Gamescom 2019 has brought with it a wealth of exclusive premieres, the most highly-anticipated of which has potentially been the Death Stranding presentation helmed by none other than Hideo Kojima himself. Kojima took the stage to show off some new characters, including Del Toro's Deadman and Qualley's Mama. Luckily, we had the Death Stranding Gamescom footage to contextualize how these new characters fit into the wider world.

The first addition to the roster is Mama, played by Margaret Qualley. She recently appeared in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, and plays a character with a rather tragic backstory here in Death Stranding. Kojima stressed that the characters in the game's world would all have substories that you could interact with as Sam, the protagonist, and Mama's is particularly touching: Qualley plays a mother (hence the moniker) whose child was born on the Other Side and not in the material world with her. The two are joined by an umbilical cord, which traps her in the base that she's built for herself as journeying outside would be impossible.

Another character showcased by the Death Stranding Gamescom trailer today was Del Toro's Deadman. We already know from previous reveals that Del Toro's character would be involved in a big way, but today's footage appears to position him as some kind of leading expert on the use of BB Pods in this new world. He looks to have a rather cynical view of how things work in the Death Stranding universe, and is just one of the many cameos of Kojima's acquaintances that one can expect to encounter in the game.

We'll update this story as it develops with some of the Death Stranding Gamescom footage, but keep an eye on our event hub in the meantime for the latest and greatest.