Gaming communities in both ResetEra and Reddit went all kinds of crazy at the potential reveal of a Death Stranding alternate reality game. And though everything managed to get solved within the hour of the “game” launching, one lingering question remained — was any of this connected to Hideo Kojima or Kojima Productions?
The answer is (perhaps a predictably) “No.” In a tell-all series of Tweets, Archillect’s creator Murat Pak explained the “experiment” that everyone was unwittingly part of and how his thoughts on the community and trend-setting at large.
But lets dial it back a bit and discuss the rumored ARG. Earlier this week we wrote on it more extensively as rumors were swirling:
As noted on a ResetEra thread (from user Vestan), the Twitter account “Archillect,” which is a bot account that posts pictures and GIFs on an automated cycle every 10 minutes, caught the attention of some users over a month ago when it shared some images that users connected to Death Stranding. Notably, several of the images took users to a redirect to Kojima Production’s official website through a page marked “archillect.com/204863” – with the number “204863” being an easter egg from Kojima’s previous project P.T.
While everything was conjecture up to this point (with members of the community literally saying they will drink their own urine if the tease is real). However, soon we saw a series of Tweets that were unquestionably related to Death Stranding:
— Archillect (@archillect) December 19, 2018
Not too long after, we were left with the final puzzle — one that hyperlinked back to Kojima Productions website:
— Archillect (@archillect) December 19, 2018
While it wasn’t solved immediately, more talented decrypters were able to work this out and uncovered it was the final line of Lindsay Wagner’s character from the E3 trailer:
You’re too late. You still don’t know who I am do you?
And then… radio silence. Nothing from Kojima or Kojima Production on what was next. So the question remained, was this just a fan project?
The answer came soon after by Archillect’s lead designer Murat Pak. In a series of Tweets he offered a little bit on the history of Archillect:
As you know Archillect is a creation of mine, an AI that tries to forecast viral content on social media. I've been actively developing, adapting, modifying and expanding the project as she reaches to a wider audience since the day she was created.
— Pak (@muratpak) December 20, 2018
During this process I try to label and identify specific behavior(s) as they get reflected to me by the audience interactions of Archillect. This helps me develop the CORE of Archillect, the part where decision-making happens.
— Pak (@muratpak) December 20, 2018
"Can this be passion?"
— Pak (@muratpak) December 20, 2018
With this in mind, he wanted to explore the passion and the growing hype of dedicated communities — more specifically the Death Stranding community:
Archillect was designed as a trendgetter: a project to understand and identify potential popularity, however, she became kind of a trendsetter: a project that defines what is being valued.
— Pak (@muratpak) December 20, 2018
The experiment was a success.
— Pak (@muratpak) December 20, 2018
Perhaps more importantly, he wanted to highlight that this was instead an homage to Hideo Kojima and the Death Stranding community — not merely an elaborate bamboozle. And in that, he thanked the community for their participation:
During this experiment, 204863 was the only content that was designed (and not discovered) – and it should be taken as my way of showing this community my respect.
— Pak (@muratpak) December 20, 2018
Sometimes it's charming to see the effects of one small glass marble in a huge ocean of wonder.
— Pak (@muratpak) December 20, 2018
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour."— Pak (@muratpak) December 20, 2018
And perhaps while it is slightly disappointing that this is only a fan project, perhaps Hideo Kojima was taking notice on how much fun the community was able to have in an alternative advertising campaign like an ARG.
Death Stranding currently doesn’t have a release window, but it is planning on coming to PS4. If you want to show your early support for the developer, feel free to pre-order the game on Amazon.
The post Death Stranding’s Short Lived ARG is Unrelated to Hideo Kojima or Kojima Productions by Lou Contaldi appeared first on DualShockers.