A new, very long Death Stranding 2 trailer has finally given the Hideo Kojima sequel a release date and more mysteries, like what’s with the guy who looks almost exactly like Metal Gear’s Snake near the end of it?
The timed PlayStation 5 console exclusive’s latest set of announcements came during a panel discussion at SXSW over the weekend between Kojima, Norman Reedus, Troy Baker, and French musical artist Woodkid whose song appears in the game. The director revealed a June 26 release date and a $230 collector’s edition for Death Stranding 2 that includes a 15″ Magellan Man statue and other collectibles, like a letter from Kojima himself. A musical tour for the franchise is also kicking off this year.
But the most important part of the panel was the new Death Stranding 2 trailer. Just when you thought Kojima probably couldn’t share any more about the game without spoiling he said, “Oh, just watch me.” The footage opens with a character named Neil who appears to be some sort of black ops spook called in for one last job to smuggle pregnant women across the U.S. Mexico border. He’s played by Italian actor Luca Marinelli and gives intense Metal Gear vibes by the end of the trailer.
Toward the end of the footage we see him wrapping a bandana around his head and emerging from a burning church with a squad of skeleton soldiers and fireworks exploding in the background like a death cult 4th of July celebration. There are callbacks to Mads Mikkelsen’s Clifford Unger in the first game, as well as obvious allusions to Kojima’s own Metal Gear series and its generations-spanning special forces operative named Snake.
Fans were quick to point out that the director had previously tweeted that Marinelli would make a great Snake in a live action movie. The post came after the actor appeared in the otherwise pretty mediocre Netflix action blockbuster about immortal soldiers called Old Guard. Leave it to Kojima to weave an apparent troll of his former publisher, Konami, into meta commentary for his next serpentine-plotted thriller.
The trailer ends with Nicolas Winding Refn’s Heartman merging his DHV Magellan ship with a massive BT (hence the collector’s edition statue) to fight another massive BT and a ghostly Kaiju showdown of oozing black oil and paranormal horror. When Death Stranding 2 was announced there were a lot of people, including myself, wondering why in the world we needed a sequel. After nearly 30 minutes of carefully crafted pre-release trailers, I’m 100 percent on board.
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