Death Stranding: 26 Easter Eggs, Secrets & References You Must Find

8. Solid Snake

If you're unsuccessful in your attempts to stealthily sneak past the Mules, the demented rogue porters who want to steal your cargo, you might get a codec call from Die-Hardman, who will memorably quip, "If you were a spy on a mission, you would've failed," before noting that this isn't the case, so you're fine.

Die-Hardman is clearly calling back to Hideo Kojima's espionage-laden past in the Metal Gear Solid franchise.

Even though the MGS games featured only a small number of moments where being spotted resulted in a Game Over - outside of European Extreme difficulty, anyway - stealth had a far greater emphasis than it does in Death Stranding's starker, more isolated world.