Since the new trailer for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach dropped, there has been much buzz about the game. Though Norman Reedus plays the lead, the preview emphasizes the newly revealed character Neil, played by Luca Marinelli.
Fans have been pointing out that Neil looked a lot like Metal Gear Solid protagonist Solid Snake, and it looks like that was Kojima’s intention—since he started noticing Marinelli in 2020.
Luca Marinelli is Solid Snake
Ever since the trailer dropped, fans on Reddit have been sharing this post from Kojima from back in 2020, in which he says that Marinelli looked just like Solid Snake.
Kojima said, “Luca Marinelli recently caught my eye after watching The Old Guard and Martin Eden… I think that he will break out soon and his popularity will increase. Also, I think if he donned a bandana, he’d be a spitting image of Solid Snake!”
And a bandana is precisely what Neil dons at the end of the latest trailer, seemingly leading a new team of specialized soldiers who work for the government and are on a mission to stop Sam, Fragile, and the rest of their crew.
Nothing’s For Sure Yet
Since Death Stranding 2 was announced, Kojima Productions has been very vague regarding the story, and fans have just been putting together what’s been showcased in the trailers.
Not much is revealed about Neil, but he looks like a reluctant soldier. He may be romantically involved with another new character, Lucy, played by Alissa Jung.
With his military background and command of a special squadron, it seems Neil is filling the role that belonged to Mads Mikkelsen in the first game. It’s unclear exactly what their powers will be, but seeing that this is a Kojima game, it probably mattered the most that they looked pretty cool, and flaming skeleton soldiers fit right in with giant ink kaiju and doctors with two right hands.
Metal Gear Solid without Kojima
Interestingly, Kojima should include a Solid Snake reference in Death Stranding, as he abandoned that franchise with its parent studio, Konami.
This year, Konami plans to release a remaster of Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, originally released in 2004. Though they attempted to make Metal Gear after Kojima left, it does look like remaking some classics could be a very lucrative decision for the studio. This tactic worked pretty well with Capcom and the Resident Evil titles.
Hopefully, Kojima plans to make Neil a unique character compared to Snake. However, it would also be hilarious if he released a game featuring a fake Snake in June when a game featuring the OG Snake will be released in August.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is set to launch for the PS5 on June 26.