebrities in it. There were some concerns that it would be cancelled, amid Microsoft’s widespread layoffs earlier this year, but the publisher assured fans that OD is still in development.

You’d think Microsoft would want to save any big updates for the Tokyo Game Show this week, as it’s one of the few Japanese games it has to call its own. But instead, a new trailer was shown during a livestream to celebrate developer Kojima Productions’ 10th anniversary.

It’s certainly a very spooky trailer and reinforces the belief that OD is being built out of the remains of Kojima’s cancelled Silent Hill game. The trailer has a similar feel to the P.T. demo, since it takes place from a first person perspective and features someone exploring a haunted house and lighting candles while creepy sounds emanate from all sides.

There’s also a bit of gross-out horror as a mass of worms starts spilling out of a cup, which is reminiscent of some of the rarely seen footage of what was intended to become Silent Hills, which was only shown at the Tokyo Game Show back in the day.

While the trailer is described as running in-engine (specifically on Unreal Engine 5) it’s unclear how much of it was actual gameplay. The very end doesn’t seem to be, with the perspective shifting to reveal the player character as It and Dungeons & Dragons actress Sophia Lillis, as some unseen monster slowly approaches her from behind.

The only other thing the trailer revealed was a new subtitle, making its full name OD: Knock. According to Kojima, this came about because he wants to explore ‘the fear of the knock.’

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer also made an appearance, calling OD ‘bold, unique, and unmistakably from this studio’ while ironically proclaiming how, at Xbox, ‘we empower creators to push boundaries.’

As a reminder, Xbox laid off hundreds of employees just two months ago and even cancelled a new game by ZeniMax Online Studios, despite Spencer himself loving it so much he had to be told to stop playing it.

It’s also strange to see the game being described as an Xbox exclusive, given the recent multiformat push, but when the project was first rumoured it was as something that involved Microsoft’s cloud gaming technology. That hasn’t been referenced recently but could be a secret element that will keep the game as Xbox-only.

Kojima also continued to reiterate how unique an experience OD will be… without ever explaining what makes it unique: ‘This is a special system. Even the infrastructure is totally new… no one has ever done this before. So, I am repeating tests and experiments, and I can’t speak anymore.’

At this rate, we’re unlikely to get a clear answer until OD is out, which could still be a while, as there was no mention of a release window.

Elsewhere in the livestream, Kojima shared an update on his next PlayStation exclusive, Physint aka his spiritual follow-up to the Metal Gear series.

A third game was also announced: a team-up with Niantic Spatial (a separate spin-off company of the Pokémon Go developer) for an augmented reality title that currently doesn’t have a name. The game will apparently scan in real-world objects as you pass them and make them interactive, either via your phone or AR glasses.

‘I can’t really speak about details yet but if you’re climbing a mountain there’s still entertainment there. To give a wild example, it’s like the real Death Stranding, in the real world, where you can connect with people or connect with the actual environment there in your city,’ said Kojima.

Speaking of Death Stranding, there were also brief updates on anime Death Stranding: Mosquito and a Q&A from live action director Michael Sarnoski, who did A Quiet Place: Day One. He revealed that the movie won’t be an adaptation of either of the games and won’t necessarily include any of the same characters, although he never said what it would actually be about.

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