Death Stranding’s Private Room Feature Is Basically A Dating Sim With Norman Reedus

Kojima Productions showcased the latest of Death Stranding at TGS 2019, where we got to check out the Sam Bridges’ Private Room. We also got to see some customization and more from the likeness of Norman Reedus.

You can take Sam to his Private Room to recover from fatigue. Once he’s in there the player can no longer control him but they can move the camera for various reactions. Hideo Kojima explains that it’s kind of like a “gal game” (or dating sim) except it features the likeness of Norman Reedus as Sam Bridges.

At the start they show that Sam actually feels the need to take a shower, but since you can’t take direct control over him while in the Private Room you might need to help guide him.

Norman Reedus was actually involved in a lot of motion capture work, and Kojima says there’s a lot we’ll be seeing in the game. Kojima also explains that Norman Reedus generally plays “cool” character roles, but you’ll see him do cute or funny stuff here that you wouldn’t expect from the actor, who did each and every motion.

We can see that if you use the camera to look at his feet, he’ll start tapping them on the floor. They also demonstrated an example where Sam gets uncomfortable if you zoom in at his crotch. We then see him begging to go to the shower as they continue the camera zoom-ins. Kojima says that he normally wouldn’t show this, but since it’s a special occasion with it being Tokyo Game Show 2019 and all, he showed what happens if you crotch-zoom one too many times, which results in getting punched by Sam Bridges.

As a fun little bonus, the top image is actually from the mirror in the Private Room. You can make Sam do silly faces and then use a screenshot feature that then scores you based on a number “likes” you get in the game. At the 4:30 mark we see Sam sitting on the faucet so you can take a picture of the back of his head. Kojima says that this is something Norman Reedus-san wanted personally, which he didn’t quite understand why but explains that when they made the set for all the motion-capturing the two of them worked on all kinds of motions from the morning to night.

Death Stranding releases for PlayStation 4 on November 8, 2019. Check our previous report for more on Sam’s not-so-solo journey, and here for a look at the Briefing Trailer from TGS 2019.