According to a recent report, Hideo Kojima's long-awaited Death Stranding could release as early as 2018. The latest effort from the former VP of Konami is getting about as much hype as video games can get, thanks in no small part to its star-studded cast. Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, and Guillermo del Toro have all provided motion capture work for the title.

It looks like Sony Interactive Entertainment has given Kojima full-on carte blanche with Death Stranding, which will be the director's first game since his controversial split from Konami in 2015. It's shaping up to be one of the most out-there titles ever, as the game's three trailers have demonstrated. The most recent teaser, which debuted earlier this month at the Game Awards 2017, left us with more questions than answers in its whopping eight minute runtime.

Related: The Latest Death Stranding Trailer is Insanely Weird and Creepy

Although it's been over a year and a half since Death Stranding was first announced at E3 2016, the PS4 exclusive is still without an official release date. (In fairness, the game was only confirmed to be in full development earlier this year.) But if a new report is to believed, that may not be the case for much longer. As Twitter user @bk2128 notes below, Sony's apparently blown away by the rate at which Death Stranding is coming along. So much so, in fact, that the game could actually be released in 2018. In an interview with Japanese gaming magazine Dengeki PlayStation, Kojima seemingly teases that his latest effort could hit the market sometime next year. Check out the tweet for yourself below.

Kojima could certainly be teasing some other major announcement for 2018, perhaps even his studio's next project after Death Stranding. That said, he did make the tease in the same breathe as he mentioned how fast his team is working. It's hard to imagine that he's not talking about Death Stranding here -- assuming this report is accurate.

Still, we can't shake the feeling that this one is quite a ways off from being finished. AAA titles typically take at least 2 years to develop, and considering how high Death Stranding seems to be aiming, we fully expect a longer development cycle for Kojima's first big project after his Konami departure. Kojima looks to be shooting for the moon with Death Stranding, so he's definitely not going to rush it out. If it does land in 2018, we wouldn't expect to see it until late Q3 or Q4. It looks like the many mysteries surrounding the game will be lingering for a while yet.

Next: 18 Video Game Sequels Coming In 2018

Source: Twitter