Death Stranding 2’strailers bring up more questions than answers, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. The game promises so many new features, vistas, and characters without giving too much away.
The second trailer revealed at the Sony State of Play on June 11, 2025, does this with such grace and style, making us look forward to the final release while also being easy to appreciate as a short piece of filmmaking and editing. A lot of details come at you quickly, so you can’t be blamed for missing any of the small moments mentioned in the list below.
7Lou Is Heard When Higgs Is Fighting The Robots
Is She Controlling Them?
Higgs is back and looks more maniacally evil than ever. He might have even killed Lou, a shocking revelation for fans. During the trailer, the robots around Higgs start going haywire and attack him. The strangest thing about this moment is the sounds of a baby crying and squealing.
These sounds are identical to the ones Lou made during gameplay in the debut entry. So, is Lou still active somewhere despite Sam thinking she is gone? Given the logic of Death Stranding, we can be sure thatdeath is not always the endfor characters.
6George Miller Is Playing A Character
A Different Voice Actor Who Is Also An Australian Actor
The first Death Stranding featured directors Nicolas Winding Refn and Guillermo del Toro. Their likenesses were used while other actors voiced the role and did the performance capture. The same is being done for Mad Max director George Miller.The actor voicing the character is Marty Rhone, an Australian actor and singer who has been active since the 1970s.
It makes sense for the actor to also be from Australia. If you look closely at the character during his scenes,you will see that he is missing a hand.You can see the stub covered in tar at around the 4:30 mark. During other moments there is a prosthetic.
The special appearance makes sense, considering Mad Max: Fury Road is a movie all about getting from point A to point B, although that movie is significantly more bombastic than most of Death Stranding.
5The Ship Is The DHV Magellen
But We Still Don’t Know What DHV Means
The ship first shows up coming out of a baby’s mouth, an image most viewers never thought they would see. When talking to Sam, Fragile says its name is the DHV Magellan. In the 16th century,Ferdinand Magellan was the first sailor and explorer to fully circumnavigate the world.
Perhaps this is hinting at the game’s themes of connecting the world, which expands upon the first game which was only bringing the USA together again. Alternatively, it could also hint at the ship’s ability to travel quickly, perhaps acting as a fast travel feature and implying the game will take place on multiple maps.
4The Large Variety Of Land Types
A Hint At What The Gameplay Will Offer
The first Death Stranding took place largely in a cold, grey, landscape that made the United States look like the untouched parts of Iceland. In a quick montage section of the trailer, we can see completely new places Sam Porter Bridges will walk over on his way to deliver packages and connect the world.Part of the game will likely take place in Mexicoor at least on the border, at least this is heavily implied by the trailer.
Other than that, we see deserts where Sam is walking on large dunes and driving across large, dry, plains that look like theAmerican Southwest or Mexico. It helps answer the question of what more can Kojima and the development team do to develop the ideas introduced in the first game.
3"Same As It Ever Was"
A Talking Heads Reference
The trailer showcases a new Higgs who has somehow returned from his exile on the Beach. How he escaped remains a mystery but we see how much more of a threat he is now and how playfully evil he is. He has a total rockstar vibe andeven drops a reference to a classic Talking Heads song.
The delivery he uses when saying “Same as it ever was” is the same cadence singer David Byrne used in the song Once in a Lifetime by the legendary New York art-rock band. Death Stranding is famous for its use of music to compliment the stunning vistas you stumble upon, so music references are right at home in the game. Now we wonder if older tracks will be on the game’s soundtrack as well as newer artists.
2The Puppet Is Played By Fatih Akin
Another Director
The puppet is one of the most striking parts of the trailer. Death Stranding is weird by design, but this puppet feels completely out of place in the best way. What you may have missed while being dazzled by the puppet is the likeness used is that ofFatih Akin, a German director who has been active since the mid-1990s.
He’s a more obscure artist than the other filmmakers he has worked with. Then again, if Nicolas Winding Refn never directed Drive, he would probably be about as well-known to Western audiences as Fiat Akhin.
1Higgs Plays BB’s Theme On Guitar
A Familiar Motif
Completing Higgs' makeover is his weapon of choice, a guitar that shoots some sort of energy to destroy adversaries. We wonder if using it requires guitar skills or if it is more automated. Higgs probably had plenty of time to practice while trapped on the Beach.
Most of the music he plays sounds like frantic shredding,but if you listen closely to the beginning you will hear the familiar motif that starts BB’s theme. It’s appropriate since, as mentioned before, we hear baby sounds during this encounter, which very well could be Lou.
