Death Stranding Star Mads Mikkelsen Says The Game’s Performance Capture Isn’t Done

When is Death Stranding, the trippy new game from Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima, going to come out? It's been vaguely promised for 2018, but Kojima projects tend to get delayed. Unfortunately, one of the game's stars may have hinted the title may be further away than we thought.

Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal, Rogue One) recently attention a comic convention in Korea, where he discussed the process of acting in a game like Death Stranding (thanks to YouTuber YongYea for the footage).

"It's enormously different. The scenes are very small, it's a very physical approach, you have a lot of cameras on, and you're in a green screen room. We have to go through all kinds of facial expressions and movements, so later on [Hideo Kojima] can morph it into whatever he wants."

The panel's moderator asked Mikkelsen whether he'd ever want to do something similar again, which caused him to drop this little bomb…

"Yeah, I have to, because we're not finished yet! Hideo Kojima is a fantastically inspiring man, and his brain is working on a different level, so I can't wait to see what he's doing with it."

Typically, with animation and video games, the voice acting and performance capture are done first – often it's completed a year (or more) before the game ships. So, the fact that there's still basic performance capture to do means Death Stranding may still be in its very early stages.

Sony worldwide studios chairman Shawn Layden recently confirmed that Death Stranding is in some sort of playable state, but beyond that we don't know much.

"It's up and running. It was aided tremendously when Kojima decided to co-opt the Decima engine from Guerrilla [that powered Horizon Zero Dawn]. [Kojima has] some prototype levels running."

As of now, Death Stranding is still scheduled for 2018. We'll keep you updated if that changes.