Death Stranding 2 story was rewritten after the pandemic

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Kojima's experience of the pandemic changed the sequel's story

Death Stranding 2 screenshot
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)

Death Stranding 2 was completely rewritten due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That's according to game director and writer Hideo Kojima, appearing at The Game Awards yesterday on December 8 in LA. "I had the story written before the pandemic," Kojima said via a translator, "but after experiencing the pandemic I just rewrote the whole thing from scratch."

"I also didn't want to predict anymore future, so I just rewrote it," Kojima added with a chuckle. After Death Stranding arrived in late 2019, following by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, some Kojima fans often joked that the director had predicted the whole pandemic, what with a sole courier journeying through a desolate world, delivering supplies to people hiding away from others. 

Death Stranding 2's announcement yesterday was made via the trailer above, which you can see throughout the first four minutes of the video. The trailer shows the return of Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges, as well as Lea Seydoux as Fragile, facing off against new threats in a changed world, with the latter character appearing to take centre stage.

Right now, we don't have a release date for Death Stranding 2, and we ultimately have precious little details to go on surrounding the sequel, aside from the returning characters. In fact, Death Stranding 2 is merely a working title for the sequel, so the name of the actual game could well change between now and whenever it eventually ends up launching.

Check out our full recap of everything announced at The Game Awards 2022 for all the highlights and announcements throughout the night. 

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.