When Hideo Kojima left Konami, it genuinely felt like the end of an era.
For many of us, Metal Gear Solid without Kojima was almost impossible to imagine. More than a decade later, we still haven't had a new mainline MGS game. In that sense, the series we knew really did end with his departure.
But we got something else instead.
Freed from Metal Gear, Kojima went and made a game that could easily be mocked as a "walking simulator" on paper, and somehow turned Death Stranding into one of the most distinctive AAA experiences of its generation.
Whether you love his games or find them utterly bizarre, there's something increasingly rare about a creator being given the resources to make something so unapologetically his own.
The games industry is relentless. Careers disappear quickly, studios close, creative freedom gets sacrificed and very few people remain relevant for four decades.
Hideo Kojima just turned 63.
He says the things he wants to create keep increasing while the time available to create them keeps getting shorter. And yet, after 40 years of making games, he still wants to keep making them.
That's a rather comforting thought.
Here's hoping there's plenty more weirdness still to come.