Hideo Kojima Compares OD to Boktai, Says It Will be Just as ‘Different’

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

What is OD? We don’t know much save that it’s being made in collaboration with Jordan Peele, and that it will feature a lot of familiar Hollywood celebs screaming silently into the screen. Probably.

Predictably, creator Hideo Kojima is calling it a game, a movie, and a “new form of media.” He’s also comparing it to Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand, a cult favorite series on GBA and Nintendo DS that was a big departure at the time for Kojima, who is best-known for his work on Metal Gear Solid.

It seems I have been acknowledged by creating games that go against the current of the times, such as “hide-and-seek” games where you sneak into a building without being detected by the enemy, or “delivery games” where you enjoy moving around in an open world, For me, the most…

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) January 4, 2024

In Boktai, you play a vampire hunter named Django (no, not that Django) who battles the undead with the help of a solar gun powered by real-life sunlight. The cartridge famously included a solar sensor that charged up the in-game weapons needed to defeat Boktai’s vampires. Writing on X/Twitter, Kojima recalled the “fierce opposition” he received when he first pitched Boktai.

“It seems I have been acknowledged by creating games that go against the current of the times, such as ‘hide-and-seek’ games where you sneak into a building without being detected by the enemy, or ‘delivery games’ where you enjoy moving around in an open world,” Kojima wrote. “For me, the most experimental game was ‘defeating vampires outside your house’ using actual sunlight around you. It was met with fierce opposition from the staff and even within the company. In that sense, OD is just as different.”

It’s just one more teaser for OD, which remains as mysterious as Death Stranding when it was first revealed. Peele, meanwhile, has claimed that OD will be “immersive” and “utterly terrifying.” We don’t know much else about OD, save that it’s being developed on Unreal Engine 5 and that will feature Sophia Lillis, Hunter Schafer, and Udo Kier. It will apparently “explore the concept of testing your fear threshold.”

As for Boktai, the series hasn’t been seen since 2007, but it did manage to get two sequels on GBA and a DS release titled Lunar Knights. The final game notably dropped the sun sensor that made the original so unique.

OD does not yet have a release date. For more, check out all the biggest games of 2024, which will apparently include Metal Gear Solid Delta.

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.