Death Stranding gameplay: 50 minutes of hoverboards, energy drinks, and naked Norman Reedus

Despite Kojima's grumbling, Death Stranding has finally done a decent job of explaining itself as an actual video game that you can play, with almost 50 minutes of live footage debuting at the Tokyo Game Show 2019 this week. 

The footage, which you can watch in its entirety below (narrated by none other than Hideo Kojima himself) is... a lot, to say the least, but finally gives you a good, concrete idea of how the upcoming PS4 game will play and feel once it's in your hands this November. 

Kojima Productions also released the Death Stranding briefing video previously shown behind closed doors at Gamescom 2019, which gives a comprehensive explanation of the central conceit of its narrative, as explained via a lengthy cut-scene featuring Norman Reedus' protagonist Sam, alongside Die-Hardman and Lindsey Wagner's character, Amelie. 

In short, Sam is tasked with reconnecting communications across a future dystopian America, which has long been fractured by supernatural events and a spreading culture of isolationism. Ordered by the President's daughter herself (Amelie), Sam must reconstruct America by journeying from East to West and re-activating a number of communication nodes to spread a national message of unity. 

He does that, as the new gameplay shows, via walking, hoverboarding, drinking energy drinks, bathing in muddy puddles, peeing on mushrooms, cuddling babies, fighting enemies, and more. Goodness knows how it all ties in to the overarching plot, but - for now - just watch the full gameplay in all its mad glory above, and enjoy. 

Check out more Death Stranding gameplay below, or read up on all the other big new games of 2019 and beyond still on the way.