Hideo Kojima continues his reputation for mystery and sheer WTF-ery with a brand-new trailer for Death Stranding debuted during The Game Awards. Unlike the debut E3 2016 glimpse at the game or the 2016 Game Awards trailer, this latest trailer gives us quite a few clues about possible gameplay mechanics and a few small strands of the storyline.
We now know that Norman Reedus’ character is named Sam and that his character will witness a horrific near future sci-fi disaster. Sam and his fellow team members are assaulted by an invisible enemy that can make their victims dissolve into nothingness almost instantly. During the attack, Sam tells his teammates to stop breathing, presumably because the invisible enemies’ human dissolution powers are airborne. It wouldn’t be a Death Stranding without an appearance from those mysterious babies. This time around we see two things of relevance: 1) That the guy who is about to meet his doom begins to stab his stomach instead of say, going for the throat. 2) Just as Sam is about to meet his maker, the baby attached to his machine becomes fused with his body (just like we saw in the initial E3 2016 trailer).
There is a lot more to dissect from this lengthy Death Stranding trailer which will keep Kojima fans guessing until its eventual release. Just like with the Metal Gear Solid V trailers, it is completely possible that Death Stranding‘s marketing is full of fake-outs, misdirection and not enough information for us to know for sure. Is Sam even the real protagonist? What is the text written on his power armor? What is up with the babies?
Start pausing the trailer, squinting and guessing for months or possibly years.