History Fridge / DeathStranding

** Snake is injected with nanomachines that make him much tougher than a regular human. Sam on the other hand is physically delicate, even gripping his hand will bruise his skin. He also needs regular rest and his stamina has to be managed either by sleeping or drinking energy drinks. The nanomachines speed up Snake's aging process, and his fear of and acceptance of getting old and dying are a central part of VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4. Sam on the other hand can't die for any reason other than old age, despite multiple suicide attempts.

* Speaking of ringtones, Die-Hardman's ringtone sounds like the first part of "London Bridge is Falling Down".

* Throughout the game, despite being a helpful and encouraging boss, Die-Hardman seems somewhat shady and trustworthy, even for a man in a skull mask. It's only when you watch the final cutscenes that you realise he's been keeping an emotional distance from Sam out of guilt for killing his father, Cliff.

** Sam is tasked with the ''delivery'' of packages, which help people in rebuilding their settlements, in a way helping them be reborn themselves.

** In various Germanic language "Strand" means "beach", with the Beach being the equivalent of the afterlife for characters.

** "Strand" also means "thread", and [=BTs=] have strands connected to them that allow them to exist in the world of the living.

* Many people speculated after the first trailer that Sam might be ex-military due to the Q-pid looking like dog tags. As it turns out, the Q-pid is what allows settlements to joint the chiral network, in turn joining the UCA. [[spoiler: As it turns out, Sam was never a soldier to begin with. But he is related to someone who ''was'': Cliff, one of the antagonists, and Sam's father. It's openly said by him that he was only good at dividing people (makes sense, as a soldier separates people simply by killing them), while Sam brings them together. The item associated with Cliff is his dog tags, a symbol of his military service and his metaphorical nature as a divider; while Sam's is the Q-pid, witch looks very similar, but ''actively'' serves an opposite purpose.]]

** Snake is injected with nanomachines that make him much tougher than a regular human. Sam on the other hand is physically delicate, even gripping his hand will bruise his skin. He also needs regular rest and his stamina has to be managed either by sleeping or drinking energy drinks. The nanomachines speed up Snake's aging process, and his fear of and acceptance of getting old and dying are a central part of [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4]]. Sam on the other hand can't die for any reason other than old age, despite multiple suicide attempts.

** In various Germanic language "Strand" means "beach", with the Beach being the equivalent of the afterlife for characers.

** The rope Sam carries is called a "strand", it has his blood woven into it, which helps to identify him to the scanners in knot cities and prepper shelters.

* Likely unintentional, but the word "Sam" means "alone" in multiple slavic languages.

** Cliff as "the Father". Specifically, he is Sam's father, while having once served under Bridget.
** Higgs as "the Son". This seems like the weakest equivalent, as he and Cliff are not connected at all; but Higgs serves the Final Extinction Entity, and comes into direct conflict with Sam, whose connections to Cliff and Amelie make him a "rival Son" of sorts to Higgs, TheAntiChrist.
** Amelie as "the Holy Spirit". She is the final Extinction Entity, and while people have seen her via hologram, none of those people have ''met'' her or come in physical contact with her. Powerful and untouchable--words that can as easily describe God ''or'' Amelie.

** Anybody who has delved deep into analyzing ''[[VideoGame/SilentHills P.T.]]'' has undoubtedly found this use of color in that game's final puzzle/set of loops: the flashlight changing between red, blue, green, and yellow at random. Colors that match up with the logos of both [=PlayStation=] (Sony) and Microsoft. Judging by the platform ''DS'' was first released on, it was probably the former.

** After his death in the prologue, Sam wakes up to find a crying infant beside him. He cradles the infant, [[ManlyTears trying not to completely break down himself]]...but he stops when the infant suddenly disappears from his hands. [[spoiler:In Episode 14: "Lou", Sam opens the pod to free the dying Lou, and tries to resuscitate her. When he thinks the child has died, he cradles the infant in the same way, [[ManlyTears fighting back tears]]...but is suddenly snapped out of it by Lou coming to and babbling.]]
** The scene of the dying Bridget falling out of her bed and crawling toward a terrified Sam becomes more chilling [[spoiler:with a skull mask covering her face, making her crawl toward Sam more intimidating]].

** The cutscene following Sam's final battle against Cliff, and Cliff's final moments with Sam during the memory of their deaths.
*** Sam finds Cliff leaning against a fallen tree, and chooses to approach him. [[spoiler:When the memory has John aim at Cliff--who's now leaning against his wife's hospital bed--Sam immediately gets between them.]] Both times, Sam physically lowers himself to Cliff's level, of his own volition.

*** "They told me your name is Sam Porter... But you're Sam Bridges. My bridge to the future." This line seems out of nowhere, especially from a soul who had previously attacked Sam out of instinct. [[spoiler:In true Kojima fashion, it's revealed to be a metaphor for Cliff's connection to Sam: Cliff as the father, Sam as his son (or "bridge").]]

** Obviously, the differences between Snake and [[{{protagonist}} Sam]]. Whereas Snake is a soldier, Sam is an ActionSurvivor deliveryman. Snake can afford to use lethal force against hostiles, and people who played as him didn't have to deal with the resulting corpses aside of hiding them. But Sam is actively discouraged from killing humans. Sure, he can, but doing so can have dire consequences--consequences that ''Death Stranding'' actively confronts the players with, as killing creates [=BTs=] and leaves behind corpses that have to be burned properly at incinerators. Otherwise, the player will soon find their gameplay loop further hampered.