If you want to see some potentially spoiler-worthy snippets of Death Stranding, this trailer splices together cut scenes from throughout the game. There's a lot to take in, here.
Starting with a blood-splattered Mads Mikkelsen (Jyn Erso's dad in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) talking to what I affectionately call a "jar baby." We get credits on the game engine, the character design, the soundtrack, and of course on it being a Hideo Kojima game.
Then your hit with images of protagonist Sam Porter Bridges, his jar baby, the ghosts with their ghostly strands, and a question coming from one of the game's female leads, Fragile, who asks, "Tell me, Sam. What does America mean to you?" as Sam burns across the blasted, crater-riddled landscape of said America on a battery-operated reverse trike.
Then there's a not-so-green-skinned Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy (Emily O'Brien) voicing the lady in the red dress, walking across a watery map of the former USA in the Oval Office. You'll catch Die-Hardman—yes, that's his name—during the voice over, a mask on his face, and weirdly wearing the same suit I wore to my wedding. I guess you should know that about me.
You get a glimpse of voice actor extraordinaire Troy Baker, who's the man behind two masks. You get another glimpse of Mikkelsen, this time with modern warfare soldiers that burn like cigarettes. And you have talk from a couple people that say they'll be waiting for you "on the Beach."
Flash to the geography. That outrageously good geography. Blizzard-wracked mountain ranges. Craggy rock overhangs. Lava rock-strewn plains. Chest-high rivers. Invisible tar monsters splashing after you. Trench warfare. Fending off more tar monsters. Freezing to death among ruined skyscrapers built along snowy peaks. A hand print burned into Sam Bridges's forearm, actor Norman Reedus's actual cartoon skull tattooed on the back of his hand, his wrist cuff communicator. Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro casually throwing Aphenphosmphobia out there, a fear of intimacy. Ruined city buildings with the streets filled, stories-high, with tar and immense sea creatures.
Look, that doesn't even get you through half of this eight-minute trailer. Have a look. It feels like it tries to end a few times before you actually get through all of it. And I know that watching an eight-minute video is a lot to ask of people in this day and age, but you'll know, 100 percent, whether Death Stranding is the backpacking Kojima Logic logistics simulator for you this winter or not.
Our review of Death Stranding posts one minute after midnight tonight, though it doesn't launch until next week on November 8. The game is a PlayStation 4 exclusive.
