Kojima Productions dropped a spine-chilling teaser for OD: Knock during their 10th anniversary event “Beyond the Strand.” The first-person horror experience showed disturbing ritualistic imagery and promised to deliver fear through the simple act of knocking.
The teaser plunges viewers into a stark, brightly lit room through the protagonist’s eyes. We watch as they strike matches and carefully light multiple baby-shaped candles in what appears to be some kind of ritual preparation. Throughout the sequence, persistent knocking sounds grow louder and more aggressive.
Partially redacted text appears on screen as instructions, though eagle-eyed fans have already started trying to decode what lies beneath the black bars. The tension builds until unseen hands suddenly grab the protagonist, suggesting the ritual has gone horribly wrong.
Hideo Kojima himself took the stage to explain the subtitle choice. “There is a different kind of fear Jordan [Peele] will do. Mine is the ‘knock,’ is the fear. I really am afraid of big knock sounds,” he said. This clarification helps distinguish his project from Jordan Peele’s separate OD collaboration, suggesting OD might serve as an umbrella for multiple horror experiences.
The game runs on Unreal Engine 5, marking a departure from the Decima Engine used in Death Stranding. This switch makes sense for horror, as UE5’s advanced lighting and rendering capabilities excel at creating photorealistic interiors and unsettling atmospheres.
Xbox is publishing the project, though specific platform details beyond that weren’t confirmed. Kojima teased that the game uses “totally new” infrastructure that “no one has ever done before,” hinting at innovative cloud-based features that could change how we experience horror games.
Baby candles and bad vibes
The teaser proudly declares itself “For all players and screamers,” suggesting Kojima wants to terrify both traditional gamers and streaming audiences. Given how P.T. became a phenomenon partly through reaction videos and shared scares, this dual focus makes perfect sense.
This reveal marks another milestone in Kojima’s return to horror after his legendary P.T. demo in 2014. While that project never saw completion due to the Silent Hills cancellation, OD represents his chance to fully realize his vision for next-generation psychological horror without corporate constraints.
