Ghosts, Shrines & Unreal: Unpacking Kojima’s OD: Knock

Ghosts, shrines, and Unreal: Kojima’s OD: Knock goes full Kojima

Only Hideo Kojima could tease a horror anthology by claiming he “tried to scan a ghost,” then drop that his team—and even Microsoft—visited a shrine to ward off bad vibes. At Beyond The Strand, Kojima lifted the veil on OD: Knock, the latest “chapter” in his enigmatic OD project, showcasing hyper-real footage built in Unreal Engine and starring Sophia Lillis. It looks incredible, unnerving, and—true to Kojima form—leaves you wondering: what exactly is the game?

Key Takeaways

• OD: Knock is billed as a slice of Kojima’s horror anthology, with a new ultra-real trailer leveraging Unreal Engine and starring Sophia Lillis.
• Kojima quipped he tried to “scan a ghost” and described unexplained events at the studio, prompting a shrine visit to cleanse the set.
• No release date or clear gameplay pitch yet—expect an experimental, performance-driven horror chapter, not an action blockbuster.
• Great news for Xbox and Kojima fans, but timelines and interactivity remain tantalizingly vague.

What We Saw: A Scene-by-Scene Breakdown

The OD: Knock trailer runs roughly 90 seconds, but every frame feels charged. Here’s our closer look:

• 0:05 – Opening close-up: We see Sophia Lillis’s face fill the frame, skin pores sharply defined, a single tear clinging to her cheek as she whispers an indistinct plea. Real-time ray tracing lights catch each drop.
• 0:30 – The corridor shot: Lillis stands in a dim, narrow hallway, breathing heavy. At this point she softly utters, “Is someone there?”, her voice trembling. The camera’s shallow depth of field makes the walls blur into darkness.
• 0:45 – The ghost flicker: A sudden flash of pale, indiscernible form at the end of the hall. We see a phantom silhouette for less than a second—enough to unsettle, not enough to explain.
• 1:10 – Shrine imagery: Kojima cuts to footage of an actual Shinto priest performing a purification ritual outside the studio. Incense smoke curls as steel tongs move over a wooden shrine plaque, grounding the ghost story in real-world myth.

These beats underscore Kojima’s talent for theatrical staging. It’s less about showing systems or HUD, and more about plunging you into a moment of primal unease.

Tech Breakdown: Anatomy of a Super-Real Horror Trailer

At its core, OD: Knock is a showcase for Unreal Engine’s latest tricks:

• MetaHuman fidelity: Lillis’s face is captured with photoreal detail, from skin subsurface scattering to individual eyebrow hairs. This tech powered Death Stranding’s performances and now pushes the uncanny valley even further.
• Volumetric capture: The fleeting ghost silhouette likely uses volumetric video techniques, blending 3D scans with particle-based animation for that ghostly blur.
• Real-time ray tracing: Notice how light bounces off metal door frames and glints in Lillis’s eyes. Those dynamic reflections heighten immersion—and your dread.
• Photogrammetry backgrounds: The corridor walls feel textured with real-world grit, not generic polygons. Kojima’s team probably scanned an actual Japanese shrine interior to build authenticity.

When Kojima says he tried to “scan a ghost,” he’s weaving folklore into technical showmanship. Whether there was any paranormal interference, the end result is pure horror theater—powered by cutting-edge game tech.

Gameplay Hypotheses: What Might We Actually Do?

Kojima is famously cagey about mechanics, but we can speculate on OD: Knock’s interactive DNA:

• Light interaction: Think P.T.’s flashlight mechanic. You could tilt your camera or point a virtual torch to reveal spectral clues.
• Audio-driven puzzle: Volumetric ghost recordings might require players to isolate frequencies or replay whispers to unlock secret paths.
• Choice-and-consequence: Lillis’s whispered lines could trigger branch points—do you advance down the hallway or retreat? Each decision could reshape the chapter’s ending.
• ARG community layers: Kojima loves meta hooks. Hidden web pages or shrine locations in the real world might form a live-service puzzle around OD’s release.

Whatever shape it takes, OD: Knock is unlikely to be typical melee combat or open-world exploration. Expect focused, short-form chapters built around atmosphere, tension, and your own reflexes.

Xbox and Business Implications: Why Microsoft Cares

Bringing Kojima onboard is a strategic win for Xbox. After high-profile studio acquisitions and “big action tentpoles,” Microsoft needs counterprogramming—projects that spark conversation over spectacle. OD: Knock delivers:

• Diverse portfolio: It broadens Game Pass’s lineup beyond shooters and RPGs, appealing to horror aficionados and cinephile gamers.
• Brand halo: Kojima’s name still commands headlines. OD: Knock boosts Xbox’s cultural cachet, even if it’s not a millions-of-units seller.
• Live-service potential: An anthology model—episodic horror chapters—plays well to Game Pass’s subscription cycles. Drop one chapter per quarter, sustain buzz.

Plus, Microsoft’s presence in the shrine visit footage isn’t accidental. It signals confidence: “We support weird, experimental game labs.” That ethos might draw more auteur creators to the Xbox fold.

The Bigger Trend: Why Performance-Led Horror Is Thriving

We’re amid a renaissance of actor-driven scares. From The Quarry’s big-name cast to Supermassive’s Dark Pictures anthologies and Sam Barlow’s Immortality, tight, cinematic experiences are resonating. Tools like MetalHuman, real-time ray tracing, and volumetric capture have made faces, eyes, and subtle expressions unprecedentedly lifelike—and terrifying.

Kojima’s OD: Knock stakes out its niche by blending these advances with meta commentary and shrine-bound folklore. If it threads that needle—immersive tech meeting haunting narrative—it could stand alongside these titles while remaining unmistakably Kojima.

Looking Ahead

I’m all in for the weird, but I want more clarity soon. Share a chapter roadmap, reveal basic input types, and set a target window for launch. Keep the shrine anecdotes coming—they enrich the backstory—but pair them with a clear gameplay pitch so players know if this is a weekend binge, a live-service drop, or a one-shot experiment. Until then, OD: Knock is a dazzling ghost story about a game that’s still materializing before our eyes.

TL;DR

At Beyond The Strand, Kojima debuted OD: Knock’s unsettling Unreal trailer, claimed he tried to “scan a ghost,” and showed a shrine blessing. It’s a masterclass in atmosphere, but gameplay and release details remain unknown. File under: thrillingly cryptic and worth following—just don’t preorder the séance.