At TGS 2024, Hideo Kojima gave a special 90-minute presentation of his upcoming game Death Stranding 2: On The Beach. While the presentation was conducted in Japanese for obvious reasons, Kojima later shared English versions of the new game footage sprinkled throughout it via Twitter(X).
In the first one, we meet two new characters: Tarman and Dollman. The first one is the captain of the so-called DHV Magellan submarine, and he features the likeness of none other than George Miller, the creator of the Mad Max franchise. In keeping with the franchise’s previous guest appearances, such as Guillermo Del Toro’s, Miller won’t be voicing the character himself; Australian actor Marty Rhone will do it instead. Dollman, on the other hand, is exactly what the name says: a name stuck in a doll. His likeness is modeled on Turkish film director Fatih Akin, and his voice comes from actor Jonathan Roumie. Their introduction is handled by returning character Fragile, who is still played (and voiced) by Léa Seydoux in Death Stranding 2.
Fragile: This is the headquarters of our humble operation, the bridge of the DHV Magellan. It’s always like this when the DHV Magellan is on the move. Meet Tarman, our resident doctor and geophysicist. He’s also the captain and pilot, in case you hadn’t noticed, and a fellow Doom-sufferer. The nav console offers a direct connection to the tar currents, the downside being that we all have to bathe in carallium.
Tarman: Happy to have you aboard, Sam. You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t shake your hand.
Sam: You steer this ship?
Tarman: Yeah. Now, the computer does most of the work.
Sam: So, this is a submarine?
Tarman: Spot on. We dive into the tar and use it to travel underground.
Fragile: Just beneath the surface of the earth, there are currents we can ride almost anywhere.
Sam: So what’s your role in all this?
Fragile: Me? I make sure Drawbridge’s grand plans go off without a hitch.
Sam: So you’re the commander?
Fragile: That’s right. These days, I’m Fragile in name only.
Dollman: Hello? Excuse you! I too am a member of Drawbridge, believe it or not. It is an honor, Sam.
Sam: Little puppet?
Dollman: What? Puppet? No! I am alive and my own master.
Fragile: This is Dollman. A man who got stuck inside a, well, you get it. He used to be a spirit medium.
Dollman: When I was still flesh and bone, of course. Regrettably, my transformation cost me my talents.
The second video clip introduces two more new characters that fans will meet in Death Stranding 2: Tomorrow, played by Elle Fanning (Super 8, Maleficent, The Great) and Rainy, played by Shioli Kutsuna (Deadpool, Invasion).
Tomorrow: In the place where I came from, no one gave birth to babies. They just stayed inside their mother’s bellies.
Rainy: Well, in our world, babies are born and grow up to be adults. Or at least they’re supposed to.
Dollman: It’s only natural that Tomorrow wouldn’t understand. After all, she was living in a realm of the dead. I wouldn’t expect children to be born into such a place.
Tomorrow: But Rainy’s baby will be born, right?
Dollman: In due time, of course. Isn’t that so?
Rainy: *nods*
Tomorrow: So you’ll be a mother who gives birth to her baby.
Rainy: Mm-hmm. And I just can’t wait.
The third video clip shows another returning character, Heartman, whose likeness is based on movie director Nicolas Winding Refn, while the voice comes from actor Darren Jacobs. But it’s the fourth and fifth clips that show how much crazier Death Stranding 2 is going to be compared to the original.
In the fourth clip, Hideo Kojima demonstrated the new Photo Mode, which shows characters like Fragile, Rainy, and Tomorrow making all sorts of poses ranging from cute to weird. Apparently, Kojima confirmed that this Photo Mode will somehow influence the story of Death Stranding 2.
The fifth and final clip shows what the developer is describing as a ‘Dollman In-Game event’, in which protagonist Sam Porter Bridges (Norman Reedus) enjoys an animated in-game concert featuring music from actual artists. In this case, it’s a song called Horizon Dreamer, made by Daichi Miura; the song will be released in a few hours.
Death Stranding 2 currently has a generic 2025 release window for the PlayStation 5 version. Looking at the original, a PC port could happen in 2026, although it hasn’t been confirmed yet.
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