Hideo Kojima, the famed creator of the Metal Gear series, returns from a brief hiatus after his highly publicized exit from Konami with his strangest concept yet: Death Stranding, a game that’s all about connections, according to the developer. Kojima’s goal is to create a game where players interact with each other beyond just trying to kill each other.
The game stars Norman Reedus and Mads Mikkelsen. It also features some collaboration with beloved director Guillermo del Toro, who previously worked with Kojima on the ill-fated Silent Hills project.
Here’s everything else we know:
Death Stranding Trailer
A series of Death Stranding trailers arrived at Gamescom 2019! The first one showcases our best look at the title’s gameplay:
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We also learned more about the characters Mama and Deadman as well as what the whole baby business is all about:
At SDCC 2019, we learned a bit about the character Heartman:
Here is the much-hyped release date trailer for Death Stranding. It’s quite the sight and a lot to take in at over eight minutes long, so be sure to set some time aside to enjoy it:
Another arrived at TGS 2018. It confirmed that Troy Baker is playing a villain in the game. Check it out below:
E3 2018 featured the debut of Death Stranding‘s gameplay a few more details about its story. It’s a long look at the game, but you’ve got to see it.
Another Death Stranding trailer premiered at The Game Awards 2017 and it’s our best look at this haunting game yet! Check out the trailer below:
The second trailer for Hideo Kojima’s next game was revealed at the 2016 Game Awards. The big story here is the appearance of everyone’s (at least second) favorite Hannibal Lecter, Mads Mikkelsen. Check it out:
Here’s the very first trailer for the game:
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Death Stranding Release Date
Death Stranding will release on November 8, 2019. It is currently set to be a PS4 exclusive.
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Death Stranding Cast
The full, star-studded cast of Death Stranding was revealed at E3 2019. The cast is as follows:
Norman Reedus – Sam Porter Bridges
Mads Mikkelsen – Cliff
Lea Seydoux – Fragile
Margaret Qualley – Mama
Troy Baker – Higgs
Lindsay Wagner – Amelie
Nicolas Winding Refn – Heartman
Guillermo del Toro – Deadman
Tommie Earl Jenkins – Die-Hardman
Death Stranding Gameplay
Hideo Kojima continues to leak out Death Stranding information a trickle at a time. The game auteur took the stage at a Tokyo game conference today and provided the briefest of glimpses regarding Death Stranding‘s design intent.
Death Stranding will be an action game with open-world elements, but, according to Kojima, it will be a different kind of action game that emphasizes player interactions beyond just trying to kill each other. While players will fight both computer and human-controlled enemies via the game’s single-player and online modes, Kojima is also working on ways in which they can experience the game together that emphasizes non-action based cooperation.
Kojima didn’t go into further details regarding how, exactly, this will work, but there were trace elements of the Dark Souls‘ school of multiplayer design in his speech.
Speaking at the Develop: Brighton conference, Hideo Kojima expressed his belief that Death Stranding represents his greatest work.
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“I’m very confident that we’re working towards something completely new and that no-one has seen so far,” said Kojima. “This will be my best work so far, I’m very confident about that.”
In an interview with Glixel, Kojima confirmed that Death Stranding ”is not a horror game.” Despite the dark tone of the first two trailers and his recent work on P.T., Death Stranding will not be the creator’s first full foray into horror after all.
“I don’t have a dark mindset in particular,” Kojima told Glixel. “Death Stranding is not a horror game. I just wanted to make something that looks very unique, something you haven’t seen before, something with a more artistic slant to it. I’m not pursuing a dark aspect to the game.”
It definitely looks unique, especially in the “using creepy babies to promote your game” department. Kojima also reassured fans that the game will still have a sense of humor – a staple of his past games, which have included running gags and breaking the fourth wall.
“Humor is a very important aspect for games. You play a game for a very long time – Death Stranding is a big game, too – and you put stress on the player and you lead them through peaks and valleys. Humor is an important aspect to make sure the player can enjoy playing across these peaks and valleys. So we’ll have humor in this game too, but to a degree that it doesn’t ruin the world setting. It will be at an appropriate level.”
Kojima also caught up with the BBC to talk about Death Stranding and how it’s unlike anything he’s created before.
“We want this game to be something that people can get into easily but after an hour or two they’ll start to notice something a little different,” Kojima said. “It’s not like anything they’ve played before.”
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Kojima, who’s never been shy about introducing very weird new elements to his games, says he’s not too worried about how the risks he’s taking with Death Stranding might drive some players away.
“Bands that everyone remembers take risks,” he said. “They constantly change their music from previous albums, adapting and evolving through the ages. … They might lose some fans along the way, but they bring in new ones. That’s the kind of approach I want to take with my new game.”
Kojima fans are undoubtedly expecting something new and strange from Death Stranding. So far, the trailers indicate that Kojima will indeed deliver the goods.
Death Stranding Story
Mads Mikkelsen recently caught up with Birth.Movies.Death. to talk about Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding and what exactly the actor is doing in the game’s second trailer. It seems that Mikkelsen, who plays the game’s villain, is as confused as the rest of us are, even though he’s sat down to talk about the enigmatic game with the auteur.
While he can’t talk about the plot of Death Stranding, Mikkelsen did say that “it’s very intricate. I mean, you know [Kojima]. He’s a very brilliant man. I mean, the stuff he told me? I only understood some of it. There was a lot of, ‘What?’ I have to see it before I understand. Because with Death Stranding, he’s creating something completely new.”
As Kojima described to Red Bull, Death Stranding‘s story “is all about connections, that are called ‘strands’ in psychology.” That’s not much to go on at all, but then again, Kojima likes to keep story details very close to the chest. Kojima continued, “It’s too early to talk about the broader details of the story or to reveal the female lead, but we have a core structure already.”
With the likes of director Guillermo del Toro and actors Mikkelsen and Norman Reedus joining Kojima on this project, we’re sure to be in for something very special – if only slightly confusing as well.
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Death Stranding Poster
Kojima tweeted this promotional image for Death Stranding around the time of E3 2017. The image’s use of the word “Bridges” is particularly interesting because, as IGN points out, that word was also seen in the game’s second trailer.
John Saavedra is Games Editor at Den of Geek. Read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @johnsjr9.