Death Stranding trailer has actual plot, gameplay, and a sick burn on the future POTUS

The big Death Stranding trailer, the one that actually shows you how the game works and what it's about, is finally here. The nearly nine-minute video follows main character Sam Porter Bridges (Norman Reedus) at work making deliveries across the shattered remains of the United States. He's a glorified delivery guy, sure, but most delivery people don't have to worry about being run down by masked assailants with cattle prods or invisible monsters that turn swathes of the world into inky muck.

The trailer ends with the long-awaited Death Stranding release date of November 8, 2019. Before that, it gives us another look at Mads Mikkelsen's Cliff, who seems to have a double role as a mild-mannered researcher speaking to a baby in a pod and as a hardcore commander who leads a squadron of skeletal soldiers. There may be another dual role for Lindsay Wagner, who plays a younger version of herself as Amelie (the mysterious blonde woman in the dress) and Bridget, the ailing President of the United States - who Sam just roasts when he calls her "the president of jack shit". I could be wrong about that latter casting, but it sure does look like her to me.

On the "playing instead of watching" side, we get to see Sam bridging some gaps with the help of a sensible toolkit. You can deploy telescoping ladders to climb heights or clear gaps, and you can drop down auto-anchoring rappel points to make your way down cliff edges. You can also use a suitcase to clobber dudes who come after your deliveries, but be careful about taking hits - it looks like you'll drop some of your cargo if you take damage. There's even a brief gunfight through a creepy World War 1 scene with viscera-draped tanks and flaming skeletons.

A few hours after the trailer made its big debut, a Japanese-language version was posted by the official PlayStation Twitter account for Japan, featuring some intriguing new footage that shows off even more mind-warping weirdness. If you skip to the 6:06 mark in the trailer below, you'll get a glimpse of a monster that looks like a giant cuttlefish with human arms as tentacles, Amelie wearing the bottom half of Higgs' golden skull mask, gold hands sprouting out of the ground, and a colossal creature with a foot the size of a car. Spooky stuff, to be sure.

In short: if you were worried that Death Stranding wouldn't seem as weird once you got a good look at it, you can set your fears to rest. It is odd as hell, and I can't wait to play it.

This is just the start - see what else we're excited to see in the weeks ahead with our list of E3 2019 games. Or set your sights on games and entertainment coming this week with our latest Release Radar video.