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Hideo Kojima Unveils Bizarre New Death Stranding 2 Cutscenes: Puppets, Goop, And Musical Numbers Galore

Hideo Kojima Unveils Bizarre New Death Stranding 2 Cutscenes: Puppets, Goop, And Musical Numbers Galore

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In true Kojima fashion, Hideo Kojima used a 90-minute, all-Japanese panel at the Tokyo Game Show to drop nearly eight minutes of never-before-seen cutscenes from the upcoming Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.

And, spoiler alert, they are as bizarre as you’d expect. Kojima Productions uploaded some of the clips to X, and let’s say, if you thought the first Death Stranding was weird, buckle up.

The first scene throws us back into the wonderfully confusing world of Sam Porter Bridges, once again played by Norman Reedus and Fragile.

They’re aboard what can only be described as the Submarine of Existential Dread, heading to the ship’s bridge. If you think this will be your typical getting the crew together moment, think again.

Much like the viewer, Sam is still figuring out what’s going on, and then they meet George Miller’s character, Tarman. Tarman is a geophysicist-slash-pilot-slash-doctor, casually driving the ship through not water but some kind of death-goop—you know, standard Monday stuff if you’re Hideo Kojima.

Fragile then sheds a significant single tear because this is a Kojima game, and you can bet that tear means something profound and metaphorical, and then we meet Dollman. Yes, the puppet from the earlier trailers is back, and he’s got a wild backstory. He used to be a spirit medium, but now he’s, well, a puppet. You know the drill.

Next, we get a surreal chat between Sam and two new characters: Elle Fanning’s Tomorrow and Rainy, played by Shioli Kutsuna.

Rainy’s pregnant, and Tomorrow, who comes from another dimension where babies stay in the womb forever, needs a crash course in human biology. This leads to a surprisingly wholesome (and strange) rendition of “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head,” sung to Rainy’s pregnant belly. I warned you it was weird.

Then there’s the return of Heartman, everyone’s favourite guy who dies every 21 minutes. Only this time, he’s rocking heart-shaped glasses and a Huey Emmerich-esque exoskeleton that lets him have heart attacks while standing up.

Heartman strikes a pose, defibrillator at the ready, and says with a smile, “I can flatline anytime, anywhere without worry.” And then we have the last clip.

In this clip, we see a chaotic photo shoot. Sam takes photos of Fragile, Rainy, and Tomorrow, who giggle and strike poses while the ship’s haunted corridors serve as the backdrop.

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a Kojima game without one last surreal flourish: Dollman and Japanese pop star Daichi Miura (as a hologram, naturally) performing an original song called “Horizon Dreamer” in a mind-bending musical number.

So yeah, to the surprise of no one, I’m officially on board. Do I fully understand what’s happening? Not even a little bit. But that’s part of the fun with Kojima games, and Death Stranding 2 looks like it’s taking the eccentricity up to 11, and I’m here for it.

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