Death Stranding: An Introduction to Mama, Bridge Babies, Deadman and Geoff Keighley

Death Stranding closed the show at the first Gamescom Opening Night Live, with Hideo Kojima taking the stage to introduce three new looks at his forthcoming game — including a first look at the story of the highly anticipated game.

Introducing ‘Mama’ in the first trailer, we got a little more information on the inter-world connection that appears to fuel the story of Death Stranding. The connection to the ‘other side’ is not simply one that affects our protagonist, but other people inhabiting the world. 

These trailers also gave us a glimpse at the cinematic quality of the game, which appears to remain a staple of Kojima’s process. The second trailer gave more insight — albeit insight that was still coupled with confused looks and head-scratching — on the concept of Bridge Babies and what the role of Deadman (played by Guillermo Del Toro) will be.

Finally, an extended gameplay clip showcased the very open, but barren, world we’ll be inhabiting as Sam Porter Bridges. Despite the desolation, the game looks beautiful. Even while you’re peeing. That’s right, there is some sort of urination mechanic that Kojima says can be used as a weapon. Sure. However, don’t try spying on Norman Reedus’ character — the camera will keep you from seeing anything. 

Areas will also be inhabited by “preppers” who can give the player “things” but little light was shed on them. Well, aside from one of them being Geoff Keighley. The Game Awards host (and host of Opening Night Live) lends his likeness to a character you’ll meet along the way. The final section of the trailer saw Sam taking damage, before rocking a crying baby back to sleep. How this ties in to gameplay outside of this is unclear. You can watch the full demo below.

All of these excerpts from Death Stranding provide us with more information on what this game is all about, whilst maintaining the high levels of vagueness that Kojima revels in.

‍Death Stranding releases on PlayStation 4 on November 8th.