I have zero sympathy for people whining, or worse in some cases feeling entitled to, a more traditional marketing blow-out for this game. I get it. I get people want to know more, I get the current marketing angle isn't for everyone, and I get that we're conditioned to seeing more spoon fed exposure to games especially those later in development when it's clear Death Stranding was announced earlier than most.
But I miss this kind of marketing, personally. I miss it in all forms of media; film, television, and games especially. I miss that it's okay to be teased and shown an entertainment product without everything being spelled out, instead encouraging people to stop and really think about what they saw, and that excitement can be generated through the aura of mystery. No, Death Stranding has not fully spelled out or demonstrated exactly how the game plays or what the gameplay loop is. But we've seen enough already to get a general idea of a number of game systems and how they player will likely involve themselves. This trailer, for example, superficially seems like just another run of the mill Kojima cutscene. But what I take away from this is that there will likely be large monster/demon boss fights of some kind. That this sequence will likely transition to something gameplay related, either full on combat, stealth, or a combination of the two. That what I'm seeing here isn't just a fancy rendering gimmick, but something I will actively engage with, and the most likely candidate for a "boss". Narratively I take away that that the masked character in previous trailers isn't Mads, but someone new. That they have the power to "control" the ooze in some form. And that golden "faces" have some relevance; seen here as a tool to control, and in the TGA 2017 trailer as evaporating golden paint on a bodybag face that dissipates when the monsters appear.
Moreover, I think there's an art to teasing and showcasing your production in a way that's thematically relevant to the content within. There's a confidence in trying to have your potential audience resonate with particular moods and feelings via the marketing content before they've had a chance to delve directly into the title themselves. What is clear with Death Stranding is that a haunting, supernatural mystery rich with surreal body horror is the backbone of whatever story and setting KojiPro is trying to convey. And instead of going the Metal Gear route of having long expose-style trailers that dig deep into the nitty gritty nuances of terminology, lore, and political context, here with the very marketing material we're exposed to we're encouraged to feel a similarly unsettling confusion and dreariness as what the game itself will be.
And I love that. I love that this weird fucking setting and concept is something we're a part of as it slowly unravels. I love that with each new trailer, no matter how short or long, I have new content to decipher and discuss. I love that there's really so much in what seems like so little, and that KojiPro are so carefully patient in paced in how we learn more about Death Stranding. I love that this methodology of marketing and the total originality and uniqueness of the title itself as a result has me more excited that I usually am for a new game. I love that everything about this seems like everything I didn't expect. I love that so much money is being poured into something seemingly unusual and the opposite of safe. I love that I think I know stuff, but cannot be entirely sure.
If Death Stranding launched tomorrow and this was the last trailer we got, I'd be calling in sick and buying full price day one. And not because of Kojima's pedigree, but because of how they've conveyed the game to me so far, and the excitement this mystery has evoked.
Reading this article from 2017 uhhh sheds a lot of light on some of the arguments here
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/kojima-says-death-stranding-is-a-very-intuitive-op/1100-6448150/
Everyone is right! Its both a walking simulator, full blown action game, stealth-action game, survival horror, etc. list goes on. all in one.
This game is going to be insane.
These posts should be quoted in every Death Stranding thread.
Awesome stuff, both of you.
