WithDeath Stranding: Director’s Cutout, this fever dream of a game by Hideo Kojima is having a bit of a resurgence in popularity. That said, just because playersnow have the option to ride on a Buddy Bot, shoot lightning with the Maser Gun, and do sweet tricks off of ramps, theDirector’s Cutdoesn’t make the story ofDeath Strandingany easier to understand.
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So many of the characters inDeath Strandinghave all these interesting and mysterious aspects to them. But, sadly, with such a large cast and crazy plot, not all over these mysteries get solved, much less even addressed. This even includes Samantha America “Amelie” Strand, one of the main characters and someone who impacts the plot ofDeath Strandingin some pretty gigantic ways. In an attempt to make the narrative easier to comprehend, let’s talk about some of the aspects of this character people know little about so that her decisions in the story are a little more understandable
8The Meaning Of “Strand”
Right away let’s talk about the ending ofDeath Stranding(once again, spoilers ahead) and the interesting concepts it brings up (and will eventually address, hopefully). In particular, let’s talk about the scene with Sam and Amelie running (not walking, which is a big twist for this walking simulator) across Amelie’s beach after her horribleMario-based pun. During the whole ending scene, Amelie tells Sam the real origin of her name, in that the “Ame” is the French word for “soul”, while the second half of her name, “lie” literally means that her identity is a lie and that she’s actually a soul.
Again, this is told to the player in-game. But, what they may not know is that her last name (and Bridget’s), actually have a contextual meaning as well, as the word “Strand”, actually means “beach” in many Scandinavian languages.
It might seem obvious, but many people didn’t put together the fact that Amelie being the disconnected soul or Ka of Bridget Strand means that she never had an actual physical body for any part of the game. In reality, whenever she would “appear” in the real world during the story, this was actually just a well-made Chiral Hologram.
Thinking back on it now, some scenes don’t entirely make sense with that fact in mind, such as Higgs carrying Amelie on his shoulder after the big boss fight in Edge Knot City. Maybe it has something to do with his DOOMs abilities?Sadly, only Kojima truly knows the answer.
6Came Into Being While Bridget Was Under The Knife
But, if Amelie is Bridget Strand’s Ka or “soul”, then how can the two of them exist at the same time, with completely separate personalities? For example, Amelie is the Extinction Entity, but Bridget is not. And, when exactly did this body and soul separation happen?
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Well, when Bridget went in for surgery (when she was in her 20s) in relation to her uterine cancer, she had a literal out-of-body experience which turned out to be the creation of Amelie. Thinking about it now, it is sort of “on-brand” for Hideo Kojima that Bridget’s “daughter” (Amelie) is literally born dead (as a soul), and comes into existence during a surgery on her uterus. Motherhood and the “strands” that connect a mother and child play a big part inDeath Stranding’sstory, after all,and Kojima is known to pack his many trailerswith tons of hidden info.
5Bridget Killed Sam & Amelie Resurrected Him
Death Strandinghas a ton of narrative bombshells, almost too many to keep up with, but one of the biggest ones comes near the end of the story when Sam’s origin as a repatriate is explained. To make a long story short, Cliff Unger tried to escape with his infant son (who turns out to be Sam) to save him from a life as a bridge baby and was killed by Bridget Strand. But, accidentally, Bridget also shot the young infant, killing him as well.
Plagued with guilt, she had Amelie, who exists on “The Beach”, bring Sam back to life as a repatriate, and raised the child as her own adoptive son. This makes Sam the first person with DOOMs, the first resurrected human, and now with theDirector’s Cut,the first personto see this horrifying PT Easter Egg.
4She’s The One Who Started The Death Stranding
And, as it turns out, Bridget killing Sam and Amelie bringing him back is apparently what started the chain-reaction that was the Death Stranding, an eventthat turned the world into a desolate wasteland.Now, it’s not entirely clear if Sam’s revival is what “started” everything, since there are records of a void out happening before this, but it is assuredly what set the Death Stranding in motion at whatever point in the future.
Basically, bringing Sam back upset the balance of life and death, and the universe’s reaction to this was a lot more “drastic” than Amelie or Bridget were likely expecting.
3She Can Shapeshift Into Anyone She Wants
Amelie has quite a lot of supernatural abilities, given her existence as a soul, the sixth Extinction Entity, and as someone so closely connected with The Beach itself. But, one ability she has that isn’t ever really explained and is used pretty sparingly is her shapeshifting power. She shapeshifts into Higgs during a few different moments, confronting Sam “as” him. And, when Die-Hardman appears on Amelie’s beach, she shapeshifts into Bridget to confront him.
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Thinking about it now, who knows how many times she used this power over the course of the story to manipulate the events of the game since she could quite literally have been anyone at any time.
2She’s The One Who Gave Everyone DOOMs
Once Bridget and Amelie became a separate “Ka” and “Ba”, Amelie “became” the sixth Extinction Entity. And, when that happened, she started having constant nightmares of the apocalypse. In an attempt to find an answer or to understand these nightmares, Amelie used her Beach to give other people these nightmares, giving them DOOMs in the process.
So, Amelie and Bridget were the first ones with DOOMs, Sam got it from them, and all the other characters with it in the game are people that Amelie either willingly or randomly bestowed these horrifying nightmares on. It’s a shame that new DOOMs lore or even new DOOMs abilities for Sam weren’t added in theDirector’s Cutof the game,but it did add a fair amount of other stuff.
1Without Her, Higgs’ DOOMS Abilities Would Be Nothing
And lastly, how many people knew the Higgs actually doesn’t have a high DOOMs level? Yes, throughout the course of the game, it’s explained that he has level seven DOOMs and players can see he has plenty of power since he manipulates BTs and can summon Timefall, but this is all due to Amelie.
Higgs already had DOOMs before Amelie started using him, but it was relatively weak, as in not much stronger than Sam’s level two DOOMs. But, when Amelie corrupted Higgs and drove him insane so that he could end all life, something she was too afraid to do herself, Amelie also enhanced his DOOMs as well.
Death Strandingwas released on Jun 10, 2025, and is available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Playstation 5. The Director’s Cut ofDeath Strandingwas released on Jul 19, 2025, and is currently only available on Playstation 5.
