Death Stranding – E3 2016 Reveal Trailer | PS4
Original Death Stranding developer Kojima Productions recently announced some kind of movie adaptation, but let’s be clear: The game is absolutely not suited to being a movie. It would be possible to tell a completely different story set in that world as a movie, but if we’re talking about adapting the actual story beats of Death Stranding, then only a TV show would make sense. (Actually, only a video game makes sense, because making you an active participant in the loneliness that pervades the experience is important, but that’s not the exercise here.)
Starring Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges, a post-apocalyptic deliveryman, Death Stranding takes place after a cataclysmic event that definitively proved the existence of an afterlife, released ghosts from that afterlife that try to kill people, created deadly rain that makes everything it touches rapidly age, and forced most of humanity to move to underground bunkers. The actual plot is about Sam traveling around the United States, convincing people to sign up for what is basically a government-backed wi-fi network, so the federal government can reestablish some kind of control. Everyone thinks that’s a stupid idea, though, so Sam’s actual goal is convincing people (and learning for himself) that human connection is good and worthwhile.
Also, yes, you kill the ghosts with grenades made of pee and guns that shoot blood, okay? And there are terrorists trying to trigger an extinction event that will wipe out all of humanity, which is scary. But also there are other bad guys who are former deliverymen who became obsessed with collecting packages and will try to kill Sam to steal his packages, which is silly. It’s a lot. There’s a lot going on. Too much for a movie. [Sam Barsanti]