At a 90-minute stage event on the final day of Tokyo Game Show over the weekend, Hideo Kojima revealed key details surrounding several characters in the upcoming sequel Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, along with an engaging and overhauled photo mode. The game's release date, slated for 2025, remains unknown.
The crowd welcomed Kojima back to TGS for the first time in five years, with his last major appearance coming in 2019 in the lead-up to the debut of the original Death Stranding. Joining him on stage today were singer/songwriter Daichi Miura and voice actors Kenjiro Tsuda, Nana Mizuki, Tomokazu Sugita and Shion Wakayama. Danish film director Nicolas Winding Refn also made a brief in-person appearance.
「まだ完成はしていないが、手応えを感じている」―小島秀夫監督ら登壇の『DEATH STRANDING 2』Special Stageレポート。コロナ禍を経て描かれる「繋がり」とは何か？【TGS2024】https://t.co/JfR3oMhe2A pic.twitter.com/EVewQRW5Q2
— ⚡Game*Spark⚡ (@gamespark) September 30, 2024
Most of the announcements concerned the Japanese voice cast for Death Stranding 2. Tsuda and Mizuki will reprise their roles as Sam and Fragile from the first game. Sugita, a performer known for his boisterous delivery, will play the diminutive Dollman, a miniature living being. Footage showed Sam carrying Dollman attached to his body like one might clip a keychain or pendant to their backpack.
Wakayama, an up-and-coming performer who won the Best New Actor at the 2023 Seiyu Awards, will voice Tomorrow, a character modeled after actor Elle Fanning. A short scene showed Tomorrow chatting with a visibly-pregnant young woman named Rainy, played by Shioli Kutsuna.
Kutsuna, best known for her recurring role of Yukio in the recent Deadpool films, originally performed all her scenes in English with the rest of the star-studded Hollywood cast, but will provide her own voice for the Japanese dub. She addressed the crowd via a prerecorded video letter and praised Kojima for his uniqueness, saying that she had "never experienced a shoot like this before."
Kojima showed off two flashy means to enjoy viewing the characters of Death Stranding 2. A new photo mode lets players virtually hang out with the Drawbridge crew in-game. As seen on a screen above the TGS stage, Fragile, Tomorrow and Sunny casually goofed around, posing and dancing for the camera. Clicking the shutter produces a Polaroid-like image, adding to the verisimilitude of the experience.
Another sequence showed Dollman dancing on a small table for Sam; the player can pitch and rotate the camera in real-time. Initially alone, identical doubles (Dollmen, perhaps) joined him as part of a fully coordinated and choreographed routine. A virtual Daichi Miura also beamed in, taking the lead and singing vocals. This new single, "Horizon Dreamer" will hit various music streaming services at midnight (Japan time) on Monday, September 30th.
With the focus on Japan, Kojima revealed a couple of upcoming merchandise opportunities for local fans to enjoy new Death Stranding gear. Designer Errolson Hugh came onto the stage bearing new jackets which he said he designed along with Kojima and artist Yoji Shinkawa for both the in-game characters and real-life fans. Kojima Productions already offers the jackets for sale online for 248,600 yen apiece ($1,749 at current exchange rates).
To celebrate the fifth anniversary of Death Standing's launch, Kojima Productions will open a pop-up shop at retailer PARCO Shibuya in Tokyo starting on November 8. Subsequent events will take place at PARCO branches in Nagoya and Osaka in early 2025.
Kojima left the crowd waiting as far as details concerning Death Stranding 2's upcoming release. While previously announcing that principal photography of the performers finished in May of this year, Kojima said that much work remains, including re-recording all the dialogue in Japanese with the aforementioned actors.
He estimated that development is only "30 - 40%" complete at this time but reiterated a 2025 launch target for the game. Internally they have a date in mind, he said, but he declined to share that information with the assembled crowd.
Diamond Feit is a freelance writer for IGN Japan
