From visuals to content, Death Stranding: Director’s Cut is being marketed as the definitive way to play the game. In the final trailer ahead of its launch, nothing from Death Stranding: Director’s Cut is withheld, with Hideo Kojima showcasing just why it is the definitive experience.
2019’s Death Stranding is one of the most polarizing games of recent memory. Its unique delivery style gameplay, focused on traversal and weight distribution of all things, set in an expectedly elaborate story really worked for some, and totally did not for others. At Summer Game Fest, Death Stranding: Director’s Cut was announced as a PS5 exclusive, with gameplay being shown at Gamescom 2021. Previously, Hideo Kojima had been hyping up the release date of Director’s Cut’s final trailer, letting fans know that it is something they would not want to miss.
The final trailer for Death Stranding: Director’s Cut has arrived, focusing heavily on the game’s story while also showing off its new content. Edited by Hideo Kojima himself, the trailer opens contextualizing the game’s premise, with the captions “A Fragmented World,” “The Sixth Extinction,” and “Unite a New World,” among other phrases. Interspliced with the captions are shots of Sam Porter Bridges, the BTs, and the rest of the game’s characters, as Woodkid’s “Goliath” plays in the background. Notably, the middle of the trailer highlights Director’s Cut’s additional features and improvements like the racing mode and additional cargo carrying methods.
Interestingly, the trailer shows characters and locations that could be considered spoilers by veterans of the game. While there is minimal to no dialogue throughout the trailer, and rarely are any two shots connected such that they reveal meaningful information, the appearance of certain important characters may come as a surprise. This trailer strategy further shows Director’s Cut’s even focus between newcomers and veterans—newcomers can watch and get excited at the trailer’s spectacle, and veterans can watch, reminscing on the excitement of the story and anticipating the added content.
There has been a lot of recent speculation about what Hideo Kojima’s next project is after Director’s Cut. In a recent interview, Norman Reedus may have inadvertantly revealed Death Stranding 2, the actor for Sam Porter stating he is currently in negotiations about reprising his role. Possibly in tandem with this development, other reports state that Kojima Productions is planning on working with Xbox on a new game, though nothing official has been stated yet. For the time being, fans will have to be satisfied with Director’s Cut because who knows when they’ll see “A Hideo Kojima Game” again.
Death Stranding: Director’s Cut launches for PS5 on September 24, 2021.
