15 Films That Inspired Hideo Kojima's Video Games

August 25, 2026 - 17:55

Hideo Kojima has often described himself as being "70% film," and a quick look at his work proves it. From the stealth-action of Metal Gear to the strand-type gameplay of Death Stranding, his games are packed with cinematic references, direct homages, and thematic echoes of classic and cult movies. Over the years, he has openly named dozens of films that shaped his approach to storytelling and interactive design.

Here are 15 movies he has directly cited as inspirations, ranging from sci-fi epics to gritty thrillers. Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is a constant touchstone, influencing the AI themes in Metal Gear Solid and the eerie, isolated atmosphere of Death Stranding. John Carpenter's Escape from New York gave us the template for Solid Snake's rugged, anti-hero persona, while The Thing influenced the paranoia and body-horror elements seen in some of the series' more surreal boss fights.

Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth, with its alien protagonist struggling with human emotions, directly maps onto the character of Sam Porter Bridges. Similarly, the bleak, post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior can be felt in the desolate landscapes and vehicle-based traversal of Death Stranding. On the more emotional side, the father-son bond in The Iron Giant is a clear influence on the relationship between Snake and his various father figures, and the melancholic tone of Blade Runner is everywhere in the rainy, neon-lit cityscapes of Cyberpunk 2077, a game Kojima consulted on.

He also pulls from less obvious sources. The French film Wages of Fear, about transporting nitroglycerin over rough terrain, is a direct blueprint for the cargo-delivery missions in Death Stranding. The tense, single-location drama of The Hateful Eight shaped the structure of the interrogation scenes in Metal Gear Solid 2. Even the quirky, offbeat humor of the Coen Brothers' The Big Lebowski shows up in the weird side characters and deadpan dialogue. Other key picks include the surreal dream logic of David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, the political thriller Three Days of the Condor, and the gritty war film Full Metal Jacket, which influenced the boot-camp opening of Metal Gear Solid 3. For Kojima, film is not just a reference; it is the raw material he reshapes into something only games can deliver.