DEATH STRANDING
We dive into Death Stranding’s latest showing to decipher Hideo’s Mads world
The next game from Hideo Kojima, the man behind Metal Gear, bags some big stars.
When Konami canned Silent Hills, we thought Kojima-san and Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro’s burgeoning partnership was dead. Yet here we are, watching Death Stranding’s amazing new trailer – captured directly on PS4 Pro at 4K – and we’ll be damned if its bespectacled gent isn’t Hideo’s Hollywood pal.
There’s even bigger news: the Metal Gear creator has finally found an engine for the adventure. After going on a worldwide tech tour with PS4’s lead architect Mark Cerny, the visionary designer has chosen Decima, the Guerrilla Games engine powering Horizon Zero Dawn.
“We believe their engine will help make a better game, and a better future for our industry,” says Kojima, speaking during an IGN video filmed shortly after Death Stranding resurfaced at last December’s PSX. “Their engine is well suited to the tools and systems of an open-world game. This was a very important aspect to us.” ‘Openworld’? Could Death Stranding be an MGS V-style sandbox? Hold us.
DEATH CRAB FOR SHOOTY
As for the trailer, it’s peak Kojima. Hell, it’s 2000 feet above the summit of Hideo’s highest, maddest hill. Like Death Stranding’s E3 showing, it kicks off by doubling down on an eco-conscious theme. Last time it was beached whales, now it’s extra dead, upended crabs.
As the portly del Toro character walks down a canal in the ruins of a city, the scene reminds us of World War II imagery. The decaying rubble and crumbling masonry is desaturated in tone; it all screams Saving Private Ryan. Planes with a Mitsubishi bomber’s silhouette (but trailing whiplike tendrils) zoom by above, racing against a sky that’s split by an inverted rainbow.
The militaristic vibe – this is Kojima, after all – is reinforced when a tank rumbles into shot. Unlike your garden variety Panzer,
this war beast is giving a piggyback ride to a squid-like entity, and if you look closely, you can spot human bones above the caterpillar track. Despite the presence of troops who are dressed like they’re fighting for the Axis powers, there’s an underlying, subtle alien presence.
SAVED BY THE DEL
The action then cuts back to del Toro. As he heads towards a stone bridge you’re given the briefest hint at who he may be working for. One of the lapels on his jacket is emblazoned with a logo for an organisation known as ‘Bridges: United Cities Of America’. Is he some sort of foreign diplomat? Interestingly, digital del Toro also sports surgical stitching across his forehead. Has he recently undergone a cranial procedure?
There’s little time to pore over his scars, because soon strange baby shenanigans are afoot. Again. In the last trailer, Norman Reedus’ character tenderly embraced an infant who vanished into thin air as The Walking Dead thesp was cradling it. Here, del Toro’s PS4 twin is covertly smuggling a child inside a mysterious capsule.
You know what’s even freakier than all this secretive toddler transportation? Shortly after the trailer debuted, folk on Twitter ran it side-by-side with the E3 footage. Carefully sync both videos and you can see the moment Reedus’ infant vanishes almost exactly matches the point where the baby in del Toro’s capsule suddenly appears. Are these scenarios happening at the same point in time? Did del Toro just remotely kidnap the kid? Even by Kojima’s clever fourth-wall breaking standards, this trailer link up is a head-spinning humdinger.
The cool details don’t stop there. The eagled-eyed viewer should spot warnings on del Toro’s device – the container’s pump mechanism says ‘Caution: use designated tool to remove bolt’, while the glass casing reads ‘Ensure lock is tight’. Clearly, lugging nippers around in a paranormal Kinder Surprise is a complex business.
Whether it’s the secrecy that surrounds this child-ferrying or the downbeat stylings, Death Stranding feels like Koj’s take on Children Of Men. Like in Alfonso Cuarón’s bleak sci-fi thriller, childbirth is seemingly symbolic; yet here it appears it’s an event to be hidden, not celebrated. Is procreation banned in this universe? The one-legged doll that sadly trickles towards del Toro has a pronounced X marking on its naval (Reedus had abdominal scarring in the earlier trailer). Is this yet another sign that the governing forces of this world are against naturally born babies?
And then there’s Mads Mikkelsen. Ah, unbearably handsome Mads. The Hannibal/Casino Royale actor pops up near the end, conjuring memories of Metal Gear villains. The dark oil that’s so prevalent in both trailers bleeds from his eyes, he may have telekinetic powers – witness his headgear dissolve – and it appears he can summon inky tendrils. Whoever Mads is playing, his character is channelling The Sorrow, Psycho Mantis and Vamp in one incredible package.
STRAND AND DELIVER
Does any of this clue us in on how Death Stranding will play? Not really. It could be a stealth game, it may be something more experimental. For now, it’s just heartening to see Kojima return to his brazenly bizarre roots. And with Kojima Productions and Guerrilla Games sharing tech and expertise, PS4’s future couldn’t look brighter. Well, once you scrub all that oil away…
DEL TORO’S PS4 TWIN COVERTLY SMUGGLES A CHILD IN A MYSTERIOUS SCI-FI CAPSULE.