The New Death Stranding Trailer Makes As Much Sense As You'd Think

Hideo Kojima, Norman Reedus and Guillermo Del Toro all made appearances last night at The Game Awards 2017. Gamers suspected that a new trailer would drop given that the two directors and actor was showing up at the event, and gamers weren't wrong. In fact, the new trailer for Death Stranding clocked in at nearly 10 minutes and made about as much sense as you'd think.

The trailer starts with a shot at the ground, some bugs scurrying away, and Norman Reedus' character (who's named Sam) in a futuristic hazmat suit. The word "Porter" is plastered across the helmet, the sleeve, and the side of his pants leg.

He has some technical gear on his back, which we briefly get to see as he makes his way to his feet after apparently being thrown from a tipped-over, 4x4 research vehicle. The rover-esque off-roader has enlarged wheels for moving across harsh, uneven terrain, but whatever happened easily flipped it over on its side.

What's most surprising here is that Reedus' character isn't alone. Two of his cohorts are struggling at he tipped over roadster. One of his companions is trapped underneath the rover. And this is where Death Stranding gets weird... really weird.

Reedus tells the duo to stop breathing after he checks on a body wrapped up in a bag. Why would he say that? Because one of them yells out that something is coming. The shoulder-mounted radar on the one scientist's suit begins whirring, and a light shines on footprints being made by an invisible creature. It can apparently track people based on their breath.

Still not weird enough for you? Well, Kojima ramps up the symbolism and space-age imagery when a giant Eldritch being appears, and begins sucking everything up. This occurs after some black goo attempts to steal away the one scientist trapped under the rover. The scientist is killed by his companion before the goo can take him to wherever it's trying to get to, though. After killing his companion, and dropping a capsule into the mud -- the same capsule we saw Guillermo Del Toro's character holding in a previous Death Stranding trailer -- the scientist with the gun attempts to kill himself when arms begin reaching out of the mud to take him. Before he can pull the trigger the giant alien tries sucking him up. The scientist begins repeatedly stabbing himself to commit suicide before being sucked up.

And if you think all of that is weird, Death Stranding doesn't take a break from giving your mind a spin around the carousel of kookiness when Reedus ends up underwater, sees some bodies floating to the surface, witnesses another Eldritch monster take some bodies, and then he wakes up when a baby in his throat gives a thumbs up at the camera. I'm not even kidding.

The whole thing was so bizarre that even Norman Reedus mentioned at the TGAs that he would probably have to go on YouTube to watch some videos to understand what he just saw, or likely visit the sub-Reddit to fish out some plausible theories about the game. Essentially, if you really liked the strangeness from Metal Gear Solid, but ramped up to 11, it appears you'll get that in spades with Kojima Productions' latest title.

There's still no release date for Death Stranding, but it's set to come out for the PS4 and PC when it's done.