'Death Stranding' E3 2018: 44 Questions About the Weird New Trailer

Earlier this week, Sony unleashed the latest in what’s become a series of bizarre trailers for the upcoming video game Death Stranding. Created by Hideo Kojima, the genius behind the Metal Gear series, this new game is particularly exciting because it marks his first project after parting ways with Konami and starting his own studio. It also looks weird as hell.

You can check out the full trailer above. Just don’t expect it to make much sense. And for a very small amount of context, here’s the official summary from the video’s description on YouTube:

Carrying the stranded remnants of the future in his hands, Sam embarks on a journey to reunite the shattered world one step at a time. What is the mystery of the Death Stranding? What will Sam discover on the road ahead?

For the past few days I’ve been watching and re-watching the trailer, and in process I’ve come up with a list of questions I have about exactly what Sony and Kojima decided to subject us to at this year’s E3. (I also crowd-sourced a few questions from my equally confused coworkers.)

Here they are:

44. So is the “Death Stranding” some kind of epidemic? Like a natural disaster or an alien invasion?

43. What’s with the “hands” thing? This trailer keeps talking about hands and I don’t get it.

42. What the actual fuck is going on in this video?

41. Who starts a video game trailer by showing you a baby’s butt?

40. Why does the baby give a thumbs up?

39. How can Sam carry so much in his backpack?

38. Why doesn’t Sam always have those hover wagons carry his stuff?

37. Where’s the plot?

36. Is this actually a game or just a CGI movie?

35. Is this entire game just a Postmates delivery simulator?

34. What is a “Chiral Allergy”?

33. What’s the “Extinction Factor”?

32. Is that a tattoo of a poorly drawn skull on Sam’s hand? Or just a drawing in pen?

31. How come Sam has a floating delivery bot that follows him around, but not a car?

30. Can you swim in this game or do you just wade around in shallow water?

29. Is there a climbing mechanic?

28. Is there any sort of HUD display at all?

27. What was that blue electronic bracelet on his wrist?

26. Is Sam transporting a dead body in that one scene?

25. Wait, when did Sam get a second one of those hovering delivery bots?

24. Was that a car that falls of the cliff in that one other scene?

23. Is that game actually going to make you remove your own dead toenail?

22. So he’s a delivery guy with a gun?

21. Who was in that photo?

20. Why is Lea Seydoux wearing spiked shoulder pads?

19. Why do the invisible monster’s footprints look like hands?

18. What’s that thing Lea Seydoux’s character is carrying? A futuristic umbrella?

17. “The Timefall fast forwards whatever it touches.” What do these words even mean?

16. What is “Chirelium Density”?

15. What the heck is a “Void-out”?

14. Has Sam been carrying a baby on his chest this entire time?

13. Why?

12. Are those reticular light things sentient? They seem to have a lot of personality.

11. Why do the shadow beasts have umbilical cords?

10.Are those monsters and the baby connected?

9. How?

8. Why did Lea Seydoux eat that bug?

7. Is “A Cryptobiote a day keeps the tTmefall away” the weirdest sentence I’ve ever heard in my life?

6. What is a “Cryptobiote”?

5. Is it a snack or a meal?

4. Why are babies a magic fuel?

3. What are those big dead animals on the beach in the final scene?

2. What happened to Guillermo Del Toro’s character?

1. Will this game ever come out or is the entire thing just some sort of twisted psychological experiment to see how far video game fans can be pushed?