Hideo Kojima warns: OD will not be a standard horror game and not even he himself knows if it will work

Kojima assures that OD breaks with everything known in horror and admits that he still doesn't know if his proposal will turn out as he expects.

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Hideo Kojima is reigniting theories surrounding OD, his next project with Xbox Game Studios. After months of silence since the Knock Teaser was released in September, the Japanese creative has made some statements that have raised even more questions. According to him, what they’re building doesn’t resemble any traditional horror game, and not even he’s sure if the experiment will work.

In an interview with ananweb, Kojima discusses how OD is a distinct challenge from any project he’s directed before. His words suggest that the goal goes far beyond cheap scares or classic tension in the genre, with an approach that aims to change how these types of experiences are “served” and function.

Kojima wants to change the model from scratch with OD

The director himself acknowledges that what they have in the works is far from any previous reference:

I still can’t say exactly what it is, nor do I know if it will work. We’ve created stealth or sharing games that didn’t exist before, but in terms of system, they were similar to others. This time, we’re trying to change the service model from the ground up, so it’ll be complicated. The trailer is full of hints: if you keep thinking about it, you might decipher it.

With these comments, Kojima highlights the difference from titles like Metal Gear or Death Stranding, which innovated in their gameplay but relied on recognizable structures. In OD, the ambition seems to go further: not only changing how you play, but also how you understand the proposal itself.

And although the Knock Teaser suggested a first-person approach reminiscent of series like Resident Evil 7, everything indicates that would be a superficial reading. Kojima has used similar strategies in the past, such as when he made the world believe that Metal Gear Solid 4 would be a first-person shooter in its Tokyo Game Show 2005 trailer.

With Xbox showing interest in more experimental proposals and bearing the personal stamp of the Japanese creative, OD is shaping up to be one of the most puzzling projects in the coming years. For now, Kojima asks for patience… and above all, that we “keep thinking” about what the trailer hides.