One of essentially the most enjoyable and entertaining facets of any Kojima sport is the wild and unpredictable callbacks and references contained inside. The unique Steel Gear Stable was full of little references; from Miller telling Snake to go to the toilet earlier than sitting behind a monitor for lengthy durations (breaking the fourth wall in regards to the participant sitting by means of cutscenes), to Mei sticking her tongue out at Snake when calling with out saving. Loss of life Stranding 2 continues this Kojima custom with a boatload of references.
Oh, and a warning: there are heavy spoilers contained in a few of these entries, so proceed at your personal danger. Listed here are 15 references and callbacks you possible missed whereas taking part in Loss of life Stranding 2.
Hideo Kojima
Hideo Kojima is not any stranger to online game cameos. The legendary sport designer has been in dozens of video games, some that conceal his look higher than others. In contrast to Cyberpunk 2077’s lifelike depiction of Kojima, Loss of life Stranding disguises him very effectively – blink and also you’ll miss it. And what’s extra, gamers are certain to come back throughout this cameo because it happens proper in the beginning of the sport. As you come back to the hideout, a gaggle of BTs stand up from the tar to threaten Sam. Kojima occurs to be a kind of BTs, his glasses being a key giveaway to his likeness regardless of the tar-drenched face.
Creepy Scene With Dollman
You’ll assume sleeping would do Sam a world of fine contemplating all his mountain climbing, however in Loss of life Stranding 2, going to mattress can result in some chilling nightmares for the courier. Select to sleep in Sam’s mattress and there’s an opportunity to set off certainly one of 4 goals, however one particularly is quite notable for its creepiness and hilarity. Dollman, a human man caught contained in the physique of a puppet, accompanies Sam all through his journey, even hanging there close to his bedside. He can’t even go away Sam in his goals, apparently, as one nightmare options Dollman rising up inside Lou’s pod as Sam goes to examine on the infant. Sam is horrified that Dollman has changed Lou, however Dollman proceeds to sing and dance contained in the pod regardless, including to the creep issue much more. Perhaps Sam simply wants some alone time away from Dollman.
MGS5’s Moby Dick Reference
This one’s really a double reference. The scene begins with Sam opening up the novel, Moby Dick, with Dollman narrating. That is an apparent callback to Steel Gear Stable 5’s Moby Dick reference with Snake’s Ahab codename accompanied by a hook arm, similar to the ocean captain protagonist of the novel. As Dollman ends his narration of the Moby Dick part in DS2, he feedback that the striving for a typical objective is just like Kojima Productions, a quite blatant fourth wall break nestled contained in the Moby Dick callback.
Cyborg Ninja
As everyone knows, there can’t be a Kojima sport and not using a cyborg ninja in there someplace. I imply, MGS1, MGS2 and MGS4 had them so why not Loss of life Stranding 2? Loss of life Stranding 2 doesn’t disappoint on this entrance. You encounter this ninja as he slices and dices a gaggle of robots prefer it’s one other Tuesday. The choreography carried out right here is top-notch, and the outfit design of the ninja is pure Yoji Shinkawa.
Stored You Ready Huh?
One of the crucial iconic strains within the Steel Gear franchise is referred in Loss of life Stranding 2, As a shirtless Higgs begins a duel with Sam, he utters the enduring ‘Stored you ready, huh?’ line from the Stable Snake from the Steel Gear Stable video games.
MGS4 Microwave Reference Scene
However that’s not the one reference that includes Higgs (there are loads). One encounter between Sam and Higgs mimics Snake’s treacherous stroll by means of the microwave hallway in Steel Gear Stable 4. Higgs even sings as Sam crawls ahead, eerily mirroring the operatic singing from MGS4’s hallway scene.
Say No and Get In A Loop
All of us love consequential choices in video games and Loss of life Stranding 2 wastes no time setting one up instantly. After arriving on the base, Fragile asks for those who’ll undertake the brand new mission. Upon which the choice to outright refuse turns into out there to the participant. Choosing ‘I received’t do it’ rewinds the opening moments of the sport and reverts again to Fragile’s query once more. Choose ‘I received’t do it’ once more rewinds even additional again to the very begin of the sport, earlier than as soon as extra permitting gamers to reply the query. Properly, seems the one actual choice is to just accept the mission, however the phantasm of selection right here remains to be effectively completed even when Sam doesn’t actually have a say within the matter.
Sam Loses His Hand
This one takes place inside one other of Sam’s creepy nightmares. On this one, Sam walks to the ship’s cockpit to see a tentacle and a cat rising from a gap. Sam curiously places his arm inside the outlet solely to have his hand ripped off earlier than lastly waking up.
The Elder Returns
In one more of Sam’s nightmares, a dancing model is seen within the hallway. As Sam turns round, the model wildly sprints in the direction of him because the digicam will get a very good shot of his face. That face strikingly resembles ‘The Elder’ from Loss of life Stranding. How Sam is dreaming of an previous man he helped in Loss of life Stranding 1 is past our comprehension however on the very least it’s one other enjoyable reference.
Higgs Taken Out Grey Fox Fashion From MGS1
This one’s a reasonably large spoiler for the sport, however the checklist is spoiler-tagged anyway, so right here we go. The primary antagonist of Loss of life Stranding 2, Higgs, goes out the identical means Grey Fox did in Steel Gear Stable 1. After gloating his dominance over Sam, Higgs all of a sudden will get pinned to a wall by a machine arm, which finally ends up slicing him in two. He couldn’t get a extra honorable loss of life than one which resembles Grey Fox’s. On a associated word, Fox’s monologue and heroism throughout his loss of life to Steel Gear REX made him probably the most beloved characters within the franchise.
SS Rajamouli
Kojima loves interacting with the worldwide movie trade any means he can, and this subsequent callback incapsulates that keenness. One of many many individuals Sam involves rescue has the face of none apart from certainly one of India’s most prolific filmmakers, SS Rajamouli. Identified for his motion filmmaking type usually using CGI, Rajamouli was movement captured for this temporary cameo, during which he provides a thumbs up for being rescued by Sam with out ever uttering a phrase.
MGS5 Phantom Ache Reference
That is one more double reference. Tarman, the pilot of Sam’s base of operations, the DHV Magellan, is modeled after filmmaker George Miller. Throughout one scene, Tarman instantly references the title of Steel Gear Stable 5 by stating “it’s one thing akin to a ‘Phantom Ache’”. We nonetheless really feel the ache, Mr. Tarman!
Higgs Coffin Scene
Coffin Boards are fairly helpful, and enjoyable, in Loss of life Stranding 2. They transport and eliminate corpses that in any other case would flip into dreaded BTs, and in addition can be utilized as a surfboard for Sam to make use of throughout water. However sleeping beside certainly one of these coffins can lead to a very weird nightmare for Sam. The nightmare begins with Higgs crawling out of the coffin and ends with some next-level Kojima stuff involving octopus tongues and effectively, we received’t spoil the remaining as a result of it must be seen to be believed.
Callback to the Shirtless Boss Battle from MGS1
This shirtless combat between Sam and Higgs is a direct reference to the battle between Stable and Liquid Snake brawl on high of the destroyed Steel Gear Rex in Steel Gear Stable. This begs the questions: Are Sam and Higgs brothers?!
Stable Snake
That is maybe essentially the most iconic reference in all the sport. One of many characters, Neil, attire similar to Stable Snake from the Steel Gear Stable collection. It’s nearly a one-for-one cosplay. Certainly, Neil is sporting a bandana tied within the again, a navy camo outfit, and an equivalent haircut to Stable Snake. What actually places the bow on this reference is Neil’s hesitant head actions, mirroring Stable Snake’s personal actions from the MGS video games. It’s quite poignant that Kojima was in a position to revive his beloved Stable Snake character from Konami’s grip one last time, even when it’s only a callback to 1 his older works.