Sony's highly anticipated July State of Play event focused mainly on upcoming indie titles and third-party games outside of Arkane's Deathloop. However, one unexpected State of Play reveal that took many by surprise was Death Stranding: Director's Cut.
First announced at this year's Summer Game Fest, Death Stranding: Director's Cut got a hefty pre-order trailer at the latest State of Play event, revealing all the new changes from the original. As it turns out, Death Stranding: Director's Cut is more than just a remastered version of the divisive game, and here's everything new that it brings to the table.
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The most prominent addition to Death Stranding: Director's Cut is extra story missions and new areas. It seems this new story content is not part of the main storyline, but something "carefully woven" into the game's world for players to discover. While the details remain scarce, the trailer seems to hint that it's something related to the still mothers and early BB models. About an hour's worth of new music has also been confirmed by the game's composer Ludvig Forsell. Head of publishing at Kojima Productions, Jay Boor, also revealed in a new Q/A video that the story missions included in Death Stranding: Director's Cut are not cut content from the base game, but were instead built from the ground up after the game launched in 2019.
Other new features include the addition of a Fragile circuit mode and a new firing range area. New weapons that are confirmed so far include a Maser Gun that can electrocute human enemies and a Mounted Machine Gun that players can use during battle. New equipment includes a Cargo Catapult, Support Skeleton, Buddy Bot, and a Jump Ramp. Death Stranding: Director's Cut also features "unused" vehicles and items from the base game, as seen in the mini-art book. Players can also expect improved melee combat, UI enhancements, and new online features like Friend Play and Leaderboards. Thankfully, the Half-Life and Cyberpunk 2077 updates from PC will also make their way to the Director's Cut, alongside a very hard difficulty mode.
Death Stranding: Director's Cut is also a remaster of the PS4 version of the game, and players can expect some visual and performance enhancements. The performance mode provides an upscaled 4K 60 FPS experience, whereas the fidelity mode offers native 4K resolution. Both modes offer HDR and ultra-wide support. DualSense features include 3D audio support, haptic feedback, and adaptive triggers. Players can also expect near-instant load times thanks to the PS5's ultra-fast SSD.
The standard edition of Death Stranding: Director's Cut costs $49.99, whereas the Digital Deluxe Edition costs $59.99. This is in quite a contrast to Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut, which costs $69.99. Alongside the base game, the deluxe edition comes bundled with the content of the original deluxe edition. It also brings new in-game suit colors, new power glove colors, new BB pod options, backpack patches, a digital mini-art book, the OST, and an avatar set.
The PS4 owners of any version of Death Stranding can upgrade to Death Stranding: Director's Cut's Digital Deluxe Edition for $10. The PS4 disk owners of Death Stranding will have to insert the disk to download and play the upgraded version at all times. Thankfully, Death Stranding: Director's Cut will allow PS4 players to transfer their save data and pick right up from where they left without having to start fresh.
Death Stranding: Director's Cut seems like a meaty package, with plenty of new additions to lure old fans and welcome new ones who missed out on the original. Death Stranding 2 could be in an awkward position right now, given the recent Xbox Kojima rumors, which makes Death Stranding: Director's Cut even more of a significant update for hardcore fans.
Death Stranding: Director's Cut launches September 24, 2021, on PS5.
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