Hideo Kojima parted company with Konami some time ago, and has been pretty successful via Death Stranding, a series which will get its second outing this year.
Death Stranding 2‘s pre-release push is now in full swing, and a recent 10-minute promotional video shows that now more than ever, Kojima is happy to reference his Konami past with his present games.
Fans have already spotted that DHV Magellan, which is featured in the footage, is a dead-ringer for Metal Gear Rex in the first Metal Gear Solid game (the legendary Yoji Shinkawa is responsible for the design of both, so that’s not a massive shock). Secondly, Neil, a new character played by Luca Marinelli, is a close match to Snake—something Kojima noticed many years ago, in fact.
Now, fans are going even deeper with their observations, with some noting the similarity between Death Stranding 2’s cover image and a special slipcover image for 2001’s Metal Gear Solid 2, which was only released in Japan (thanks, GamesRadar).
The image shows Japanese pop star Gackt holding a baby, and Death Stranding 2’s art feels like a pretty strong reference to this image, if you ask us.
Kojima directly paying tribute to his Konami days could be seen as a sign that he’s ready to embrace his past and potentially work with the company again. Last year, Metal Gear Solid Delta producer Noriaki Okamura said it would be “the dream” to work with Kojima on the series.
