Zhukov said:
So what is it that people are looking forward to when they see that name?
Well, how many designers have careers that stretch as far back as Kojima's does,
and still has consistent success?
His first videogame title is the very first Metal Gear game from as far back as
1987. The fact he's kept this single franchise ongoing to mass success and recognition up until 2015, with him at the helm, is a great feat.
At this point, Kojima is one of the few godfathers of videogame designers who is still leading successful game projects. Seriously, how many other game developers exist with a career as consistently great as his has been? Many influential old school designers have either faded away or moved onto other administrative positions within game companies, coming back every now and then to produce a game or two. But actively making games for decades as far as Writing/Designing/Directing them?
I really can't think of much. 30 years later and he's still creating games. That's a very impressive work ethic.
As for his games themselves - Every game of his has been a highly polished, well produced, uniquely designed and memorable experiences, full of insane amounts of detail.
What people are excited about with Death Stranding is that it's finally something new. The guy who has been making games for a single franchise for 30 years can finally do something else.
If you take a look at P.T. - Which was pretty much just a mad experiment. Rather can creating a generic announcement for Silent Hills, P.T. was created instead as a complete ruse. The game itself was basically just Kojima faffing about making a demo of a hallway, and this meager demo ended up making such a huge impact that it spawned its own sub-genre. That's the magic this guy is capable of. Who else does this?
And I think even every Kojima fan will tell you that the Death Stranding trailer made no sense, but that's what makes it interesting. He's back, he's making another game that's not Metal Gear, it stars Norman Reedus, and it could really be about anything. This time, he's doing it without Konami overseeing it. So now we can see how he does in this new position. And that's pretty compelling to anyone interested in his work.