When the Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro horror title Silent Hills was canceled last year, gaming fans everywhere lamented its loss. Judging by the quickly removed playable teaser (P.T) and Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus’ involvement, the ninth main installment of the Silent Hills franchise could have been one of the series’ best entries.
Kojima’s unceremonious departure from Konami soon followed the shuttering of Silent Hills. But in December, he announced the creation of his own game studio, Kojima Productions, and that his first title would be made in collaboration with PlayStation. At Sony’s E3 conference yesterday, Kojima announced “I’m back,” and showed off the first footage of this game, Death Stranding.
There were quite a few trailers from Sony’s event that set pulses racing, including the new God of War, Spiderman, the VR-enabled Resident Evil 7, and the long-awaited The Last Guardian, but Death Stranding was by far the most captivating, and certainly the most mysterious.
The haunting music and an opening quote from poet William Blake set the trailer's tone. The camera pans up a beach to a naked man who is seemingly attached to a baby via an umbilical cord. You can hear the cheers of the E3 crowd when he's revealed to be Norman Reedus.
As Reedus’ character looks out to the sea, we catch sight of the dead creatures that have washed up on shore and the five ghostly figures hovering high in the air. We still don’t know the details of the game’s plot, but it could feature a post-apocalyptic setting.
Obviously you can’t judge a title by a trailer that shows no gameplay, but it would be a surprise if Kojima’s first post-Konami game isn’t anything but brilliant. The Metal Gear Solid creator says Death Stranding is “going at a good pace,” and after seeing this clip, I can’t wait to see the final result.
Reedus celebrated the game’s unveiling by taking a jab a Konami with the following Instagram picture.
