As part of a 90 minute, Japanese language panel at the Tokyo Game Show, Hideo Kojima unveiled nearly eight minutes of never before seen cutscenes from the upcoming Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Kojima Productions subsequently uploaded English versions of the clips to X, “The Everything App.” Would you be surprised to learn that they’re incredibly strange and surreal?
The first scene takes us back aboard the Submarine That Makes You Blue, with Sam Porter Bridges, played by Norman Reedus, and Léa Seydoux’s Fragile taking a trip to the ship’s bridge. My guess would be that this comes close to the start of the game, as old Sam’s still getting his bearings and meeting members of the crew.
#TGS2024PlayStation Presents “DEATH STRANDING 2” Special Stage!First public release of game footage.Part 2: Tomorrow & Rainy Member Introductions.#DeathStranding2 pic.twitter.com/ElGZ62zSEQSeptember 29, 2024
The ship’s name is revealed to be the DHV Magellan, and Fragile remarks that, “It’s always like this when the DHV Magellan is on the move.” Whether “like this” refers to everything being covered in goop and people having blue-grey skin is unclear. Sam meets Mad Max director George Miller’s character, Tarman, who Fragile introduces as the Magellan’s “doctor and geophysicist” who also happens to pilot the thing. It’s also revealed that the Magellan is actually underground and not underwater, with the setting’s metaphysically empowered death goop being its means of travel.
Fragile sheds what I assume to be a thematically important single tear (more on this later!), and Sam has his first meeting with that kooky, quarter rate-animated puppet we all loved in the earlier trailer. Mr. Puppet was once a man, lost his spirit medium powers when he adopted his new form, is “alive and [his] own master,” and his name is Dollman.
In the next clip, everyone’s normal color again, and Sam walks in on a conversation between Elle Fanning’s Tomorrow and newly revealed character Rainy, played by Japanese actress Shioli Kutsuna. Rainy, who is pregnant, explains to Tomorrow where babies come from (more or less), as Tomorrow comes from another dimension where “no one gave birth to babies, they just stayed inside their mothers’ bellies.” Tomorrow, Rainy, and Dollman then proceed to sing a rendition of “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” to Rainy’s pregnant belly.
#TGS2024PlayStation Presents “DEATH STRANDING 2” Special Stage!First public release of game footage.Part 5: Dollman In-game Event Video. The music of Daichi Miura that appears in the video “Horizon Dreamer” will be available midnight tonight, September 30th [JST]. Enjoy!… pic.twitter.com/iDVc9SmmXESeptember 29, 2024
The third clip sees the return of Drive director Nicholas Winding Refn’s likeness for Heartman, a man who has a heart attack and dies once every 21 minutes before getting revived by an automated defibrillator. Heartman now sports heart-shaped glasses and a Huey Emmerich-style exoskeleton, and inexplicably sheds and collects a single tear before addressing Sam and Dollman. Heartman’s Huey rig now lets him have his heart attacks standing up. “Thanks to this support unit,” Heartman declares while striking gravity-defying poses, “I can flatline anytime, anywhere without worry.”
The fourth clip shows off Death Stranding 2’s photo mode, with Sam taking pictures of Fragile, Rainy, and Tomorrow as they giggle, dance, and strike various poses throughout the Magellan. The final clip, meanwhile, is another musical number featuring Dollman, here dancing along with holograms of himself and Japanese pop musician Daichi Miura to a new, original composition by Miura, “Horizon Dreamer.”
And I guess I’m on board. I still have to play Death Stranding 1, but based on everything I’ve heard, I’m not positive that it would do much to help me understand what’s going on. That’s totally fine, part of the appeal, even: What’s undeniable is that Kojima Productions’ trademark craftsmanship and sense of surreal whimsy is out in full force on this one.
I get a real Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker vibe from On The Beach’s strong use of its ensemble cast, a lightness and sense of camaraderie that might make for a tasty contrast with Death Stranding’s grim world. Also? They are getting some mileage out of that puppet—he was a consistent presence across all of these trailers. It’s like if Daxter from Jak and Daxter were charming. We still don’t have a release date for Death Stranding 2, but lord is it coming.
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