I’ve been a fan of Death Stranding since Hideo Kojima presented his crazy and strange idea during E3 2016. Like you, I was very fascinated by what I saw as its launch approached… including the blissful live performance of the handyman A little more than 24 hours pending on the screen! And so, we didn’t know what exactly it was until it was installed on our PS4.
It is no secret that many people preferred to stay on the surface and the memes of delivery companies, but it is enough to be minimally related to the idea of Hideo Kojima to inevitably find yourself trapped and addicted in the skin of Sam Porter Bridges. Furthermore, its launch coincided with the imminent arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a harbinger of what was coming our way.
After accumulating between 200-300 hours on the PS4 and PS5 versions, including the Director’s Cut, I concluded my adventure and waited patiently for Kojima to announce a sure sequel. And so it was: it was presented in December 2022 and a second trailer loaded with details was recently shown.
An unnoticed detail for many, but with enormous potential
My favorite detail from the latest Death Stranding 2 trailer passed unnoticed among most fans. I don’t blame anyone because it is impossible not to get lost among so many references, winks and all the news at the level of story and setting.
Almost a week has passed since the trailer was published and we have had time to watch it a thousand times, study each frame and dream about everything that awaits us in 2025. What caught my attention the most is found in a 5-6 second scene and that begins in the minute 5:08 of the trailer.
We see Sam advancing stealthily in a clearly hostile environment with poor visibility. He takes off his characteristic backpack to leave it on the ground and opens fire on one of the bots / EVs that we see throughout the video. I haven’t stopped thinking about this mechanic since I finished covering the State of Play and I lay down in bed to review the trailer in peace.
Let’s suppose drop the backpack It is a new mechanic that we can do at any time and not a specific animation part of the story. For me, being able to drop the backpack at will substantially changes the way I play. Death Stranding. And before you call me an exaggerator or a Kojima worshiper, allow me to explain.
A little bit of roleplay and another of strategy
Whenever I play Death Stranding (or other games), I like to act the way I think I would in that context. That means doing things very differently than those who play more carefree or who are less personally involved in the experience. Any form seems respectable to me and none is more than another.
For this reason, I have always believed that being able to leave or remove the backpack in Death Stranding It was a very good mechanic and one that would benefit greatly from the experience. It’s true that you can leave packages on the floor and/or a cart, but let’s admit it’s not the same.
I don’t know how many times you have used the rest (and sleep) mechanic throughout your adventure. I have quite a few: when Sam needs it due to exertion, to play with BB for a while, when I get caught in the rain, due to the high EV density and even when I went to the bathroom, eat something and even rest my eyes in real life.
My thought has always been the same: “Sam must be really uncomfortable with his backpack on. It would be nice to be able to take it off.” Although this is just the tip of the iceberg of my reflections on this apparent new mechanic of Death Stranding 2. Other times I have not ventured into certain places or robbed camps for fear that things would end badly. “They break my load, for sure.”
The situation would have been very different if Death Stranding It would have allowed me to leave my backpack in a safe place (cave, bushes…) to be more agile and lighter, explore the area, enter a camp to steal a package and/or clear an EV area with only my weapon. Even if I didn’t have the backpack, there are always the hands and the anchors for the limbs. In fact, I have seen players of Escape From Tarkov
Furthermore, it would be interesting if the backpack became another craftable item and that we had different types, each with its advantages/disadvantages (weight, mobility…) and designed for different types of cargo. I understand that this mechanic may be a discarded idea of Death Stranding or what emerged at Kojima Productions as a result of player feedback.
In any case, I think it is a monumental success to include it in the sequel. The presence of bots and more weapons makes me think that there will be much more action than in the first installment. Kojima has demonstrated with Metal Gear who doesn’t mind a few shots. Neutralizing enemies without the risk of creating a huge crater on the map is a real advantage.
I don’t know about you, but I plan to use this mechanic a lot during Death Stranding 2…as long as it is an option and not an animation belonging to a moment in history. Everything indicates that we can do it at will, but you never know with Hideo Kojima. It’s a small detail that excites me a lot.
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