Eagle-eyed gamers analyze the dog tags worn by Norman Reedus' character in an image of Death Stranding posted online, surmising that they reference black holes.
Many fans were surprised to see Hideo Kojima take the stage during Sony's E3 2016 press conference to unveil his first post-Konami game, a mysterious title called Death Stranding. Little is known about Death Stranding so far, but an image of it posted on the Kojima Productions website may offer games a better idea of what to expect from the plot.
The image in question features a closer look at the dog tags worn by Norman Reedus's character in the game. The dog tags appear to be engraved with the Schwarzschild metric equation, which relates to the event horizon of black holes. This has led many to speculate that Death Stranding will see Norman Reedus traveling through a black hole, possibly even time traveling in the process.
Of course, that is just speculation at this time. Hideo Kojima has a history of misleading fans when it comes to his games, so it's best to remain skeptical about any hints found in the Death Stranding E3 2016 reveal trailer or any images posted on the Kojima Productions website. Having said that, there's actually more evidence in favor of Death Stranding having a connection to the science-fiction genre.
This evidence can be found with the Kojima Productions mascot, an armored character named Ludens. Ludens shares his name with a fictional species of humanoid aliens found in the Noon Universe sci-fi novels written by Russian authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. In the Noon Universe novels, the Ludens often experiment on humans and alter their minds, which could explain some of the strange things Norman Reedus sees in the Death Stranding trailer.
More evidence of the sci-fi theme can be found with the handcuffs Reedus is wearing in the trailer. If one looks closely enough, the handcuffs have a strange glow to them, teasing that they are futuristic in nature. Based on this evidence, one possibility is that Death Stranding is set in the far future, Norman Reedus was a prisoner on a spaceship of some sort (possibly even a prisoner of war, considering the dog tags), and the ship went through a black hole, landing Reedus on the beach full of dead fish seen at E3.
Until Kojima Productions goes into more detail regarding Death Stranding, though, all we can do is guess as to what the game will ultimately be about. It definitely appears to be a sci-fi title, and while Hideo Kojima doesn't want to make another P.T., Death Stranding may also have some horror elements as well. Hopefully we'll get more information on the mysterious game before the year is out, perhaps at Gamescom or the Tokyo Game Show.
Death Stranding is in development for both PC and PlayStation 4.