Remember when we were promised another look at Death Stranding at gamescom 2019, and how you thought that maybe, just maybe, this would be the time that would make some sense out of this bizarre creation from Hideo Kojima? Well, we’ve now seen that new footage, and it’s not entirely clear if they actually clear anything up or just make things more confusing. That said, we’ve seen that there is literally a menu option to pee, whether you wanted to know that or not. It was a pretty strange showcase of new details, so let’s dive into the weird, shall we?
Kojima began the reveal by introducing two Death Stranding characters that we’ve only seen briefly before. Mama, played by Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s Margaret Qualley, has a baby that was born on the Other Side (Death Stranding’s version of the afterlife), and though they each exist in different realms, Mama is still connected to her baby via an invisible umbilical cord. She also mimics breast feeding the baby, saying that “going through the motions” helps her after letting the invisible afterlife baby apparently float away to the ceiling.
Up next was Guillermo del Toro’s character Deadman, who is voiced by Jesse Corti, and the Bridge Baby, the infamous baby that we’ve all seen Norman Reedus carrying around in every Death Stranding promo ever (sometimes even in his stomach, because that’s normal). Here we learn the Bridge Babies were removed from the wombs of “stillmothers,” and that they will need to be attached to a device that simulates the womb and calms them down. They are also uploaded with new information, which is what allows Sam (Norman Reedus) to see the BTs, or the invisible afterlife creatures that roam the world.
Confused yet? Let’s keep going. After the two character reveals, Kojima showed off the first uncut gameplay from Death Stranding, more than seven minutes of footage that had us asking a lot more questions than it answered. Billed as a tease for what will be shown at Tokyo Game Show this year, we first get to see the pee mechanic. Using a menu option, we’re treated to Reedus relieving himself, and as the camera tries to orbit around to catch a peek, Sam continually turns away to maintain some sense of decency. After the urine meter is fully drained, a sparkly mushroom pops up out of the ground. Kojima said that if more people pee here, the mushroom could become “something good later on.” He also tentatively confirmed the use of urination as a weapon, but didn’t go into details.
After walking through the environment, Sam came upon a container that featured Ludens, Kojima’s company logo, on the side. Inside was a digital representation of Geoff Keighley, voiced by Matthew Mercer. The Ludens Fan character is said to be just one of many real-world cameos in the game. After speaking with Keighley’s character, Sam walks off a cliff, upsetting the Bridge Baby, and must rock it back to a state of calm using the DualShock 4’s motion controls.
While we still don’t fully understand what’s going on, Death Stranding’s release is right around the corner. On November 8, 2019, we’ll be able to get our hands on the game for ourselves to see if we can unravel the thick and complex web of intricacy that Kojima is spinning. You can get a full look at all of the reveal trailers and Kojima interview from gamescom Opening Night Live in the video above.
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