The latest Death Stranding trailer has a bunch of weird coincidences and nods to MGS

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The new Death Stranding (opens in new tab) trailer is full of secrets and hints (opens in new tab) toward the true nature of Hideo Kojima’s enigmatic project, but it also could have some sly nods for fans of the Metal Gear series. Or I might just be reading way too much into things, but that is never, ever a safe bet when it comes to Kojima. Judge for yourself.

 Is that Baby Snake? 

The doll that floats past Guillermo del Toro and bumps into Mads Mikkelsen seems to be a reflection of Big Boss from Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (opens in new tab). Its right eye opens, revealing a vibrant blue, and above its unopened left eye is a horn of shrapnel – which is a literal mirror of Big Boss’ scarred face. It’s also missing its left leg, while Big Boss lost his right arm.

The doll definitely isn’t just convenient refuse – it glows red for a moment, implying a connection to Mads, and it looks like he might be pulling it down the tunnel toward him by a little cord wrapped around its remaining leg. Could this baby doll, a literal tool for the militaristic Mads, be a nod to Big Boss, who was repeatedly made into a metaphorical tool for the geopolitical forces around him?

A dramatic unmasking

Remember the elevator intro from the original Metal Gear Solid, where Snake dramatically doffs his scuba gear? How about Naked Snake pulling off his air mask at the beginning of Metal Gear Solid 3’s Virtuous Mission? The unmasking-reveal is one of Kojima’s favorite recurring motifs for his heroes. But Kojima has said that Norman Reedus’ character will be the playable protagonist, and Mikkelsen is looking pretty villainous with those skeleton soldiers. Could this be a deliberate subversion to set players against the sort of militarized might that they’re used to embodying in Kojima games?

Gif by Shinichi24 (opens in new tab)

Armies of the dead

Speaking of skeleton soldiers, armies of the dead are nothing new for Kojima either. Big Boss was taking on freaky “Skull” soldiers back in The Phantom Pain, and he had to navigate past the tormented soul of every soldier he killed in his nightmarish encounter with The Sorrow in Metal Gear Solid 3. These soldiers can never escape being tools for higher powers, even in death.

Suddenly slow motion

Heck yeah, sudden-onset slow motion. I don’t think this a Metal Gear reference or anything, it’s just another one of Kojima’s favorite things.

The baby and the bath water

@megaloltaku made a gif of this because holy fucking shit pic.twitter.com/HVfa1wxGF5December 3, 2016

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This only works if you sync the trailers up just right, and it could very well be a coincidence, but still. Dang.

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