Kojima is using Guerrilla's Decima Engine to build Death Stranding

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima will be using Guerrilla Games' Decima Engine as the foundation for Death Stranding. 

The upcoming open-world action game will be the first made by Kojima since his high-profile split from Metal Gear Solid V publisher Konami. 

The veteran auteur opted for Guerrilla's Decima Engine, which also powers Horizon Zero Dawn, after just a couple of weeks of searching, and said it's the perfect tool for working on open worlds. 

"It has to be technology and people, they cannot be separate. And in that regard, from the first moment I met Guerrilla I had a good feeling about this," said Kojima, speaking during a PSX panel over the weekend. "The Decima Engine is very appropriate for working on open worlds."

Offering more insight, Guerrilla's managing director Hermen Hulst said Decima is a lot more than "just a rendering engine," revealing it comes with its own artificial intelligence, physics, and logic, as well as a world creation tool suite.

Technical aspects aside, it was Guerrilla's company culture that sealed the deal for Kojima, who praised the studio's selfless approach to game and tech development. 

"Making games is like going into space," explained Kojima. "We try to aim high, but the people at Guerrilla aim even higher. We told them let's aim for the Moon, for Mars, and they said well let's go to Jupiter together.

"When we first met Guerrilla, they gave me the source code of their engine. You know, before we signed any contracts or anything, they just gave me this. It's the treasure of Guerrilla, and them handing that to me made me feel very special."

To help the two studios continue their work together, Kojima Productions will be setting up a tech-focused satellite studio within Guerrilla Games in Amsterdam.

You can hear more from Kojima, Hulst, and PS4 system architect Mark Cerny by checking out the full PSX panel.