'Death Stranding 2' had to be completely "rewritten" because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The upcoming game's creator Hideo Kojima has revealed the story was written before the global health crisis and had to be changed to reflect what had gone down in the world with people connecting remotely.
Speaking to the Japanese outlet Natalie, he said: "That's not true. But I had to rewrite everything because of Corona. In Death Stranding, it was just to connect, but with the corona crisis, pseudo-connections such as remotes have come to be emphasised.
"On the other hand, I felt that such pseudo-connections alone would not lead to fulfilling human lives. After all, humans need to go out into the outside world and move."
He further explained: "And in the midst of being unable to return to the original world, I reconsidered the concept of connection, and in DS2, the meaning of strand has changed. At the end of the teaser, there is a message: 'Should We Have Connected?'"
Meanwhile, 'Death Stranding Director's Cut' is coming to Mac later this year.
The action game and Kojima Productions' future tiles will also come to Apple's computers.
Kojima revealed at Apple's WWDC 2023 keynote presentation: "I have been a die-hard Apple fan since I bought my first Mac back in 1994.
"It has been a dream of mine to see my team's best work come to life on the Mac."
And he teased: "This is just the beginning, and we are actively working to bring our future titles to Apple platforms."
The PC version, released on March 30, 2022, came with Intel’s Xe Super Sampling (XeSS) graphics technology, which "Takes your gaming experience to the next level with AI-enhanced upscaling that enables an increased output resolution while maintaining high image fidelity at maximum performance."
Kojima previously shared how they managed to release 'Director's Cut' on PS5, despite the challenges they faced amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
He tweeted: “Although 2021 was still a very difficult year for us, we managed to deliver the release of 'Death Stranding Director’s Cut for PS5' safely even in this COVID situation while we were solemnly preparing and experimenting with new titles."
The developer also teased: “This year, I’m going to start a new work in earnest, and move to the next level of experimentation with a radical project. I’m also hoping to get the video team going. And I may start doing something like a radio project?”
Meanwhile, Kojima previously insisted he would start from scratch if he made 'Death Stranding 2'.
The gaming director revealed that he would be up for working with Norman Reedus - who plays the protagonist Sam Porter Bridges - again, but admitted that if he were to make a sequel to the popular game, he "would start from zero".