Death Stranding 2 Adds Pekora, Kojima's Favorite Hololive VTuber, as an NPC

Death Stranding 2 introduces Hololive VTuber Pekora as a Prepper NPC. Discover how she became part of the game and what other surprise cameos are on the way.

Death Stranding 2 New Cameos and More To Come!

Hololive VTuber Pekora Becomes a Prepper

Death Stranding 2 (DS2) expands its cast with the addition of Hololive VTuber Usada Pekora. Kojima Productions revealed on Twitter (X) on May 29 that Pekora will appear in the game as a Prepper—an NPC who lives in isolation.

Usada Pekora is a widely recognized Japanese VTuber under Hololive Production, part of the third generation known as "hololive fantasy." As of now, she ranks as the fourth most-subscribed Hololive VTuber, with over 2.7 million followers.

The announcement included a brief video showing Pekora greeting players as they leave the Prepper Shelter, a rugged bunker where these isolated characters reside. Her exact role in the game remains a mystery, with the post teasing: "What kind of Prepper could she be…? Find out after the game launches!"

This isn’t the first connection between Kojima Productions and Pekora—last year, she visited the studio. In August of last year, Hideo Kojima shared a photo on Twitter with Pekora, both striking a thumbs-up pose beside the studio’s iconic Ludens statue.

Pekora responded with a tweet, expressing gratitude for the experience. Fans are curious about how this meeting came to be, but thrilled to see her in-game. Kojima himself has long been a fan, frequently posting about watching her live streams. With Hololive’s huge global audience, this collaboration offers Kojima Productions a powerful way to reach new players.

More Celebrity Cameos to Come

DS2 is set to feature even more celebrity appearances, as Kojima confirmed during the latest episode of the KojiPro podcast. He revealed that many individuals were scanned for the game, but nearly half were cut due to storage limitations.

As translated by Genki Gamer, Kojima explained that most of the scanned personalities were Preppers, while others were prominent characters. Many also recorded voice lines. No official list of cameos has been released yet, so players will have to wait until launch to uncover them all.

This isn’t the first time celebrities have appeared in the Death Stranding series. The original game included several well-known figures: talk show host and comedian Conan O’Brien as "The Wandering MC," legendary horror manga artist Junji Ito as "The Engineer," video game journalist and The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley as "The Ludens Fan," and others.

With the game’s launch approaching, more details and additional cameos are expected to surface. Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is scheduled to release on June 26, 2025, exclusively for PlayStation 5. For the latest updates, explore our Death Stranding 2: On The Beach article below!