Death Stranding, the hotly anticipated game from developer Hideo Kojima, is a mere week away from release. After years to build-up and mystery, players now finally have a clearer picture of the game that Kojima has been working on. With review embargos up this Friday, Sony has taken to giving fans one last blast of media for Death Stranding with a brand new launch trailer. You'll have to set aside from time to watch this, though, as the trailer is nearly eight minutes long.
Covering everything from characters to themes and even some gameplay, this launch trailer really does set the mood beautifully. Everything is somber, moody, depressing, and dark. Kojima is clearly not holding back and the power of Guerrilla Games' Decima engine brings everything to life wonderfully.
If you're looking to go into the experience completely blind, it's advisable to not watch the trailer. While the information contained is likely from events during the early portions of Death Stranding, it still contains scenes and moments that may spoil certain situations. With how vague Kojima has been over the past few years, it's understandable why you'd want to throw caution to the wind.
From the last few months, my opinion on Death Stranding has turned around a bit. Initially, this looked like an overly self-indulgent affair with Kojima rounding up his Hollywood buddies to create some strange quasi-film. There are still some "cinematic" moments, but the overall plot and theme seem to speak to a nation of disillusioned citizens that are crying out for more personal connections.
This trailer is also very reminiscent of the promotional material Kojima created for his last game, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The man has a penchant for creating these highly directed, tightly scripted, sometimes misleading trailers that could double as short films. It certainly gets the hype train rolling.
Whether or not Death Stranding can live up to its hype remains to be seen. With PS4 fans getting the game soon and PC players getting confirmation of a port, everyone anticipating the game doesn't have much longer to wait. 2019 has certainly been a hell of a year.
Source: YouTube