Death Standing
A scene from the game's second trailer used in the new footage. Kojima Productions

Hideo Kojima has carefully cultivated an air of mystery around Death Stranding, his first game since leaving Konami in 2015. Each trailer so far has been uniquely confounding, with fans picking apart every frame to glean whatever new information they can.

Two trailers have so far been released, revealing that the game will star Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen and Guillermo del Toro, and offering an idea of how the final product may look in Guerrilla Games' Decima Engine.

Whatever story Kojima wants to tell however, remains a mystery. Unless that is, there's something we're missing in this new footage.

During a presentation held at industry conference Siggraph 2017, Guerrilla Games' principal tech programmer Giliam de Carpentier and Kojima Productions' Kohei Ishiyama discussed the engine powering Death Stranding.

The presentation included two short clips showing off a system developed by Kojima Productions for layering fog over an in-game environment and representing dense atmospheric conditions. The second of these videos uses a piece of scenery from Death Stranding's second trailer.

The videos are pretty dull on their own. Unless that is, there's some hidden meaning or message conjured by genius artistic visionary Hideo Kojima that our pathetic minds can't even comprehend.

Perhaps the rapidly-changing weather is a meditation on the human condition?

Perhaps the the fog is Konami?

Perhaps the blue sky turning grey is a prophetic statement on the game's future development as all the early hype dies down and turns to frustration as 2019 comes and goes without any sign of a finished game?

We'll know for sure when the game is released. Or maybe we won't. Maybe Kojima will be asked to interpret it sometime soon and start rambling about ropes and sticks.

You can decide for yourself by watching the two videos below.

There's actually a ton of cool technical detail behind the videos, which is handily explained by DualShockers here.

Of course we're actually very excited to see how Death Stranding pans out. Kojima seems to have the clout and backing to make something that is fiercely of his own vision. For better or worse that's going to be something to behold.

The legendary creator of the Metal Gear series left publisher Konami on bitter terms following the release of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, which despite its brilliance was unfinished when it came to its story.

The very public spat between Kojima and Konami ran for nearly a year leading up to The Phantom Pain's released before his departure was confirmed in December 2015. Soon after, Sony announced they had partnered with Kojima as an newly-independent Kojima Productions was established in Japan.

His next project is to release on PC and PS4 as a console exclusive. At E3 2016 Death Stranding was revealed with an unforgettable trailer. The second trailer (embedded below) followed at The Game Awards in December.

Death Stranding Hideo Kojima