Everyone’s Making The Same Jokes About The Bonkers New ‘Death Stranding’ Trailer

“Alone we have no future.” That’s the overarching message in the new trailer (above) for Hideo Kojima’s enigmatic Death Stranding. Kojima also revealed the PlayStation 4 game’s release date (November 8, 2019) and new gameplay details. There are unexpected features to the game, like “asynchronous online gameplay”, wherein you can help out or cooperate with other players — or even “walk in the footsteps of fellow couriers” — without encroaching on your own game. You also don’t necessarily die in the game. Instead, you get stuck in an “upside-down realm” and have to find your way back.

Killing enemies is also “almost never the solution”. Connecting with others — rather than mindlessly killing — is clearly a huge element of the game, and Kojima also emphasized this in a tweet, saying it’s an “action game with the concept of connection (strand). I call it Social Strand System”

TOMORROW IS IN YOUR HANDS.#deathstranding pic.twitter.com/XaraGs2P03

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) May 30, 2019

And speaking of coming together, people on Twitter came together to make jokes, almost unanimously circling around two joke topics in particular.

First, people noted that the characters’ names were a little bit obvious, with Norman Reedus as “Sam Porter Bridges”, Mads Mikkelsen as “Cliff”, Léa Seydoux as “Fragile”, Margaret Qualley as “Mama”, Guillermo del Toro as “Deadman”, Nicolas Winding Refn as “Heartman”, Troy Baker as “Higgs”, Lindsay Wagner as “Amelie”, and Tommie Earl Jenkins as “Die-Hardman” (yes, really).

— Nikko Genesis Evangelion (@NikkoGuy) May 29, 2019

Hideo Kojima on naming his character Die-Hardman pic.twitter.com/MSSNGCEPXj

— Bento (PQ2 is fine too) (@althisguy) May 29, 2019

hideo kojima, watching the hannibal finale: well i know who i want to have in the next game i make and i know exactly what his name’s gonna be

— väl (@onearmedscissr) May 29, 2019

death stranding naming the female characters Fragile and Mama pic.twitter.com/sxAeHO1udj

— queen bad soul (@ladygolem) May 29, 2019

I was cut from Death Stranding in the early motion capture stages- my character was named Female Ass Worship Shorts

— Rocco Botte (@rocco_botte) May 29, 2019

die hardman and the homo demons is the name of my punk band

— Gita Jackson, Homo Demon (@xoxogossipgita) May 29, 2019

cowardly of hideo kojima to name two of the three women in death stranding Fragile and Mama but NOT name mads mikkelsen’s character daddy

— alexis@momocon (@alexisparade) May 29, 2019

Calling Mads Mikkelsen “Daddy” brings us to the second joke everybody was making. Mikkelsen says he “only understood some of” the game despite playing a main character, but Kojima is definitely still a fan:

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) May 29, 2019

And some people used this as an excuse to talk about Mads Mikkelsen a lot, which is fair.

— Sana サナ (@LoonaBiS) May 29, 2019

hideo kojima about death stranding: pic.twitter.com/VSYlhH4MCb

— ؘ (@mikkelsenreedus) May 29, 2019

hideo kojima really made an entire game centered around his sexual fantasy of having mads mikkelsen hold him in his arms and sing to him like he's a baby

— kazuhira miller's lovesick smile (@Andromedid) May 29, 2019

mads mikkelsen reads thirst tweets except all the tweets are from hideo kojima pic.twitter.com/k7Zwq5v09M

— alex loves tony 3000 ⎊ (@incorrectqrstn) May 30, 2019

I would walk into a busy street holding a jar of nitroglycerin if Hideo Kojima promised me I could see Mads Mikkelsen in Dad Glasses on the other side of the street

— christa lee (@OhPoorPup) May 29, 2019

I can’t wait for Hideo Kojima’s gaming masterpiece, 1st Person Mads Mikkelsen Chokefuck Experience™

— Frog (@oversized_frog) May 30, 2019

Hideo Kojima: I will ask the biggest Mads Mikkelsen fan what I should include in Death Stranding

*turns toward mirror*

Hideo Kojima: Well

— AVegetarianCannibal (@AVegCannibal) May 30, 2019

hideo kojima, watching the hannibal finale: well i know who i want to have in the next game i make and i know exactly what his name’s gonna be

— väl (@onearmedscissr) May 29, 2019

intern: sir please this trailer is already 7 minutes long let us post it

hideo kojima, struggling to take control of the mouse under the intern's hand: one more Mads scene where he looks super cool then im done pic.twitter.com/VUhcdCALep

— μέλισ (@chellofagirl) May 29, 2019

“can you tell us ANYTHING about the gameplay and story of death stranding”

hideo kojima: no but i can tell you how many times mads mikkelsen will be bare naked in the game

— 花絵⚰️ (@mirwae) May 30, 2019

Other jokes were made about Death Stranding (aka “Ropes and Ladders”). There were references to those aforementioned ropes and ladders, with Kojima himself retweeting screencaps of old Donkey Kong games with ropes and ladders. There was even a joke referencing the cancelled Silent Hills game Reedus, Kojima, and Guillermo del Toro almost made before they collaborated on Death Stranding.

— Pixel Juice (@pixeljuiceuk) May 29, 2019

Death Stranding a game by Hideo Kojima

(sponsored by Polishop) pic.twitter.com/cV3lzWhkuk

— beth esteves (@carvalhoffice) May 29, 2019

YOU CAN PEE ON COMMAND IN DEATH STRANDING pic.twitter.com/k95N0cNHQb

— Kojima Productions Network (@KojiProNetwork) May 29, 2019

pic.twitter.com/QfooSHK0uC

— Crushed (@silenttakedown) May 29, 2019

The Angry Video Game Nerd will be featured in Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding. pic.twitter.com/NBcT30h89B

— Avgn Art (@BadAVGNFanart) May 29, 2019

that death stranding trailer was the most Hideo Kojima thing that Hideo Kojima and Kojima productions have ever made and I hope the game is actually nothing like any of that and you actually just play as naked raiden doin naked cartwheels thru silent hills

— jakey (@nakeyjakey) May 29, 2019

Kojima has done it again.

— Moloch-André Fleury (@alex_navarro) May 29, 2019

Today Kojima will reveal that Death Stranding has been out for two years, you’ve already played it, and don’t know it yet.

— Nick Chester (@nickchester) May 29, 2019

(Hat tip to Kotaku and VG24/7)