Hideo Kojima presented a teaser trailer for his new game OD at the Game Awards 2023. Even though fans have absolutely no idea what is actually going on, they are excited and already speculating about what could be behind the ominous trailer.
What does the trailer for OD show? At the beginning, you hear the crackling sound of a Geiger counter. Then it sounds like a door is being kicked in.
Next, we see the faces of three people in close-up. They all say the same cryptic sentence in different emotional states: “The hungry purple dinosaur ate the kind zingy fox, the jabbering crab, and the mad whale started vending and quacking“.
In English, this means: The hungry purple dinosaur ate the friendly fox, the jabbering crab, and the mad whale began to sell and quack.
One of the characters is then shown again, this time full of fear. In her eyes, a door that is opening is reflected: The woman screams. Then the logo appears, and the trailer ends.
You can watch the trailer for Kojima’s new game OD here:
How does the community react to the trailer? Fans are thrilled – even though they have absolutely no idea what is actually going on.
User Frankenmuppet sums it up perfectly under the teaser on YouTube: “As always, when a Kojima production is teased, I have no idea what’s going on… And I am 100% in.“
Not understanding Kojima’s trailers is more the rule than the exception. Even with the teaser for Death Stranding, viewers were shown surreal elements without having the contextual framework, leaving them wondering: What the hell did I just see?
While you still have absolutely no idea what the game is actually about after watching Kojima’s teasers, the trailer does something very important: It conveys a feeling.
In the case of OD, it is a slowly emerging unease that begins with the crackling of the Geiger counter and reaches its peak with the woman’s scream.
Moreover, this ignorance provides plenty of material for speculation. Just like in the games, the devil is often hidden in the details in Kojima’s trailers.
This is also true here in OD, where the reflections in the eyes reveal additional information and show how the door opens at the end and a shadowy figure becomes visible.
What could the trailer mean? Under the trailer on YouTube, initial speculations are already circulating about what Kojima wants to show us in his trailer.
User Sleazy Shell explains that the phrase used in the teaser is a phonetic pangram, meaning a sentence that contains all the letters of the alphabet. He goes on to explain:
[…] This could mean that one can create a voiceprint. If you have a sample of these people’s voices with every possible sound, you could create a profile of how each word would sound when they say it. With that, you might be able to copy or identify people’s voices.
Together with the chaotically overlapping voices in the background, it seems that voice and sound are a central theme.
Below, another user speculates whether the woman at the end maybe sees a different version of herself and screams because of that.
What do you think of Hideo Kojima’s mysterious trailer, and do you have any ideas about what might be behind the clip? Feel free to let us know in the comments.
If you are looking for a good series on Netflix, take a look at this personal recommendation from the game maker:
