Late 2019 saw the release of legendary game director Hideo Kojima’s unique title Death Stranding; self-dubbed as a ‘strand-type’ game – the meaning of which still confusing many. Kojima teamed up with Norman Reedus of The Walking Dead fame to play the main character through the wonders of mo-cap; a solid insurance policy for ensuring the game reached Western audiences.
Death Stranding is ambitious, weird and likely a hard sell to genre specific die-hards– which makes Norman Reedus’ ‘oh I know that guy, he’s from The Walking Dead’ factor important to selling the Death Stranding package. This strategy of borrowing familiar faces from tv & film was also used in a Cyberpunk 2077 release trailer, featuring internet favourite Keanu Reeves.
