Hideo Kojima has given us another update on the progress of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, sharing a picture and video of some actors wrapping up their work on the upcoming sequel.
"That's a wrap for Shioli Kutsuna," Kojima tweets alongside a video of him giving the actor a bouquet of flowers. "Thank you so much for your hard work! Despite the challenges of the pandemic, she handled 3D scanning, performance capture in LA, and both English ADR and Japanese voice recording across various locations. Great job, and much appreciated!"
Kutsana plays Rainy in Death Stranding 2, and she also played Yukio in Deadpool 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine. We don't know much about her new character Rainy, but Kojima has been teasing her for a while. He previously used Katsuna for a lighting test to show his team "the basics of live-action lighting in order to familiarize them with this technique." He says he used Kutsana rather than other Death Stranding 2 actors Norman Reedus or Elle Fanning because "It is difficult to properly express the skin tone, dark hair, and eyes of Asian people. The look of Shioli in 'DS2' is a challenge for us."
Part of what I love about games and films are the new techniques they create that can help inspire future artists, so it's lovely to see Kojima making sure everyone at the studio knows how to light people properly. It should make Death Stranding 2 even more gorgeous than the first one.
That’s a wrap for Kikuko Inoue and Yasuyuki Kase. Thank you so much. But the game still remains in development🙏👍🫶😅 https://t.co/mexIZZ0veM pic.twitter.com/lYzIDa9J3SDecember 26, 2024
Kojima additionally shared a photo with the caption, "That’s a wrap for Kikuko Inoue and Yasuyuki Kase. Thank you so much," and he'd also given the pair flowers. What a sweetheart. Don't be too quick to make space on your hard drive for Death Stranding 2, though. While a lot of the acting work is wrapping up, "the game still remains in development," so don't expect it to be out any time soon.
While work on Death Stranding 2 was able to go on despite the pandemic, one of Kojima's other games, Overdose, had to pause work with actors due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes.
In the meantime, check out all the upcoming Hideo Kojima games that you have to look forward to.
