Death Stranding 2 Is Already Playing With Kojima’s Metal Gear Timeline
Snake!?
Every Death Stranding 2 trailer feels like a fever-dream short film you’d see at some obscure film festival with a name you can’t pronounce — but would you really have it any other way? Auteur Hideo Kojima’s trademark brand of bizarreness and excess is what’s made him so universally beloved, and it’s not one of his games without cryptic imagery, commentary on the military-industrial complex, and a heaping helping of references to past work. That last point is particularly interesting for the new Death Stranding 2 trailer, as it seems like the game won’t just make reference to Kojima’s iconic history with Metal Gear — but could use it for a surprising layer of meta-commentary.
The massive new ten-minute trailer for Death Stranding 2 has a lot to digest — from a bigger focus on action set pieces to vital lore drops and returning characters. But by far the most interesting aspect is a brand-new character that’s the focal point of much of the trailer. We only know the character’s name is Neil right now, and he’s played by Italian actor Luca Marinelli — who Kojima once said would be the perfect Solid Snake in a movie (that’ll be important soon).
At the beginning of the trailer, we see Neil talking to who appears to be some kind of United States government official, talking about how he no longer wants to do their dirty work. The next scene implies that he’s been smuggling something, or someone, across the border from Mexico. It’s not clear at all what he’s been smuggling, but it’s not hard to imagine Kojima is going to be heavily leaning into current world events for the themes of Death Stranding 2.
All you need to do is look at Kojima’s past to see how incredibly topical every single one of his games has been. The Phantom Pain is directly inspired by the Soviet-Afghan War that took place from 1979-1989, the series directly mentions the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Metal Gear Solid 2 clearly referenced 9/11 before Metal Gear Rising outright talks about it.
Kojima’s games consistently use real-world events or are inspired by real-world events, and connect them back to the heavily topical themes they discuss. MGS 2 comments on disinformation and social control, MGS 3 talks about the dangers of patriotism and xenophobia, and the first Death Stranding talks about how major social change, like global contagions, separates and secludes all of us.
Death Stranding 2 looks like it retains the isolated and lonely tone of the original.
If you weren’t sure Death Stranding 2 would be similarly socially relevant, you should be now — and there’s a key scene that shows that while also tying into Metal Gear’s history. Starting at 8:30 we get to see more of Neil, as he takes a scarf around his neck and ties it around his forehead — making him the spitting image of Solid Snake. That’s no coincidence, and it’s especially no coincidence that we see his image start to flicker with an image of his skull. It seems like Neil and the soldiers that appear around him are dead, in some way — but on a deeper metatextual level, this could also play into Kojima’s relationship with the Metal Gear franchise. Kojima’s struggle with Metal Gear owner Konami is notorious, leading to a high-profile break between the two in 2015 when Kojima founded his own studio. There were absolutely hard feelings between the two.
Could Death Stranding 2 give Kojima a moment to eulogize his work on Metal Gear? To recognize the impact the series has had, while simultaneously talking about how Kojima’s most important creation is essentially dead to him? It certainly seems like that’s possible, especially since later in the trailer we see a mech called Magellan that looks suspiciously similar to the iconic Metal Gear Rex.
Magellan is some kind of mech controlled by a BT, but it looks almost exactly like Metal Gear Rex — certainly no coincidence.
But again, the following scene with Neil shows how heavily Kojima is leaning into world events for this game. We see Neil with a squad of soldiers in a graveyard, likely somewhere in Mexico based on the church’s architecture. As the church burns in the background, and Neil waves his troops forward, we see fireworks go off in the background, and the trailer states “The UCA’s precursor, the United States of America, had a prominent gun culture.”
I don’t think I really need to put all the pieces together to explain what this scene could mean — talking about gun culture, celebration fireworks, while candles flicker in a graveyard representing thousands of people losing their lives. Yeah, you don’t have to dig that deep.
But all of this is exactly what makes Death Stranding 2 feel so vibrant and exciting — it’s starting to feel like one of the most important video game creators of all time at the top of his craft. A game that could reckon with Kojima’s own history and legacy, while simultaneously criticizing and commenting on modern culture, American exceptionalism, and current events.
This single shot is evocative of Kojima’s heavily thematic approach to his games.
The first Death Stranding felt experimental in so many ways, from its gameplay focusing heavily on quiet exploration to the disjointed presentation of its story that only really comes together when you reach the end. It’s a bizarre game that either works for you or doesn’t. But with that first entry done, Death Stranding 2 represents a chance for Kojima and his team to really refine things, and dig into the meat of what they want to say and communicate with this game.
If you’ve ever enjoyed anything created by Hideo Kojima’s particular brand of experimental wackiness, you should be eagerly awaiting Death Stranding 2.
