Kojima: Death Stranding Director’s Cut Isn’t A Director’s Cut

Kojima: Death Stranding Director’s Cut Isn’t A Director’s Cut

Cross-genre game Death Stranding will receive an enhanced and expanded version on PlayStation 5 this fall with Death Stranding Director’s Cut. But Hideo Kojima, the game’s famously enigmatic director, doesn’t think it qualifies as a bona fide director’s cut.

“A director’s cut in a movie is an additional edit to a shortened version that was either released reluctantly because the director did not have the right to edit it, or because the running time had to be shortened,” Kojima wrote in a series of tweets today, noting that Death Stranding Director’s Cut features content that’s “additionally produced” rather than cut. “Delector’s Plus? So, in my opinion, I don’t like to call [it] ‘director’s cut.’”

First announced at last month’s Summer Kickoff Live! event, Death Stranding Director’s Cut adds visual buffs and DualSense-specific haptic feedback. It’ll include a bunch of new content, too — building out the story of Norman Reedus’ Sam Bridges — and feature a Metal Gear sneaky box. All of the new stuff, according to PlayStation Blog, is “carefully woven into the core game experience.” Death Stranding Director’s Cut comes out on September 24 for PS5.

Death Stranding isn’t the only PS5 game to receive the “director’s cut” treatment. Next month, samurai action-adventure game Ghost of Tsushima comes to PS5 as Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut. That version, which doesn’t boast a free upgrade, adds bog-standard PS5 enhancements (like better lighting and sharper visuals) alongside new enhancements (like Japanese lip-sync), plus a new chapter and explorable region. It’ll even feature faster load speeds, somehow.

These ports are by no means the first “Director’s Cuts” in gaming, nor are they indicative of some new trend. (Recall Sonic Adventure DX: Director’s Cut, a GameCube version of Sonic Adventure released in 2004.) But Kojima’s comments today raise a fair question: Are these re-releases true director’s cuts? The end result is still the director’s vision — perhaps the pitch-perfect version of whatever sat in said director’s head — though it’s less of a “cut” and more of an expansion. Though I guess Death Stranding Director’s Expansion doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.


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