As soon as Death Stranding’s second trailer was released today at PSX, the internet has been ablaze with hype. Hideo Kojima wasn’t firm as to which engine he wanted Kojima Productions to use earlier this year, but it has now been confirmed as the Decima Engine. It is the very same engine that Guerrilla Games used to develop Horizon Zero Dawn. During a panel at PlayStation Experience for Death Stranding, Kojima revealed the details of his journey for discovering the perfect medium for his new work. He answered several other questions pertaining to the game, responding to inquiries about Guillermo del Toro, Mads Mikkelsen, and Norman Reedus’ role. There will also be female characters in the game, but no official announcements will be made as to who and what they will be yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF83ONSb0Xw&t=1127s

In response to Geoff Keighley‘s attempt to understand the main plot of Death Stranding, Kojima stated:

I can’t get too much in-depth, but Norman is the main character. He will be kind of the antagonist – the rebel. The enemy, overall, will be Mads.

With Kojima’s amazing eye for detail, Decima seems like the perfect fit. The graphics of the trailers for Death Stranding are magnificent and awe inspiring. The game play peeks at Horizon Zero Dawn can show you in much better detail. The capabilities of the Decima engine definitely shines in its’ ability to capture lighting effect, hyper realistic textures, and the portrayal of the color spectrum with vibrancy.

According to Mark Cerny, PlayStation 4’s Lead System Architect, it took 2 weeks to find a company and engine that Kojima’s Productions would work well with. Especially since most of Kojima’s “technology had to be left with his former employer.” It wasn’t easy, seeing as most developing teams make the engine’s specifically for their own games, and are not typically sold to the public. Cerny also emphasized a desire to find a healthy “corporate culture”. Herman Hulst of Guerrilla Games said they created Decima for their titles, but will be branding it as an engine for more expansive use.

Absolutely. So, Decima is the Horizon Zero Dawn engine and, in essence, it’s the engine that all Guerrilla Games, so far, have run on, but it’s evolved. But it’s fair to say it has taken a quantum leap in the last couple of years to get it ready for this project. We could talk about it a lot more. It’s a lot more than just a rendering engine. It involves A.I., physics, logics [sic] – it’s got the entire world creation tool suite in it. I would argue that the engine, probably, is kind of a state of philosophy of game development as well.

So, gamers, what do you think of the Decima engine? Are you excited for Death Stranding, even though it does not have a release date yet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!