Highlights

  • Death Stranding 2: On The Beach will be released in 2025, continuing Samuel Porter Bridges' mission.
  • The trailer revealed the return of familiar voices and faces from the previous game, including Léa Seydoux and Troy Baker.
  • The inclusion of new machine designs, including a robotic ninja, pays homage to the cyborg ninjas from Hideo Kojima's past projects.

At the end of the January 2024 PlayStation State of Play, fans finally got to look at the full title and launch window of Death Stranding 2: On The Beach. Over the course of one of acclaimed director Hideo Kojima's long-form trailers, players were introduced to the next chapter of Samuel Porter Bridges’ mission of reconnecting human civilization. Death Stranding 2’s 2025 release will see players join him for all the adventures and strangeness that entails.

Death Stranding 2's trailer also revealed several familiar voices and faces appearing alongside Norman Reedus as Sam. Léa Seydoux and Troy Baker reprise their previous roles as Fragile and Higgs, but some big names in Death Stranding’s production staff were shown off as well. Ludvig Forssell returns as musical director while Kyle Cooper is once again the title designer, and Metal Gear Solid fans instantly recognized Yoji Shinkawa’s influence on DS2’s character and mechanical design. Of particular interest are Death Stranding 2’s new machine designs, which include several enemy types that fans of Kojima and Shinkawa's past work know all too well.

Elle Fanning in Death Stranding 2
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Cyborg Ninjas Have Become Hideo Kojima and Yoji Shinkawa's Joint Signature

Some robots reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid’s expansive machine catalog began creeping into the first Death Stranding in its Director's Cut, but Death Stranding 2 has placed a spotlight on them. Not only does Fragile's ship, the DHV Magellan, share visual elements with MGS's iconic Metal Gear Rex, but the mechanical soldiers in DS2's latest trailer look like they would fit in Zone of the Enders or Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. This can be explained by Yoji Shinkawa’s consistent design approach but also illustrates how Hideo Kojima tends to use these machines in similar ways.

Various designs, like DS2's humanoid soldier mechs and a bipedal mech making animal sounds, recall various Metal Gear enemies, but one Death Stranding 2 machine goes beyond mere visual similarities. What appears to be a robotic ninja stops Higgs from menacing Sam before engaging in a high-octane fight, not only demonstrating Higgs’ new fighting style but also the return of the Cyborg Ninja archetype from Metal Gear Solid. With design elements from past mechanized ninjas and potentially a similar story purpose, this callback to Kojima's old projects is deliberate and thorough.

The History of Cyborg Ninjas In Hideo Kojima's Games

While high-tech anime action has defined most of Kojima's career, and there was a ninja boss fight in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Yoji Shinkawa first proposed the idea for the Cyborg Ninja to Kojima during Metal Gear Solid 1's development. An old Metal Gear character called Gray Fox was assigned the role, and since then, the title of Cyborg Ninja has passed to Metal Gear Solid 2’s Olga Gurlukovich and Metal Gear Solid 4's Raiden. The SKULLS Parasite unit from Metal Gear Solid 5 and many enemies in Metal Gear Rising also follow the Cyborg Ninja design pattern.

How The Cyborg Ninja Appears In Death Stranding 2

Right now, the mechanical ninja in Death Stranding 2 looks like a mash-up of many past Cyborg Ninja designs and character traits, while adding samurai-like design elements of its own. The ninja's central eye light and ability to turn invisible and seemingly teleport recall Gray Fox, while its voice belonging to an infant may reference Olga's diverse voice changer.

MGS4's famous scene of Raiden dueling Vamp, one of Metal Gear Solid's best villains, is recreated in this ninja’s battle with Higgs, right down to Higgs and Vamp bending back to dodge slashes. What allegiance the ninja holds is currently a mystery, just like most of MGS's Cyborg Ninjas, but it’s a welcome addition to the growing list of Death Stranding 2: On The Beach’s questions.