Death Stranding: Director’s Cut is not a director’s cut, says director Hideo Kojima

Death Stranding: Director’s Cut arrives on PS5 on September 24 – but don’t call it a director’s cut, according to director Hideo Kojima (spotted by Eurogamer).

“A director’s cut in a film is a further cut from an abridged version that was either reluctantly released because the director was not allowed to edit it or because the runtime had to. be shortened ” Kojima explained on Twitter this morning. “In the game, it’s not what was cut, but what was produced in addition that was included. Readers [sic] More? So in my opinion, I don’t like to call ‘director’s cut’.

From Kojima’s tweets, it looks like the new content to come Death Stranding: Director’s Cut these are not missions or mechanisms that had to be abolished due to time or budget. Kojima’s directorial vision for the game isn’t just being restored; the PS5 version only receives new elements created specifically for this reissue.

It is a diversion of the idea of ​​a director’s cut on which Sony has already started to rely with the recent announcement Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cup, which adds a new island to explore with additional story content, characters, armor, and enemies; a long-awaited fix for proper lip sync for the game’s Japanese voiceover; and features specific to DualSense such as adaptive triggers and haptic feedback. These are good additions, but no one at Sony or Sucker Punch seems to be claiming they are part of Ghost of Tsushima the original restored vision of directors Nate Fox and Jason Connell. (Neither Fox nor Connell are even mentioned in the ad.)

On the contrary, it looks like Sony is using the “director’s cut” as a catch-all phrase for an extended edition of a game it is re-releasing for next-gen consoles with some added DLC. It’s the kind of title that gives reissues a veneer of artistic height that an “extended edition” or “game of the year” doesn’t. Charging an extra $ 10 or $ 30 for a PS5 version of a title with a few minor upgrades is a tough sell. But charge this price for playing Kojima’s pure vision of Death stranding is presumably an easier sale, even if the reality just isn’t.

Of course, the director’s controversial cuts are nothing new: consider the infamous Blade Runner: Director’s Cup, which was based on a print version of the film but was not produced directly by director Ridley Scott. (Scott was able to produce a version of the film with full artistic control in 2007, known as Blade Runner: The Final Cut.)