Hideo Kojima has revealed the first trailer for OD, his upcoming Xbox Game Studios project, during this morning’s Kojima Productions: Beyond the Strand livestream.
As previously announced, the mysterious game will star Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ Sophia Lillis, Hunters’ Udo Kier and Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer — and today’s trailer showcased Lillis’ character in a spooky house, lighting candles before meeting a malevolent figure.
On stage, Kojima explained that the game was subtitled as OD: Knock — and indeed, a creepy knocking sound can be heard throughout the trailer. The subtitle appears to differentiate Kojima’s video game from the OD project being worked on by filmmaker Jordan Peele. “There is a different kind of fear Jordan [Peele] will do. Mine is the ‘knock’, is the fear,” Kojima said today. “I really am afraid of big knock sounds.”
The trailer begins with Lillis’ character using a red card to open a locked red door. Partially redacted text hints at OD’s story taking place 10 years after a horrifying event, where something cursed has once again… done something.
On the red card lies the following text : “Light the fires to celebrate their [redacted].” In first-person, Lillis’ character then enters the room. It’s gloomy, with rain spattering the windows. But, sure enough, there is a chest with an arrangement of candles — fires — waiting to be lit.
After lighting more of the candles — a couple of which are shaped like creepy Death Stranding babies — we get our first proper shot of Lillis’ character, as she shakes in fear. Behind her, we hear a door open, and a figure approach, as a noise like a Geiger counter increases. The trailer ends with figure grabbing Lillis by the head.
As previously announced, OD is being developed using Unreal Engine, and it sounds like Xbox is assisting with Kojima Productions’ work using the technology.
“Development is well underway,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said of OD today. “Kojima is innovating in gameplay, story and player engagement. We’re collaborating closely, and we very excited for what’s next.”
“What an amazing I’d say maybe teaser, or a glimpse,” Spencer continued. “When I first saw it I saw something new, something slightly sinister, but also something that was extremely Kojima-san. OD is bold, it’s unique, and it’s unmistakably from this studio, which is just incredible. We’re deeply supporting the production, it’s our technical work on Unreal that we’re doing with the team, both with the kind of flashy what you’re seeing on the screen, but also a lot of behind the scenes work. We have one goal in mind, which is to bring Kojima-san’s vision to life for all players, everywhere, and we can’t wait for players to experience it when it is ready.”
Other details on the game remain under wraps, other than this important warning about the game’s level of horror: “It’s really scary, and you’ll probably do in your pants,” Kojima said.
This morning we also heard more from Kojima on the Death Stranding movie, and got a glimpse at artwork and casting details for Physint. Catch up on all the announcements in our everything announced at Hideo Kojima’s Beyond the Strand livestream roundup.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
