Since its resurfacing from the Game Awards and PSX this month, Death Stranding’s second teaser has vastly expanded the world Hideo Kojima has coveted, yet the game remains just as cryptic as ever. If there wasn’t enough questions already, now you have a debut of Guillermo and Mads in a post-apocalyptic setting with undead soldiers and more of just, “wtf?”.
That’s great and all and I wasn’t expecting anything to be answered, but what this trailer did answer, was my wonderment about Silent Hills and using Death Stranding as a vessel for such a game. In a way, it’s a let down to see the same cinematic qualities as a Metal Gear Solid cut-scene unveiling a menacing Mads Mikkelsen lurking in the shadows when initially expecting a Kojima and Del Toro collaboration to be the next best horror game we could ever ask for. How well can that be captured in an open-world RPG?
This is certainly not a bad thing and I’m not even saying that’s a solid prediction that we won’t get some hint of horror in the game. However, it definitely seems to take a broader scope to things. As we all know, Hideo has several influences to bend the story direction in different ways. It could be that all of these familiar faces are taking away from the horror aspect from the game temporarily or that’s not a main focus at all. You may not have felt it but I did get a Half-Life 2 vibe from this new trailer. Place a war-torn city patrolled by a dark and mysterious presence, possibly extra-terrestrial, with some trace of human life up against what looks to be impossible odds? Yea I can dream.
Regardless of what we get, it should be appreciated that we are receiving something completely new in a time where extensions of the same exact games are pushed out annually unfinished and too familiar. The result of Death Stranding’s direction can only be speculated until we get our actual hands on it. I don’t even think Kojima productions entirely knows yet, but it’s getting quite interesting so far.
Trailer link: https://youtu.be/D7CRk7OMC4Q
-Matt
Custodi Exitus 