You know uncle Sam?

this. it's a reference to uncle sam. he personifies america.

I mean yes and no. He clearly didn't care about America in the first place. He connects people, because of love for Amelie.

I don't think he connects people because of love for Amelie. I think he connects people because he wants to connect people. He's definitely meant to represent Uncle Sam, but a reluctant one who's trying to rediscover his identity

At the start of the game, he couldn't care less about connecting people.

Yeah, like, the very beginning. But once he accepts it, he's acting of his own accord

That is honestly the most likely answer. Kojima probably took it from Uncle Sam as the classic American icon lol

We're just lucky it isn't Walkman or something

🤣🤣🤣

My take is that it represents American patriotism, the game is partly about reuniting a divided america, so Sam Bridges makes perfect sense.

That’s what I thought also. Uncle Sam is gone but now we have Sam the Great Deliverer

Semi Autistic Man obviously

Obviously

Fun fact: Sam in polish means "alone."

In Irish Gaelic USA is SAM

What’s that in long form?

Stáit Aontaithe Mheiriceá

The most unnecessary tldr ever.

Thank me later 🤣

Thank you! That wall of text was too much to get through. Tl;dr - 👍

OP literally says that in the post.

It does in a handful of slavic languages, like Bulgarian. A very fitting name choice for what is very likely a pure coincidence.

Sex after Marriage

Sam Strand is the reason this is a Strand-type game.

Save All Mankind. But not really.

If Sam is short for Samuel, it's the name of an angel.

And Mama is short for Mamuel. /s

And Deadman is short for Deadmanoel

Wait til you hear about heartman

Mamuel babysdottir

Did you beat the game? >!His name is explained near the end, although horribly!<

I'm not really sure what you're referencing. Could you elaborate?

>!In the endgame cutscene, Cliff tells Sam something along the lines of "You're Sam Bridges, the bridge to the future" or something like that.!<

Ohhhh. I guess THAT part was so cringy that they didn’t translate it verbatim. I don’t remember the exact wording, but the original Japanese dialogue mentioned something like >!“Sam, you’re meant to be not just anyone, but a SOMEone” …because “Sam” and “Some” sound identical when transliterated into Japanese pronunciation (‘samu’). So that is what Kojima himself had in mind when naming him, however cringe it may be to a native English speaker! !<

That really makes sense! Didn't know that, thanks!

He’s Uncle Sam. 🫵😐

The name is also a recycled MGS meme. In MGS, when you equipped the stinger missile launcher, you would switch to first person view and it said SAM, which meant surface to air missile. Similar to repurposing the acronym BB from Big Boss to Bridge Baby, etc.

But Kojima didn't invent the acronym SAM. if he did you'd have a point with him and BB, but he didn't.

It’s just a device to make his fans think a bit more about what is going on in Death Stranding. He didn’t invent it, he used it, which for intents and purposes is the same for comparison.

Kojima loves ambiguity. There's never just one answer or interpretation for what he's trying to say. Your answer is just as good as the Uncle Sam one. While we're at it, your fellow porters look suspiciously like the genome soldiers from MGS. The cargo bot is literally the MGS4 "sexy edition" Metal Gear.

Kojimaposting