Norman Reedus in Death Stranding has a nasty surprise if you keep staring at his crotch

During a gameplay presentation at Tokyo Games Show 2019, a quirky easter egg has emerged in Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding, and it’s exactly the sort of thing you’d expect.

Kojima Productions’ upcoming release, Death Stranding, is set to break the mould in all sorts of different ways, claims creator Hideo Kojima. Included in the game’s unusual repertoire is central character, Sam, punching you in the face if you stare at his groin. Revolutionary.

A new 30-minute gameplay video shows Sam, played by Norman Reedus, in his safe-house. Following a blood transfusion, Sam wakes up in his room looking a little the worse for wear. Rather than being in control of Sam in this section of the game the player circles him as the camera while Sam encourages you to explore.

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If you zoom on Sam's crotch too often, he will punch you in the face #DeathStranding pic.twitter.com/JXO99vVFp0

— Nibel (@Nibellion) September 14, 2019

Zoom in on his crotch though and Sam will, at first, sheepishly cover himself up with his hands. Keep going and he’ll ask you to stop. If you’re really persistent, however, he will eventually crack and punch the camera in the face. It’s hard to blame him.

‘Why is that in the game?’ I hear you ask.

It’s likely a nod to Metal Gear Solid’s strange Easter egg which saw Meryl being unnerved by Snake if players stared at her in first-person. “What are you staring at?” and a string of similar objections would be directed at the player, in an altogether more pixelated form than the one with Reedus’s Sam.

We also learned, in the new 30 minutes of gameplay, that this room is where the player can customise Sam’s outfit as well as checking his backpack, armoury and even his emails.

Set for release on November 8 exclusively for PS4, this will likely be one of many oddities hidden in Death Stranding, a game which Kojima believes will challenge the current definitions of genre in video games.

He told the Financial Times: “My mission is to create a genre that does not currently exist, and which takes everyone by surprise. There is, naturally, a risk in that.”

Having left Konami in his wake, this is the star-developer’s first outing with his new outfit, Kojima Productions. He’s kept his cards close to the chest so far though, deliberately leaving some things about the game mysterious.