Death Stranding is one of the more unique action-adventure games coming out next month. It’s not often when you have Norman Reedus playing a character (Sam) who has a baby attached to his suit in the front. In fact, this hasn’t ever happened and probably never will again unless a sequel is made.
It’s this interesting direction that Kojima Productions is hoping sets Death Stranding apart from others in this space. Judging by trailers and gameplay, these unique design elements are paying off. Any time someone mentions a game they’re looking forward to before the year ends, Death Stranding is usually near the top of the charts.
We’ve so far seen some gameplay elements where Sam navigates an open-ended world. As mentioned earlier, Sam has a baby in some sort of incubation chamber that he uses to detect threats that he isn’t capable of seeing himself. It seems like his relationship with the baby is a huge thematic element of the game. Hideo Kojima made Death Stranding to compel gamers to have meaningful interactions with each other. In the game, Sam sets out to unite divided sections of society. It’s through his effort that bonds — or strands — can be formed.
Sam certainly has a connection with the baby that accompanies him throughout this unique and gripping story. Hideo Kojima also recently went on record via Twitter, confirming that this baby named BB will be able to communicate with players through their DualShock 4 controller. That’s probably one of the most interesting design choices from a developer in recent memory.
That being said, this communication feature will be for the limited edition Death Stranding DualShock 4 controller. There have been no reports of this capability for the standard controllers. Even still, it’s quite an interesting decision. Who knows what the baby will say or if it will be just a bunch of cute baby sounds? We’re about to find out.
Death Stranding hits stores on November 8, 2019. That’s roughly one month away for one of the weirder games to come out in recent memory. It’s weird in a good way, though. The visual elements look jaw-dropping, particularly the environments Sam gets to explore firsthand. The story also has a lot of mystery that you want to delve deep into right away. If Death Stranding is a success thanks to its non-traditional story and features, a sequel probably will be coming down the pipe at a later date.
