Noshir Dalal is the voice actor for Charles Khan, the person you see in a waystation in the snowy mountains. His other big video game role was Charles Smith of Red Dead Redemption 2, who is introduced in the game's prologue set on a snowy mountain range.
It's probably no coincidence that the "Higgs" chapter ends with superstar video game voice actor Troy Baker, famous for the gun-toting protagonists of Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us, having a greatly mismatched final fight, in Baker's favour: his character, Higgs Monaghan, shooting wildly at Sam with a machine gun, while Sam himself is armed only with his fists, passing junk and a rope.
Author's Saving Throw: After the "An Asexual World" journal entry received criticism for falling into common stereotypes and misconceptions of Asexuality (the entry is an in-universe scientific article theorizing that people have become disinterested in sex and emotional connections because of the current shape of the world), the Director's Cut added a footnote with an apology statement that scrutinizes the article and notes that the theory it presents is controversial and discriminatory just like it was received in real life.
Awesome, Dear Boy: Inviting Lindsay Wagner to E3 is a bit like Jamie Lee Curtis crashing Game Grumps: an accurate representation of how a mom acts around their kid's friends. She admitted she had zero interest in appearing in video games due to their reputation for violence, but she read up on Kojima and was jazzed by his three-and-a-half hour pitch.
Colbert Bump: The E3 2016 trailer gave one to Low Roar for their song "I'll Keep Coming".
Creator Backlash: A minor case, but shortly after the "Director's Cut" Updated Re Release was announced, Kojima expressed annoyance with the subtitle, fully aware that "Director's Cut" has a very loaded expectation that doesn't align with what the re-release actually is (usually, a "director's cut" implies it's adding back content cut from the director's original vision that went unrealized in a compromised initial release, except Death Stranding was produced by Kojima's own studio and he was in full creative control — the re-release mostly just adds some bonus gameplay goodies and quality-of-life updates). Kojima implicitly pins this title as the result of publishers, and that if it were up to him, he would've called it a "Director's Plus" edition.
Defictionalization: The BRIDGES cap and shoulder patches are officially marketed by Kojima Productions, although third-party patch makers also make them.
Pretty much most of the big names that were slated to make Silent Hills are involved in this game, which alongside Norman Reedus and Guillermo del Toro mentioned above there's also horror mangaka Junji Ito who provided his likeness as a cameo. Additionally, most of the Japanese dub's cast are Metal Gear veterans. Artist Yoji Shinkawa, who has worked as Kojima go-to character and mech designer since Metal Gear Solid, fills in the same role on this project too. Ludvig Forssell returns as the composer after working with Kojima on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
The Latin American Spanish dub is basically a reunion from many of the voice casts from both Dragon Ball and Attack on Titan's animated adaptations, like Sam's Alfredo Gabriel Basurto (Levi in AOT), Hardman's Gerardo Reyero (Kenny Ackerman in AOT and Frieza in DB), Heartman's José Antonio Macías (Marlo Freudenberg in AOT), Deadman's Pedro D'Aguillón Jr. (Tao Pai Pai, Ninja Murasaki and Sorbet in DB and Rod Reiss in AOT), The Engineer's Luis Daniel Ramírez (adult Yajirobe and adult Krillin in some episodes in DB), Cliff's Carlos Segundo (Keith Shadis in AOT, and Piccolo and Mr. Popo in DB), and many others to list here.
Mads Mikkelsen has admitted in the past that he's at the very least a casual gamer, and largely considers Kojima to be "the master" of the craft. When Kojima approached him for the role, he didn't even have to consider it. The relationship also goes both ways, as Kojima considers Mikkelsen to be the greatest actor alive and it was a dream come true to work with him.
Kojima stated he was a fan of The Bionic Woman since he was 13, and Lindsay Wagner was his first choice for the role she plays.
Bring Me the Horizon frontman Oli Sykes has been very open with his love of Metal Gear Solid and Kojima, even naming a song off of their album Sempiternal "Shadow Moses" in tribute. The band later contributed the single "Ludens" to Death Stranding's soundtrack.
Referenced by...: In episode 7 of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Future Ramona is shown transporting packages strapped to her back in a manner similar to the cargo Sam Porter Bridges delivers.
Release Date Change: A minor example but the game's PC port. It was suppose to come out on June 2nd 2020 but was delayed to July 14th due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spoiled by the Cast List: Troy Baker returning in Death Stranding 2, as confirmed by the trailer cast list, immediately made people jump to the conclusion that Higgs is going to come back, this time as the red-masked character.
Troubled Production: The exact extent isn't known, but Kojima has confirmed that the SAG-AFTRA voice actor strike caused delays in the game's production. This was a contributing factor to the studio's lengthy silence after initially announcing the game.
Keanu Reeves was one of the people who was considered to be in the role of Cliff, but Kojima had made up his mind on having it be Mads Mikkelsen.
Stefanie Joosten, Quiet's voice actress in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, was initially approached by Kojima to voice Fragile. He eventually cast Léa Seydoux in the role instead without notifying Joosten herself.
The "Art of Death Stranding" artbook has shown concept art of things that didn't make it:
The game was far more futuristic and sci-fi, instead of the 20 Minutes into the Future setting we've got.
It's possible Sam would be a smoker, since he's shown with a cigarette in one concept art.
There was a cut car based on a classic hot rod with a mounted turret attached to it. This concept seems to be re-used for the Director's Cut "Fragile circuit" mode, but the car that made it into that game lacks any offensive capabilities. Stationary turrets similar to the ones on the concept art were added to MULE camps in the same re-release.
A grenade that would deploy a hologram was considered but ended up cut.
A BT that looked like a spider was considered, but it was deemed "unconvincing"
The hospital-turned-garage Mama would operate from was on the edge of a voidout crater, with half of the building collapsed.
MULEs would "crucify" porters that got into their territory. There's concept art of a porter suit nailed to a rudimentary cross, with porter boots hanging from it and a neon sign that said "DESTROY BRIDGES" above. It's unclear if this is a person or just a suit the MULEs stole.
There was a MULE camp planned that was in an abandoned shipyard, with containers used as storage and living quarters.
Large BTs were supposed to be decayed marine mammals like whales, with the decayed flesh "melting" off a skeleton, making the creature quadruped.
At some point in development, there was a cut Knot City called Hound City, with the concept art of the sign making it into the art book. The sign gave off a Las Vegas-esque vibe, which might be a clue as to what city it was supposed to represent and where on the map it was supposed to be placed.
Non-trope trivia
Death Stranding is the first original game franchise Kojima worked on in 13 years (Boktai), and the first non-Metal Gear game he has directed in 22 years (Policenauts).
This is also the first Kojima game since Metal Gear Solid with other dubs besides either English or Japanese, and also the very first game dubbed to Latin American Spanish.note It should be noted, however, that the inclusion of this dub wasn't Kojima's idea, but Sony's, in order boost sales in that region. Also, this is not the first Kojima game with a Latin American Spanish translation, as Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain had Latin American Spanish subtitles.
According to this interview, Death Stranding is Tommie Earl Jenkins's first foray into motion capture. His usual fare is TV and movie acting, and he lampshades how jarring his new work environment was, wearing the "onesies and Velcro balls" suit usually associated with mocapping, saying that it wasn't his most attractive look.
, Die-Hardman's confession to Sam about his role in Cliff's death was all done in one take.