Death Stranding's Characters Further Detailed At Gamescom; New Gameplay Debuts Too

During Gamescom 2019, Hideo Kojima took the stage at the Opening Night Live broadcast to reveal more information about Death Stranding. During the show, an "exclusive new look" of the upcoming PS4 game premiered as well.

The Death Stranding footage began with the introduction of "Mama," who's played by Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actress Margaret Qualley. We see her cradling an invisible baby, who she refers to as her daughter. A cinematic clip of "Deadman" debuted next. Portrayed by Guillermo del Toro, Deadman explains to Death Stranding main character Sam why his BB is dying.

It wasn't all character trailers though, as the first gameplay trailer for Death Stranding debuted as well. In the trailer, we see Sam sitting in the midst of the hilly countryside. He then stands up, urinates, and heads out to make a delivery. His destination rests at upon one of the nearby cliffs, so he uses an extendable ladder to quickly ascend to the top. After completing his delivery, Sam accidentally falls down the cliff, using his BB to cushion his fall. This, obviously, upsets the BB though, so Sam spends a few seconds comforting the crying infant before continuing on his way...and accidentally falling the rest of the way down the cliff.

Even as Death Stranding's release date draws closer, the overarching plotline of the game remains fairly unknown. Even Kojima's explanation for his latest game makes little sense, and the developer is coy about giving away any specifics. "You're alone playing as Sam; you're trying to connect city to city," Kojima said at an SDCC 2019 panel. "I can't speak much but everyone will be playing around the world and we'll have indirect connections. I'm an otaku and I felt like my teachers and family didn't understand me. I came to SDCC 10 years ago and met a lot of people like me, so I think that's what you'll get from this game."

Death Stranding features a star-studded cast of Hollywood and game industry actors. Beyond the two characters noted above, Sam is both voiced and mo-capped by Norman Reedus, while James Bond actress Lea Seydoux is Fragile, The Last of Us actor Troy Baker portrays Higgs, and The Bionic Woman actress Lindsay Wagner plays Amelie.

Scheduled for a November 8 launch date on PS4, Death Stranding may come to PS5 as well, but that hasn't been confirmed. Pre-orders are now live--including a $200 collector's edition.