Introduction
Hideo Kojima, a name synonymous with innovation and boundary-pushing creativity in the gaming industry, is back at it again with "Death Stranding 2." Known for crafting cinematic gaming experiences that blend thought-provoking storytelling with gameplay, Kojima continues to defy conventional expectations. With the reveal of the latest "Death Stranding 2" trailer, fans are abuzz with excitement, theories, and speculation. Today, we're diving into what makes Kojima's vision so unique and how this sequel is shaping up to be a remarkable evolution of his craft.
But then there's Hideo Kojima. - Because I'm not doing this anymore. - who refuses to do anything but set examples of excellence on the level that it actually makes publishers mad sometimes, which brings us back to the beach, "Death Stranding 2" Hi, folks, it's Zaid Ikram, and today on Gamix, this is how AAA games should look like.
The Unmatched Hype: "Death Stranding 2" Trailer
Man. Have you guys seen the new "Death Stranding 2" trailer? After the absurdity of the reveal trailer last year, this one goes so much harder. It's proof positive that nobody freaking does trailers like Kojima. I remember the trailers for "Metal Gear Solid V" blowing my mind back when that was coming out, and while that game didn't exactly deliver on what the trailer's promised, I'm still pretty hopeful about "Death Stranding 2.
Like, where do you even start when you're talking about this thing? There's not a lot of concrete information out there about what exactly we're gonna be doing in this sequel, but there's no denying that it looks awesome, and with the newest trailer, we get our best look yet at the gameplay, and it looks pretty different compared to the first game.
Familiar Yet Fresh: Comparing the Sequel to Its Predecessor
Yeah, we get some of that lonesomeness of the first game in here and the vibe isn't so far removed you don't get it, but there's a lot more going on. There's combat and crazy tar monsters and cities and high technology. The game does, to a lot of extent, look like a different beast. Some wild "Metal Gear Solid" references as well.
I mean, when I first saw the mobile base, the Magellan, everybody said it looked like the top half of "Metal Gear." Little did we know that that's literally what it was, as revealed at the end of the trailer where Hartman, the man with the heart shaped heart, which Kojima, c'mon man, but he apparently builds a Gollum or something outta tar and the ship becomes the head.
It's now literally a "Metal Gear" and this new character, Neil, goes full Solid Snake by putting on a bandana. Everyone always talks about how much Hideo Kojima wanted out of "Metal Gear," how every game after 2 is gonna be his last, he just kept doing more.
They kept putting him back into it, but I think "Death Stranding 2" is the truth finally revealed he can't give up on "Metal Gear," even after leaving Konami and starting his own studio. He can't help but throw in multiple blatant homages to that series in there. He can't stop and I'm not complaining, because that's what makes it one hell of a trailer moment.
Bigger and Better: Evolving Gameplay Dynamics
Everything about this sequel looks bigger and better. I can't say anything certain about it, but it definitely looks like they're trying to sell this as much more of an action game compared to the original, which was like 80% quiet walking around, 20% action.
The dynamic looks pretty different here. The ratio, it's changed. Multiple moments in the newest trailer show combat with humans and BTs, which look even more grotesque this time around. There even appears to be like manmade BTs, like machine BTs or something, I don't know. Honestly, I have no idea what some of these things are, but they look awesome.
The Evolution of Gameplay Mechanics
The first "Death Stranding" was divisive, especially when it first came out, and a big reason for that is people just didn't know what to make of it. It was a delivery game, mostly about navigating difficult terrain, and that's what you were doing most of the time. It wasn't an open-world stealth game even if it had little bits of that "MGS V" DNA in there.
It was primarily about walking from one place to another. It was a brilliantly designed walking simulator. It was groundbreaking back when it first came out, but it wasn't necessarily what people wanted from a Kojima game. The impressions from this trailer is that "Death Stranding 2" looks a lot more like what people would've wanted out of Kojima Productions, just straight up looks a lot more like "Metal Gear.
There's honest-to-God bases, there's enemy patrols, vehicles, which was a thing in the first game, but it appears like the humans you fight are just, they're more than guys who really, really wanna steal cargo. Now it looks like there's dedicated enemy factions this time around. We have some kind of coherent goal or motivation.
Intriguing Story and Environments
They're not just inconsequential distractions like how the human enemies were depicted in the first game. Everything in the trailer makes this game look like a true successor to "Metal Gear." The story is as nuts as ever, but there are crazy, whacked-out bad guys, including at least one mysterious armored Samurai character who's very cyborg ninja-esque, with more gear reference to add to the pile, I suppose.
There's more human allies this time around too, and one guy who's literally a doll. The gameplay still appears to be mission based, probably still doing deliveries like in the first game, like that seems to be there, but the minute-to-minute gameplay looks like it's more about stealth and infiltration. Where the theme of the first game is connections, this game seems like it's going the opposite direction, so it's possible the whole community building aspect, it might not be here.
Are we still expanding the network to build roads or zip lines or is getting around easier? I don't know what Kojima isn't telling us, obviously. I'm thinking this aspect of the game might be at least deemphasized, but that would be disappointing if the whole thing was thrown out, 'cause I don't know, there's just something really satisfying about entering a barren world that's hard to get around, slowly building it up so it's safer and easier to travel through.
Environmental Evolution: A New Gameplay Layer?
But the environments also look a lot more built up this time around, so it's hard to say how much of that gameplay will carry over to the sequel. There does seem to still be a man versus environment theme going on here though. Some of the most impressive and intriguing parts of the trailer show the ways the environment can potentially change and challenge you with things like a new river draining into a lake, or a wildfire spreading with trees burning down.
Like, look at this section. There's these roads and cars and electrical wires, stuff you really never saw in the first game, and this gigantic electrical storm brewing in the distance. They just bombard you with stuff at this point, and there's a lot to glean from these first few seconds. For one thing, there's way more variety in terms of locations this time around.
Gameplay Speculation: What Lies Ahead
There's the usual Icelandic rocky places from the original game, but there's also jungles, deserts, snowy mountains. There can be avalanches in the snowy mountains, which amazing visual, but is it an actual part of the gameplay? Is it just a set piece or does it happen naturally sometimes if you make too much noise or shoot rockets to the mountains or something, I don't know.
I'm very intrigued though. Let's circle back to that clip of water draining into a lake or pond. At first, it might not seem noteworthy, but look at the way the water's draining. It's spreading out like this is a newly formed river or that the water's flowing into it. It's new, it's somehow new. Is this some kind of gameplay mechanic they haven't revealed yet? Can you do things to the environment to make ice melt or make water drain or is this something that happens when it rains or what? I honestly don't know what's going on here,
but there's more going on here than it seems. You can see Sam carrying stuff on his back still, so deliveries are likely a central part of the experience. It just looks like there's a lot more going on now, and that's what's exciting. There appears to be a car chase, looks like there's big boss fights with BTs.
There's a part that suggests that BTs might be fighting each other. I don't know what's going on here. And then we get the big reveal of the Magellan Man, I can only hope and pray this isn't some cut scene thing and we actually get to control that. I am a little salty about the battle gear from "MGS V." Kojima better not pull a fast one on us again here.
Some of these new enemies look gnarly as hell though, like something outta "Bloodborne," but the thing that stands out most to me is it gets shown for just a split second, this robot floating tentacle thing. I don't know what this is, I don't know what the deal with it is. Looks like you're fighting it in some kind of built-up human settlement though, which is a far cry from what we saw in the original game, which is 90% empty rocky, fields.
An Eager Anticipation: What This Trailer Reveals
Stuff like this, it makes me think the game's gonna be a lot more combat focused. Obviously, it's just conjecture, 'cause as usual, Kojima is not saying anything concrete. He loves the ambiguity, this man. I even watched that entire 45-minute South by Southwest thing, and they talked to Kojima. He didn't say a damn thing other than hawking a watch, which is still kind of an interesting watch if you can stand actors talking about acting, but there's no gameplay here other than a vague segment about there being more guns and weapons.
This trailer is our first real glimpse at what "Death Stranding 2" is all about, and I'm still mostly clueless, but that's not a bad thing 'cause the game looks very exciting. For as much as we've all collectively agreed that "Death Stranding" is a good game, it's a very unusual one, and this looks a little closer to what "MGS" fans are looking for.
It's gotten it all, the baffling melodrama, the crazy techno babble, some amazing set pieces and moments and that's just the story. There's also the innovative side to these games, the gameplay fundamentals that push the industry forward while still being fun that's what I'm seeing a lot of in this trailer, and I can't help but just get really hyped.
The Mysterious New Character: Neil
There's an ocean of information that I do not know, like how many of the new characters fit into things. The most intriguing new addition is Neil, Mr. Not Solid Snake, who gets a lot of the trailer dedicated to him. I don't know how he actually figures into the story, but it appears that his scenes take place in the past, seems to be filling the same role as Mads Mikkelsen in the first game, where he's this military specter who controls soldier ghosts and gets a lot of flashbacks, but who he is and why he's here is a total mystery.
Storytelling That Packs a Punch
And the snippets of dialogue and story we get here do not help. Overall, what we're seeing does look a lot more like a traditional narrative compared to the first game, which was a long series of info dumps from various talking heads, including Conan O'Brien. They'd float in and out of the story. There really wasn't a lot of forward momentum until the final hours.
This looks different. Looks like we're getting drama and mystery by the boatload. Like there's a cat with wings that forms from the hand of a guy named Tarman, by the way, looks like George Miller, the guy who directed the "Mad Max" movies. Anyway, the game looks crazy in all the right ways. Maybe I'm projecting a little bit, but it seems more varied, more action-packed, but still a version of the original.
It looks like an evolution of the formula, not content to be the same thing over again, but to take the basic framework and do something different with it that might just be slightly more conventional. I don't know, because action and shooting is kind of what video games do, but it's also "Death Stranding."
The Magic of Absurdity: Kojima's Secret Sauce
There's a girl named Tamara with superpowers, and the already-mentioned Doll Man who I can't get over. He's so ridiculous, every time he pops up, I cannot believe they're actually doing that. I'm not complaining. I'm actually far from it. I respect the insanity, but even for Kojima, it looks audacious. A little more fun though, like an intentionally goofy kinda way.
I don't know. That's something a lot of people ignore about Kojima games, and I think it's really a secret sauce that makes 'em great. The goofy stuff, the many intentional fourth wall breaks, the purposefully humorous dialogue, weird little secrets, oddball Easter eggs. Goofy Kojima's the best Kojima, and while there was some of that in the first "Death Stranding," the man is really embracing the absurd this time around. And I can't believe I'm saying this, 'cause did you play the first "Death Stranding?" The game with the otter hat that makes you swim like an otter? It was nuts. And this game looks—it's making me say, well, it looks like they're going for something a little more absurd this time. I've got high hopes for "Death Stranding 2."
Final Thoughts and Release Date
It's coming shockingly soon on June 26th, exclusively for PS5. For as long as these trailers have been, it seems like I really barely know what to expect from this game. At least here we got some real gameplay to back up the cutscene clips. That's good. What they're showing here looks incredible, though. It's all visually stunning and the action looks on point. It's one of the rare games that looks truly next-gen in an age where AAA studios are playing it pretty safe. Nice to see Kojima still around, just casually blowing our minds with ideas that actually feel new and innovative.
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