Towards the end of the new ten-minute (!) long , Hideo Kojima decides to throw the crowd some red meat. The footage has by this point established new character Neil, played by Italian actor Luca Marinelli, as what looks like Death Stranding 2's version of Cliff (Mads Mikkelson): someone forced into dirty jobs who can't let go of the past.
Then, as Neil begins to lead a small special forces unit of some kind, the camera focuses directly on the character's face as he ties a bandana around his forehead. It's a small detail but it's an unmistakable one for longtime Kojima-fanciers: From the first Metal Gear Solid, the bandana has been an iconic part of the look for both Solid Snake and Big Boss.
Oh and one more: The president in Death Stranding 2 is a new character voiced by Alastair Johnson. The final game in the Metal Gear series timeline is Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, in which the final boss is Senator Armstrong played by… Alastair Johnson.
So we're in some sort of alt-universe where, with enough tinfoil, you could probably just about convince yourself that the Metal Gear and Death Stranding universes are, excuse the pun, connected. We've got alt versions of Snake, we've got Rex, we've got Armstrong, on top of which the director's cut of Death Stranding had already added a bunch of Metal Gear-style elements ().
It all ties-in to elements of Death Stranding 2 that are already being made explicit. The days of delivery are over. Describing the original as a "walking simulator" was always unfair, but this time [[link]] around it does seem like there will be slightly less emphasis on traversal as the core mission mechanic and a lot more, dare I say, tactical espionage action.
Neil doesn't just look like Solid Snake with his fancy bandana, though, he also leads some sort of unit that's distinguished by skull imagery and smoking cigarettes (another Metal Gear staple). He also seems to be this game's equivalent of Cliff, which thematically ties-in to being unable to let go of past events: Or in this case, past achievements. And then at the end, as well as the Rex-like ship-slash-tar creature, we get unmistakable echoes of the giant mech fights between Rex and Ray that were some of the series' high points.
I am certain there are dozens of other small nods I'm missing, and no doubt the Metal Gearheads are poring over this trailer as I write. It's always been clear that Kojima was never going to truly leave Metal Gear behind, and has become bolder about discussing the series and adding more overt nods by the time of the DS director's cut.
But this is as explicit as it gets. Don't bother waiting for Konami to make Metal Gear Solid 6 because, if that series has a future, it's now as another series under its original creator. Fans are already joking about Neil's character being called "Rigid Reptile" and the like, but the real charge here is seeing one of the industry's greats not only returning to his past, but comfortable rewriting it. Expectations are high for Death [[link]] Stranding 2 and, going by this trailer, it may well be the game to surpass Metal Gear.