Hideo Kojima Retrospective

[froghawk]

Chirality is a pretty basic concept in chemistry, used to refer to molecules that have mirror image forms that can't be superimposed on each other. Sometimes, in pharmacology, these can have different effects. Some drugs are presented as an equal mixture of both images (called a racemate or racemic mixture - like ibuprofen or amphetamine), which are labeled r- and s- to differentiate them. For other drugs, only one enantiomer (the name for one side of the mirror image) is effective, or perhaps the other is somehow toxic, and so only the r- or s- form will be presented (drugs like escitalopram or esomeprazole).

Why, then, would Kojima use this concept? Well, I think the incompatible mirror images concept reflects the spirit world/material world and matter/antimatter dichotomies that he's drawing here, and it directly links them in a sciencey way, and you know he loves that!

[Aja]

Great writeup on Death Stranding. Reading some of those jargon terms elicited an odd mix of warmth and post-traumatic stress. I loved Death Stranding overall, but I think if they had done something to make it feel like you were actually travelling enormous distances and not just going on a day hike, it would've made the adventure feel more meaningful. I agree that having at least glimpses of some of the cities or inside the bunkers would've gone a long way toward giving the impression that this world is real. But I can also appreciate that Kojima probably doesn't have Konami money anymore, and the game had to scale accordingly. I'm curious how you felt about the extended ending slog..

[Starker]

I think you could have just written "Princess Beach" and left the review at that.