Kojima has made no secret of the fact he wants to invent a new "strand" genre with Death Stranding , and as a result he believes one game might not be enough for his ideas to catch on.

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Speaking to Gamespot , Kojima explained that he believes without sequels, Death Stranding will not establish Strand as a continuing genre. "When you create something new, you have to create a sequel and then a third version or it [will] not remain as a genre," he said. "When this game comes out there will be a lot of pros and cons, and [these elements could become the essence of the core part], but I think it's better that I keep it going in a sequel."Get up to speed with Death Stranding's lore in the video below.In regards to how many games the genre needs to flourish, Kojima suggested "probably at least 1.5, and then 2, maybe, at least so that it remains and people are aware of the genre."Death Stranding is what Kojima terms a "strand game," which he says has never existed before. While it's still slightly unclear exactly what defines a strand game, it seems to be bound by social elements.The PlayStation page for Death Stranding promises asynchronous multiplayer where you "help other travellers without ever crossing paths," while Kojima has previously expressed his frustration for gaming's treatment of death (he believes the finality of "game over" is an echo of arcade coin-op culture that doesn't exist any more) so player lives are more fluid in Death Stranding.Death Stranding has drawn heavily upon the Japanese concept of "omoiyari." There's no direct translation for this into English, but it essentially means "compassion" or "empathy" and requires taking responsibility for others' well being in a social structure. It seems this concept is a core pillar of the strand genre he wants to build.

We know from a PlayStation blog post that the goal of Death Stranding is for the player to connect the cities that have become isolated from one another by creating "strands" or "bonds" with others around the world. You can check out our roundup of everything we know about Death Stranding here, or our interview with Kojima about the gameplay and lore, or our breakdown of everything we learned from the Death Stranding TGS demo.

Alysia Judge is a writer and presenter. Chat to her on Twitter @alysiajudge.