Death Stranding, the first PlayStation 4 exclusive project from Hideo Kojima, will release in 2018, the auteur has hinted. Speaking as part of a panel at the Tokyo Game Show, the veteran said: "It will be out before the Olympics. To go a little further, there is a movie called Akira, and it will be out before the year in which Akira is set." A quick Google search reveals that Akira was set in 2019, so that means 2018 looks like a lock.

Of course, plans will probably change, but it's nice to know that Kojima isn't thinking too far in the future. Elsewhere during the panel, the luminary said that the title will feature a female character who's yet to be cast, and will boast a "different kind of online play than anything we've seen before". He talked a little about this during Sony's press conference, which you can watch courtesy of the video embedded above.

Kojima also confirmed that the title will employ a "well-known" third-party engine. We've heard lots of speculation about the engine; some people say that it's sharing tech with Media Molecule, others Sucker Punch. But a "well-known" third-party engine would surely refer to something like Unreal Engine 4 or perhaps even CryEngine. We suspect that it's the former that it'll be using, as it works brilliantly on the PS4.

That's it for now, though. Don't expect much more on this game until E3 next year, when we suspect that Kojima Productions will have a new trailer ready to show. It's too early to get hyped, but it is exciting to see Kojima back in the limelight, and working on something other than Metal Gear for once. We can't wait to see more.

[source youtube.com, via uk.ign.com, vg247.com]