Death Stranding: Director's Cut final trailer is pure psychological horror

Death Stranding Norman Reedus and baby
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)

The final trailer for Death Stranding: Director's Cut has been released, and Hideo Kojima seems to have compiled a slideshow of the game's most horrifying moments.

The final trailer, directed and edited by Kojima himself, is an almost five-minute exploration of the game's most horrendous vibes. With only a couple of exceptions - including some combat and a peek at the new racing track - the trailer is compiled almost exclusively from cutscene footage.

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Unfortunately, the footage Kojima has chosen seems to be a showcase of the very worst moments in the game. Starting with the pure body horror of the baby that lives in Sam Bridges' gullet, and underscored by a pretty unsettling soundtrack, we get a quick rundown of the environmental chaos that defines much of the game's world.

From there, it's just shot after shot of something vaguely unnerving at best, and actively scary at worst. There's not a single Monster Energy can, celebrity cameo, or Good Vibe to be seen, which makes you wonder whether the Director's Cut is really leaning into an even creepier approach than the original release.

While the world might be scary as hell, Sam's job should at least be getting a little easier. A previous trailer outlined various new delivery methods, including a little robot to keep you company in the wilderness, and a literal cannon. 

Death Stranding: Director's Cut is launching later this month, exclusively on the PS5. You'll be able to play from September 24, which means there are just a few more weeks to wait.

Can't handle the spooks? Here are some more upcoming PS5 games.

Ali Jones
News Editor

I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.