Death Stranding is Kojima’s first solo project since he left Konami and it represents the bizarre idiosyncrasies that can accompany a free reign in creative game development.
The new trailer forgets Reedus’ creepy naked character in favour of another unnamed figure walking into shadowed tunnel. Surrounded by tanks and soldiers, that strange oily gunk makes another appearance in this unexplained scene. Also returning is that unsettling baby.
Or more likely, a totally different baby, this one contained in a military case.
Once more soldiers emerge from the tunnel things get really weird (as if they weren’t already). A similar black fluid seems to run from the eyes of the soldiers’ commander, who has them tied up under his control. It’s a very bizarre, almost abstract, representation of events. Penetratingly unsettling, Death Stranding looks set to be one of 2017’s biggest mind fucks, with possibly one of 2017’s most intricate narratives.
What that narrative actually entails however, is completely down to speculation at this point, Kojima’s not giving us much with these snapshots of crazy. With Mads Mikkelsen, famed Hannibal star, taking a role in the video game limelight, things aren’t looking PG. Babies are obviously key, as is the strange black liquid that’s creeping into every shot.
A dystopian military universe can also be seen at play, with aspects of mind control and biological warfare perhaps sneaking in there too. Life and death seem to be blurred and yet vital – with the puppet soldiers all but stripped of anything life-like and the contrasting shiny new baby contained in such a trapping vestibule. The title may be full of clues – linking perhaps to a notion of ‘strands’ of death linking life in various different forms, or perhaps denoting a sense of a subjective concept of ‘death’, that can appear in different creations or ‘strands’.
It’s all getting a bit too conceptual for a trailer release post, so i’ll leave it down to the comments to see what we’re all thinking.
Death Stranding has been confirmed for PS4 so far, but we have no further release information at this point, so stay tuned.
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