A request I recently received was to attempt to make sense of madness; out of insanity given shape, given life, through the mind of a brilliant developer, Hideo Kojima. Anyone who knows me, knows I love his work, though I seldom play his games. I enjoy watching his work take on life, in a cinematic fashion, rather than enduring them myself, since I’m mostly bad at stealth gameplay. So I watch others do it and get to take it in from a different perspective. However, the last two Death Stranding trailers are more than a little disconcerting. There’s a lot to unpack here, and I’m going to offer a few thoughts on what these could actually mean.
- It’s said that if you play the two trailers together at the same time, sync them up perfectly, they pair up with perfectly with Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”, much in the same way that it does with the Wizard of Oz. It’s fascinating that Norman Reedus has a cross-shaped scar on his abdomen, and his baby vanishes, only to reappear in a tube held by Guillermo Del Toro. Hideo Kojima has long wanted to create his own film, and these significant moments only tell me one thing: Death Stranding is a sequel to Junior, the 1994 comedy starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s a darker tone than what we’re used to in that movie, so maybe he’s pairing it with the thematic view of the Terminator franchise; instead of creating robots in Cyberdine, they’re creating babies in Norman Reedus’ stomach.
This is the most likely scenario, so I hope you’re ready for the ride of a lifetime. It’s going to take twists and turns like we’ve never seen in a Metal Gear game, and now that he’s no longer upon the yoke of Konami, he’s free to design however he likes, without restriction, without pause. I had a few scholars meet up with me and talk about this with me, and I’ve gained some pretty great insight that I had not considered before. Okay, jokes aside, here’s what it actually probably means:
- Kojima’s not been quite as subtle as his earlier years, and this is pretty ham-fisted, these trailers. Konami has fucked Kojima repeatedly, and tried to destroy and stop this project at every turn. They don’t appear to want Kojima to be successful outside of Konami, and that’s why we’re all grateful that the devs of Horizon Zero Dawn gave them their enjine for this game. Since he can’t use FOX anymore. The baby represents in all likelihood, Norman Reedus and Guillermo Del Toro keeping this project/his baby alive, despite the attempts Konami has made to abort it/destroy it.
That’s what it all means, I believe. Do you have a differing, more horrifying opinion? Be sure to leave it in the comments below!
