“I wanted to provide a different look to it and so I used Iceland as one of the concepts in order to incorporate a bit of surrealism to the world.”
Kojima said that with Death Stranding he achieved what he had in mind in both theme and gameplay. He noted that he was a little worried at first about the Social Strand System (SSS) and the gameplay concept of being loosely connected with other people on the internet, but he thinks it worked out well in the end. He explained the visual choice by observing that game worlds tend to repeat — World War I, World War II, futuristic sci‑fi, steampunk and fantasy — and that he wanted a different look, so he used Iceland as one of the concepts to incorporate a bit of surrealism into the world. The result came very close to what he had imagined.
“Especially the social strand system, the SSS. I was a little worried at first regarding the gameplay concept of being loosely connected with other people on the internet, but I think it worked out well in the end. […] World War I, World War II or futuristic sci-fi, steampunk and fantasy are all quite common.”