New Death Stranding Video Spotlights Its Protagonist Sam Bridges

Today, Kojima Productions and Sony Interactive Entertainment dropped a brand-new Death Stranding video that spotlights its protagonist, Sam Porter Bridges, who is played by Norman Reedus. The video is a little bit over two minutes long and features not only Death Stranding gameplay, but it's creator, Hideo Kojima, talking about Sam. According to Sony and Kojima Productions, Sam is neither a superhero or a super solider, but a blue-collar worker with a knack for delivering packages better than anyone else. Think of the best UPS delivery man on steroids that enhance one's ability to deliver packages: that's Sam Bridges.

According to Kojima, Sam's everyman status is a big reason why he's such a compelling protagonist and the best kind of hero, because in this way, players can relate. Players can't relate to flying around buildings in tights or meticulously taking out an entire army of highly-trained soldiers, but everyone can -- to an extent -- relate to what Sam does.

Personally, while I thought Sam Bridges was a good protagonist, I don't think he's one of the game's best characters. And while Norman Reedus did a great job at bringing the character to life, it's not quite on the level of some of the other performances in the game by the likes of Mads Mikkelsen, Lea Seydoux, and Tommie Earl Jenkins who play Cliff, Fragile, and Die-Hardman, respectively.

"Speaking of performances, Death Stranding is stacked with first-rate actors and actresses," reads a snippet from our review about the game's character performances. "From top to bottom, the performances are excellent and put their contemporaries to shame. Mads Mikkelsen as Cliff, Lea Seydoux as Fragile, Tommie Earl Jenkins as Die-Hardman, and Jesse Corti as Deadman particularly put in some of the best performances you'll see this year."

Death Stranding will be available on PS4 this Friday, November 8. Meanwhile, next year it's poised to come to PC. For more news, rumors, leaks, media, and information on the upcoming game, be sure to peep all of our previous and extensive coverage of the title by clicking right here. Meanwhile, as always, feel free to leave a comment or two letting us know what you think or, alternatively, hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there.