>The thought occurred to me while playing Death Stranding and while the game itself is divisive, it is pouring with that Hideo Kojima charm.

I knew this was going to be a Kojima thing before I clicked on it, LOL.

Here's the thing with Kojima - if he wasn't working in a medium as narratively bereft for most of it's lifespan as gaming has been, if he wasn't being provided the ample benefit of the doubt that gaming history has provided him, he'd just be Zack Snyder.

But because he's being measured against an entire medium that has, until very recently, been so stagnant and stunted from a legitimate storytelling perspective, he is afforded a sense of stature and competency that his actual storytelling doesn't deserve. Essentially - his being regarded so highly isn't really evidence of his skill as a storyteller, but a reflection of how debased large swaths of the industry remain. Imagine a storytelling landscape at which Zack Snyder is the pinnacle. That's gaming.

It shouldn't be, and given a few more years, it won't be (storytelling in games is getting very, very, very good and will continue to improve the more creatives grow up in a world where games are a primary storytelling medium) but for now? If the guy everyone points to as a visionary storyteller is that guy? Medium's got a long way to go.

Now, even if you set aside Kojima, and look at other "auteurs" in the gaming sphere - what they're doing with a game is so functionally, completely different than what films are doing in so many ways that the one-to-one comparison is pretty hard to make, much less adhere to past any point.