Hideo Kojima is his own Peter Molydeux, in that he’s forever out there pitching Kojima-like ideas for games he might make. Hideo Jokima? On a recent episode of his Japanese radio show, KOJI10, the designer of Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding pitched a few ideas he had for games based around time. The best of the bunch: a game in which your character gradually forgets information if players take too long a break from playing.
As Ian Games Network reports, the “forgetting game” is one that players would have to “play through quickly”.
In this concept, the main character gradually forgets important information and abilities if you take too long a break from the game. For example, if you don’t play every day, the main character will gradually forget things such as “how to fire their gun or what their job is.” This forgetfulness builds up until finally the player is unable to move. “Players would have to take a week off work or school to play it,” Kojima laughs.
What’s that, you say? You already have to play through games quickly lest you forget what the heck is going on when you return to them? Yes, everyone everywhere has already had that response. I, too, can’t remember the buttons anymore when I take a break from a game. I do like the idea of a Memento-style game where you have to leave notes for your in-game character before you save and quit, though. Make a wee polaroid of Peter Molyneux and write “don’t believe his lies” on it.
Kojima’s other two concepts were: a game in which you start as a baby and gradually age over the course of playing into an old man, with an arc that includes worsening eyesight and so on (yes, yes, me too); and a game in which you’re creating something that takes time to mature, such as wine or cheese, which sounds a lot like an idle game you can probably already play on Steam.
Apparently Death Stranding 2 almost had a time mechanic of its own. The protagonist was going to grow a beard that players would have to shave lest they become unkempt (YES, ME TOO), until Kojima decided that Norman Reedus was too big a star and he “didn’t want to make him look uncool.” You’ll be able to play Reedus’s statically stubbled face when On The Beach releases next month.
