2019's Death Stranding was a divisive game. Those who loved it loved it, lauding it as a singular work of artistic vision and a true original in the increasingly repetitive AAA gaming sphere – myself included; I've been a fan of Hideo Kojima ever since a friend convinced me to try Snake Eater. Those who hated it derided it as a vanity project by a director past his prime. I posit that both can be true at the same time, and the game may even perplexingly be better for it, but one thing isn't up for debate- it's sold enough to warrant a sequel, the first trailer for which debuted at The Game Awards tonight:
It all looks very intriguing. Front and center are a few returning characters, including Lea Seydoux's tight-lipped courier Fragile, Norman Reedus' put-upon protagonist Sam Bridges (sporting a new silver fox glowup), and – most interestingly of all – what appears to be a triumphant comeback for Troy Baker's silver-tongued villain Higgs, rocking out on a futuristic guitar. Future tech does seem to feature heavily in this trailer- there certainly weren't any giant flying Metal Gears in Sam's initial journey. Also of note is the even more surreal landscape and Higgs' cult(?) of red-clad goons.
As someone who loved the first game to the point of playing it through three times, this was easily the highlight of the entire show for me. A shame, then, that Kojima neglected to include even the widest of release windows in his trailer…
