Is Death Stranding Set In Iceland?

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt in all my years, it’s that Hideo Kojima fans are insane. They’ll look for the weirdest, tiniest details in the background of stuff that many people wouldn’t even glance it, and they’ll stick to those details like leeches. But if there’s one more thing I’ve learnt, it’s that while they are indeed insane, they’re also usually scarily spot-on with their theories. Because these details they stick to are usually truly relevant. Because Hideo Kojima himself, after all, is more insane than all the insane people on this planet put together.

You see, it’s all about the moss. And yes, when I say moss, I mean moss. There’s a lot of connections to talk about here. First of all, Kojima recently tweeted a screenshot from the game, which depicted some fields covered in moss. A fan tweeted that image, comparing it side-by-side with the real-life image of the moss covered lava fields in Iceland, commenting on how similar the two area. What’s interesting, though, is that Hideo Kojima retweeted that image.

But there’s more. Some people have even spotted moss in Death Stranding’s Video Game Awards trailer, premiered in December of 2017 (via Imgur). But wait, it doesn’t stop there! Kojima was doing some on-location scouting back in 2014 for Death Stranding, and guess where he was- yep; Iceland. He even tweeted a picture of – wait for it – moss.

Beyond that, there are a few other connections in Death Stranding to Iceland as well. For instance, the music used in the game’s trailers is composed by a band named Low Roar- a band from Iceland. A band that Kojima discovered during his aforementioned location scouting trip to Iceland.

Now, none of this is concrete by any means, and if it weren’t for the fact that this is Kojima we’re dealing with, it would probably mean nothing at all. But this is Kojima we’re dealing with, so chances are, it means something. What I want to know is, how does this fit with all the stuff we’ve seen about the United Cities of America in the trailers shown so far? Guess we’ll find out one way or another in a couple of weeks when the game is shown off at Sony’s E3 conference. Stay tuned for more updates.

Mosses on top of lava fields in Iceland and the new Decima/Death Stranding image are very similar. 🤔 @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN @Kojima_Hideo #DeathStranding #Decima #E32018 pic.twitter.com/aXLnvE9Oh4

— Yamato | Rafael (@WitcherYamato) May 22, 2018

Only moss lives here???pic.twitter.com/Ml3jGpTcZ5”

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) August 17, 2014