"Death Stranding" will not be stranded in its development phase for long, as the creator, Hideo Kojima, has been optimistic about their fast progress with the upcoming game.

Kojima has even hinted that the game could be released as early as 2018, which is quite impressive since it was only announced last year. This was based on the reports from Japanese video game news outlet Black Kite on Twitter, where an interview with gaming magazine Dengeki PlayStation sees Kojima claiming that Sony, the "Death Stranding's" publisher, has never seen developers working so fast on a game before.

With that in mind, Kojima has admitted that "Death Stranding" is doing well and that he plans to announce something big in 2018, which he assures will be a surprise to everyone. This has even built up the hype for the already popular game, which features big-name stars like Norman Reedus ("The Walking Dead"), Mads Mikkelsen ("Hannibal," "Doctor Strange"), and Guillermo del Toro ("Hellboy," "Pan's Labyrinth") in its cast and motion capture actor list.

Screen Rant, however, is suggesting that the game, being an AAA title, might need more development time than just two years. This means that Kojima's announcement may be a release date for the game instead of the actual release of the game itself, depending on how fast things go over in his development studio. Longer development cycles for a game of "Death Stranding's" caliber are also expected since this is Kojima's latest big venture ever since he lost his rights to the "Metal Gear Solid" franchise due to his controversial split with Konami back in 2015.

So far, there have only been three trailers for the game, and none of them are about gameplay. These cinematic trailers have also seemingly left a lot more questions than answers given how cryptic and odd they were, but that may simply be Kojima's trademark peculiarity in his games, as was evident in his "Metal Gear Solid" franchise. 

On the off chance that "Death Stranding" gets announced for a 2018 release, it may not arrive until the third or fourth quarter, but fans are advised to stay tuned.