Norman Reedus plays Sam Bridges in Death Stranding (Picture: Sony)

Norman Reedus has given some details about Hideo Kojima’s highly-anticipated new project Death Stranding, describing it as ‘positive, scary and depressing’ all at the same time.

The 50-year-old actor, best known for playing Daryl in TV series The Walking Dead, is set to play a lead role via motion capture in the PlayStation 4 title, alongside Mads Mikkelsen, Lea Seydoux, Lindsay Wagner, Troy Baker, and director Guillermo Del Toro.

Figuring out what Death Stranding actually is, however, has become a game in itself – with last year’s E3 2018 trailer showing Norman’s character, Sam Bridges, traversing vast landscapes with various packages in a future sci-fi setting.



GameCentral caught up with Norman Reedus on the set of his TV show Ride With Norman Reedus in March last year, but his discussion of Death Stranding has been embargoed until now.


‘That guy is such a genius, Hideo Kojima,’ Norman said. ‘I’m like, “Oh so they’ll be playing me?” And he’s like, “No they are you. We will make them cry as you.” I’m like, “What are you talking about? It’s a video game.”’

Speaking about what to expect in Death Stranding, Norman added: ‘The concept is so far out into the future. Instead of eliminating everyone around you, it’s bringing everyone together. It’s a very positive video game, but scary and depressing at the same time.

‘It’s kind of a new movie. I’ve never seen anything like what we’re doing. Guillermo Del Toro introduced me to him, who is also working on the game; he’s a character in the game.

‘I saw that video game director at the Video Game Music Awards, walk down the steps and they lit up underneath his feet like Michael Jackson and he goes, ‘I’m back.’ And the place is like, ‘Oh my god.’ Like grown men in tears.

‘I was like who is this god – whatever he wants to do I’ll do it. He’s a genius.’

Asked if the trailers released so far (before E3 2018) were representative of the game, Norman replied: ‘He keeps telling me people will watch all these trailers, they’ll come up with these ideas and look for all these Easter eggs, and they have been doing that.

Hideo Kojima is behind Death Stranding and the Metal Gear Solid series (Picture: Mintaha Neslihan Eroglu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

‘The trailers show you an aspect of it, but not a whole picture of what the game will be. That’s like a whole other thing. It’s complicated, it’s a crazy complicated game. I’ve been learning a lot about video games doing it.’

Death Stranding has been described as an action game set in an open world environment, with main character Sam sent to a purgatory-like alternative world every time the player dies.

It’s a particularly important game for Hideo Kojima, as it represents his first project for independent studio Kojima Productions following his messy split from Konami in 2015.



Death Stranding will release exclusively on PlayStation 4, with a release date yet to be confirmed.

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