Death Stranding is an action game by Kojima Productions. Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment on PlayStation consoles and 505 Games on other platforms, it was released for the PlayStation 4 on November 8, 2019, followed by a release on PC on July 14, 2020. A director's cut of the game was released for the PlayStation 5 on September 24, 2021, PC on March 30, 2022, iOS, macOS, and iPadOS on January 30, 2024, and Xbox Series X and S and Amazon Luna on November 7, 2024. It was directed, written, and designed by Hideo Kojima and is the first game that Kojima worked on since he left Konami in late 2015. Norman Reedus stars as the protagonist Sam Porter Bridges.
Death Stranding was revealed at E3 2016 during Sony's press conference. Commentators drew similarities of the game's themes and narrative to the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in March 2020, four months after its initial release on PlayStation 4.
A sequel, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, was announced at The Game Awards 2022 and released on June 26, 2025 for the PlayStation 5 and on March 19, 2026 for PC.
References to Metal Gear
- The protagonist Sam uses a Codec to talk with his support team, although it cannot be manually activated, instead only being used in story sequences.
- One e-mail refers to the pre-Death Stranding world as having been called a "Symbiotic Surveillance Society", which has the same initials as the multiple names for the S3 Plan. The "Symbiotic Surveillance Society" concept was a criticism of perceived loss of freedom and increased surveillance and control by government and corporate interests, which was what The Patriots were attempting to accomplish with the S3 Plan.