Death Stranding, the first title from Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima, has spent the last few years enjoying full blown enigma status within the video game community. Its appearances at events like E3 and PlayStation Experience always raised more questions than they answered. Kojima himself has remained coy about the game’s content — its story, its setting and its bizarre tech, all were a closely guarded secrets. Until today.
The nine minute trailer gives players their first real look at Death Stranding‘s gameplay. It features Norman Reedus in a huge field, Mads Mikkelsen being a necromancer in an oil pit, a guy called Die Hardman which absolutely rules and babies suspended in amniotic fluid that not only understand English but also allow people to see horrible shadow people from the past. While some stealth mechanics are shown, Kojima has stressed that its focus is not on stealth — he insists that it is”a new action game with the concept of connection (strand). I call it Social Strand System, or simply Strand Game,” which sounds an awful lot like the things other players do in their game will mess with mine.
It also refuses to shy away from any Extremely Online complaints regarding politics in video games, steering into the curve with a depiction of an irreperably divided United States and Reedus’ character, telling named Sam Bridger, being tasked with bringing the US back together again through personal, human reconnection. Kojima has never favoured subtlety in his messaging and it doesn’t appear Death Stranding will see him break that habit.
So when can you get your hands on this madness? Death Stranding launches November 8, 2019 exclusively on PlayStation 4 .
