Death Stranding is a weird game. It was obvious that this game was going to be a ride from that first reveal at E3 2016. It was here that we found a naked Norman Reedus on a beach with a baby and a bunch of dead fish and whales.
The real game certainly doesn’t disappoint for those looking for another curveball from Kojima. While some of the following strange moments were spoilers in trailers, let’s forget those even exist. Who knows? Maybe one avoided all trailers after the first. Regardless if that is true, or not, these are without a doubt the oddest parts of the game. Warning, there are SPOILERS ahead.
10 Conan O'Brien
Let’s begin with a rather tame scene by comparison. Conan O'Brien is the boyfriend of a cosplay enthused Prepper, who can be found after Chapter 3. Now for those unaware, Conan hates video games and yet he struggles through for comedy on his talk show during segments called Clueless Gamer. It’s for this reason that he was invited to Kojima’s studio when he visited Japan earlier this year. The segment is great both in the game and on his talk show. Seeing and hearing him in a Kojima game is just out of this world.
9 Heartman Likes
Despite being present since the beginning of the game, Heartman and Sam don’t actually meet until the latter half. At this point, it is revealed that he only lives twenty-one minutes at a time, dies for three, and the then the pattern repeats. That should be the weird crux of this entry, but that isn’t half as weird as him giving literal thumbs up to Sam in order to increase his likes. Heartman does it A LOT. It’s charming and makes his interactions that much more memorable.
8 Body Bags
Most of the game has Sam transporting packages be they materials, weapons, medicine, bombs, and so forth. There are a few times where bodies must be transported too, like in the beginning when he is sent to incinerate the President. That was pretty dark, but then it happened again with the Junk Dealer’s girlfriend who is alive.
Instead of escorting her to his location, she jumps in a body bag instead. Really? She can’t walk? The same thing happens with Mama soon after that. It is goofy, to say the least.
7 Mama And Lockne Become One
Speaking of Mama, she has a twin, Lockne. She refuses to join the UCA so Mama decides to go with Sam in order to persuade her. That was the idea. However, Mama knew the whole time that severing her bond with her baby would actually kill her. Actually, it doesn’t really kill her. Her soul simply enters Lockne’s and the two become one. Again? Lockne’s eyes even change. It’s something we certainly weren’t expecting and this is a game with babies in jars.
6 The Showers
There are actually three shower situations that are strange. First of all, seeing a lot of Sam in the nude is already weird enough, not to mention his excess water is used for grenades. Then Fragile decides to take a shower in his room while he is asleep. Wasn’t there a vacant room somewhere else? The last is the most bizarre, wherein Deadman calls Sam into the shower, fully clothed, in order to talk in secret. The whole time Deadman is uncomfortably close to Sam too. Kojima must have a thing for showers.
5 That First BT
The first real encounter with BTs was a work of horror mastery. Being sent on an errand to burn a body, or else an explosion would trigger, made the moment tense already. However, when the BTs actually start coming, leaving handprints all over, that is when things ratchet up. There was the guy trapped under the truck and rapidly aging on top of the other guy trying to rescue him. He eventually got caught himself and was hung upside down. He chose death by stabbing himself repeatedly rather than be swallowed up. And then, of course, the giant one revealed itself. It was weird, but brilliant
4 A World Of War
Cliff Unger is the character Mads Mikkelsen plays. In the beginning portions of the game, players are introduced to his face via flashbacks, presumably, of BB. About a third of the way through, Cliff reveals himself in another manner. Sam is eventually swallowed up by a storm and is then transported onto a battlefield, which is eventually revealed to be set during World War I. Oh yeah, and Cliff rises from the tar controlling fiery skull soldiers. This happens two more times in two different periods. This first moment was still the craziest though.
3 Death Fighter: Street Stranding
That title sounds like a pretty cool name for a fighting game, right? Well, it perfectly describes one portion of the boss fight with Higgs on Amelie’s Beach. The two of them duke it out like in Street Fighter complete with health bars.
It is a call back to the fight on top of a Metal Gear in Metal Gear Solid 4 wherein Snake and Revolver Ocelot have the exact same match. The only thing missing here is the fact that Sam and Higgs don’t go from low polygons to modern ones.
2 That Evangelion Moment
After Sam goes to Amelie’s Beach one last time, he is presumed dead after she pushes him away. This leaves him blue, on another Beach where players can run away, but eventually get pulled back to the start. When this happens, Amelie will appear and tell a long-winded story of basically everything she just said in the scene before except more drawn out. Running away only to sit down again to hear her go on happens at least eight times. It is absurdly long and makes the end of Neon Genesis Evangelion look tame.
1 Princess Beach
Toward the end of the game when Sam rescues Amelie from Higgs, he finds out about her betrayal. He is mad for a second, claiming he was like Mario and her like Princess Peach. Having that remark be in a PS4 game was weird enough. However, Amelie smooths things over and persuades Sam to join her, “Princess Beach” to run along the shore together. They literally do just that with big smiles on their faces. It was so awkwardly timed that we laughed through what should have been a sweet moment between the two. Princess Beach. Man, what a pun.