Hideo Kojima wants you to know what his new ‘OD’ game doesn’t stand for, but not what it actually is

Hideo Kojima took to The Game Awards stage last night to unveil his new game, OD, being made in partnership with Get Out director Jordan Peele. And while I’ve got no real sense of what the game is actually about, Kojima himself definitely wants you to know what it’s not about.

OD was announced during last night’s show with a teaser trailer featuring its cast – Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves actress Sophia Lillis, Euphoria star (and Zelda movie hot tip) Hunter Schafer, and acclaimed German actor Udo Kier. The three actors all repeat the same bizarre line of dialogue, before the trailer ends on a visibly upset Lillis screaming right into the camera.

Whatever Kojima is cooking up in his galaxy brain is far beyond my comprehension, but he did tell The Game Awards’ audience that this was a “groundbreaking” effort that “no one has ever seen before.” As is pretty standard with any Kojima effort, this one will also come dripping with evidence of his real love – cinema. 

Still, while I remain clueless, Kojima took to Twitter to confirm what OD doesn’t stand for, telling fans that “‘OD’ does not stand for neither [sic] Oxygen Destroyer nor Open the Door.” 

Oxygen Destroyer is a weapon from the Godzilla series, which was used to kill the original Godzilla all the way back in 1954. I don’t think, from that trailer, that anyone thought Koj was making a Godzilla game, but there we go. ‘Open the Door’ is a little more cryptic, but my guess would be that that’s a reference to the Silent Hill series, in which Kojima’s short-lived involvement has been a long-held point of contention.

While the replies to Kojima’s tweet are filled with fans attempting to guess exactly what OD might mean, there’s a definite frontrunner – last year, a rumor circulating around the title Overdose did the rounds. Thought have been a horror game starring actress Margaret Qualley, apparent off-screen footage of the game circulated around the time of E3 2022, but there’s been no word of the game since then.

Given Kojima’s often highbrow, often cryptic approach to even talking about games, let alone teasing his own work, we’re unlikely to find out a huge amount more about whatever OD might be for some time, especially since there’s absolutely no word on when it’s expected to release.

Here’s everything announced at The Game Awards 2023 – all the winners, all the games.