{"id":1419,"date":"2025-03-10T15:30:18","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T16:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/?p=1419"},"modified":"2025-03-13T18:22:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T18:22:20","slug":"solid-snake-is-back-in-death-stranding-2-but-not-as-you-remember-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/10\/solid-snake-is-back-in-death-stranding-2-but-not-as-you-remember-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Solid Snake is back in Death Stranding 2 but not as you remember him"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Neil\t<\/div>
Solid Neil doesn’t quite have the same ring to it (Sony Interactive Entertainment)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach has a new trailer featuring a legally distinct Solid Snake and confirmation of the game’s release date.<\/p>\n

Aside from Ghost Of Y\u014dtei<\/a>, the only other major PlayStation 5<\/a> exclusive confirmed for this year is Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding 2: On The Beach.<\/p>\n

We’ve seen several predictably perplexing trailers<\/a> for the sequel already, but a new one arrived during a panel at SXSW on Sunday, which confirmed the game will be released on June 26, 2025.<\/p>\n

The lengthy 10-minute trailer features sweeping vistas, bizarre creatures and a stronger emphasis on gunplay, but one new character has captured everyone’s attention because he looks identical to Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid.<\/p>\n

If you’re unaware, Kojima is known for creating the Metal Gear<\/a> franchise for Konami, but he departed the company in not-so amicable fashion in 2015. His studio, Kojima Productions, went independent and partnered with Sony to work on 2019’s Death Stranding<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite being Kojima’s baby, the Metal Gear IP is still owned by Konami, with a remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater<\/a> set to be released in August. Kojima clearly hasn’t moved on entirely though, as he’s already known to be working on a spiritual sequel of sorts<\/a> for PlayStation 5.<\/p>\n

Before that, he’s added a new character called Neil into Death Stranding 2, who, towards the end of the trailer, rocks a bandana and has a very clear resemblance to Snake from the Metal Gear franchise.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Death\t<\/div>
Legally distinct Snake may not be so good (Sony Interactive Entertainment)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While you might think any gruff man with brown hair and a headband could resemble Snake in some capacity, this nod is clearly intentional due to the choice of actor, Luca Marinelli. Back in July 2020 on Instagram<\/a>, Kojima named the Italian actor as someone who would be the ‘spitting image of Solid Snake’ if ‘he donned a bandana’.<\/p>\n

In another interesting twist, it appears as if Neil is some sort of antagonist in Death Stranding 2, who represents a ‘distinctly American philosophy’ – at least, based on the voiceover. Solid Snake’s design was largely modelled after American action movie heroes so it all lines up.<\/p>\n

There appears to be other Metal Gear nods in the trailer too, with a giant mech that looks very similar to REX from the original Metal Gear Solid.<\/p>\n

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