Depending on who you speak to, Hideo Kojima is either a visionary prophet or a self-indulgent, wannabe movie-maker. But there's no doubting he's one of the most influential video game designers of all time – and he's got a new one out this week. Sequel Death Stranding 2, out on PlayStation 5 from Thursday, picks up the story of protagonist Sam Porter Bridges, a delivery man who lugs precariously balanced cargo across a post-apocalyptic Earth. We've only got four paragraphs here, so won't attempt to recap the – ahem – complex plot (Kojima's storylines and love of long cinematic sequences are the biggest source of "self-indulgence" accusations), but early signs point to a deeper, more varied experience in the moment-to-moment gameplay. And although people criticise them, Kojima's previous scripts have anticipated real-world events such as the rise of online misinformation and the Covid-19 pandemic with eerie accuracy. So maybe you shouldn't skip the cutscenes, acted by an all-star cast including Norman Reedus, Léa Seydoux and Elle Fanning.