Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding sequel, officially called Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, dropped a new trailer during the January 2024 State of Play. It revealed a lot of new story beats about what is going on with Sam Porter Bridges after the first game. But I really couldn’t tell you much about the details because…did you see that weird hand mask grabbing Lea Seydoux’s face? I’m sorry but I need a detailed explanation of that right now Kojima!
At first, when the trailer showed Lea Seydoux’s Fragile appearing with what looks like gloved hands wrapping over her mouth, I assumed that they were some fashionable take on surgical masks. This wouldn’t be the weirdest fashion choice in a Kojima game. What I did not expect was for the hands, which I previously assumed were part of an inanimate object, to start moving like real human hands on her face.
Yeah, it turns out these hand masks are sentient, or at least reactive in some way since we see them respond by moving to protect Fragile’s face when an oozing fluid splashes onto her. It’s a little unnerving to say the least, but maybe it offers the same level of protection as a KN95 mask. We will have to get the CDC’s official ruling on this though.
I’m sure that in the next few months before DS2 finally releases, Kojima will offer some kind of explanation as to what these hand masks are and why they are the de facto face protection in the game. Whatever explanation we do get will likely make about as much sense as the explanation for Quiet’s choice of attire in Metal Gear Solid 5. At least in the hand mask’s case, the mouth does need to breathe just as much as Quiet’s skin.