How often does a game actually surprise you? God of War is probably the last announcement that actually took me aback; I was genuinely expecting a repurposing of the franchise’s established format, albeit transposed into a Norse environment. So when Kratos stepped out of the shadows at E3 2016 and Sony Santa Monica introduced the world to a totally different take on the franchise, I must admit that I was quite shocked.

But it doesn’t happen often, does it? This is a challenge I think The Last of Us: Part II has to overcome at E3 2018; I’ve no doubt it’s going to be a sensational game, but I already feel like I know what I’m going to get. Even with Ghost of Tsushima, we haven’t seen a single second of gameplay, but it doesn’t take a genius to imagine what a samurai open world slasher from Sucker Punch will look and play like at the end of the day.

Death Stranding, however, I have no idea. The new PlayStation 4 exclusive from Hideo Kojima is one of four games that Sony’s set to spotlight during its press conference, and despite this game receiving a trio of trailers since its early announcement in 2016, I’m genuinely not sure what it even is yet. Yes, we know that it’s an open world action game built using Horizon: Zero Dawn’s engine, but that’s really about it.

Death Stranding PS4 PlayStation 4 1

There’s been talk of the game having online elements, and I’m expecting those to be asymmetrical, similar to in Dark Souls perhaps. Back at PSX 2017, the auteur also talked about the idea of persistence through playthroughs; die at the hands of a detonated bomb, and when you respawn, there’ll be a crater left behind in the game world. It’s all interesting stuff, but I still don’t really know what to expect.

It seems like Kojima has been dreaming up Death Stranding for some time now. Recent fan digging revealed that the game may, in part, be set in Iceland – a country that he visited back in 2014. I happen to believe that a number of ideas from the cancelled Silent Hills will have made their way into this, and there was a definite horror vibe to the title’s most recent trailer which reinforced that. Who really knows, though? It sounds like stars Norman Reedus and Mads Mikkelsen aren’t really sure.

But isn’t that exciting? There’s obvious concern that Hideo Kojima, with his newfound freedom, may venture completely off-the-rails here. But I think that in order to truly surprise, you simply have to think outside the box, and I’m desperate to see what the Metal Gear man’s been cooking. I’m excited for all four of Sony’s major titles at E3 2018, but Death Stranding is the one that I can’t even begin to picture what it’ll be like. And that, for me, puts it top of the list.

Are you looking forward to learning more about Death Stranding? Are you worried that this game is going to be a little too insane? Stick your thumb up like the throat baby in the comments section below.