The Red Samurai is one of the most confusing elements of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. This silent, red-armored mech appears throughout the story to assist Sam during crucial moments, usually saving his life, and then vanishes into the air without even saying goodbye. Someone who appears for the first time in front of you helps you, and then instantly disappears. This scenario has led most of the scratch their heads, “Who is the Red Samurai in Death Stranding 2?”
From the first appearance to the last showdown, many players including me had no idea who was really behind the mask. This story part is full of misdirection, emotional subtext, and surprise reveals, and by the time it’s over, it’s clear the Red Samurai had much more up his sleeves than what appears. This guide explains who the Red Samurai really is, and when control shifts between characters.
Warning: There are spoilers for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach below. You can leave here if you want to experience everything yourself.
The Red Samurai’s First Appearance
The Red Samurai for the first time shows during Sam’s early journey through Mexico, shortly after Lou’s death. Sam is ambushed by a squad of Ghost Mechs, enemies linked to the Beach and controlled by Higgs. Right when things look grim, a big, red-suited figure enters the scene and quickly destroys the Mechs with a katana, saves Sam before vanishing again without any talk.
From that point on, the Red Samurai continues to appear during crucial battle moments when Sam is in a tough situation, always on his side, and every time without revealing its identity. The mech doesn’t speak, doesn’t show emotion, but knows when and where to intervene, acting more like a guardian than a random AI. The way it appears, fights, and disappears gives it an almost supernatural quality, and naturally, players began to speculate.
The design of this red warrior itself has an Odradek scanner in face’s place, and during combat, you can hear faint baby laughter and the same lullaby sound from Sam’s old BB unit. These clues point in different directions, and for most of the game, it’s not clear if the Red Samurai is being controlled by an ally, an enemy, or someone else.
Deadman is the Red Samurai Controlling It
As the story progresses, it is revealed that the Deadman’s Ka (soul) controls Red Samurai, with his actual body (Ha) inside the suit. Before his death, Deadman had been experimenting with different ways to exist between the Beach and the world of the living. Because he (Frankenstein’s Monster) was born from artificial means and made of donor organs, he discovered his multiple personal Beaches and could still influence the living world even after dying.
That’s where the Red Samurai comes into play. Before his death, Deadman constructed the mech as a vessel. Using the same kind of control powers that Higgs describes throughout the game, Deadman can puppet the Red Samurai from the Beach, thus using it to protect Sam as he continues his journey.
The reason it uses a BB-like lullaby and makes baby sounds is because Deadman equipped elements from BB tech, likely as a calming mechanism for Sam, or to make it feel familiar. It’s subtle, but it tracks with his history of caring for Lou and his deep knowledge of BB units. The Odradek face is another strong link to Deadman, which ties back to his work and connection to the scanning technology in the original Death Stranding.
So for most of the game, the Red Samurai is Deadman’s posthumous way to stay involved. He can’t speak through it, but his presence is clearly noticeable the way it protects Sam and the symbols built into the mech.
Higgs Takes Over the Suit in the Later Game
Later in the Death Stranding 2 story, after you get clear that Deadman is behind the mech, there comes a shift and twist. During a battle with Higgs, the Red Samurai appears again but something’s different this time. The tone, the movement, the aggression is off.
That’s when Higgs reveals he has been watching and studying the Red Samurai. During the fight, he says, “Son of a bitch is just like me,” which hints that someone else was also using puppeteer-style powers from the Beach. At some point later on, Higgs takes control of the mech, pushes Deadman out of the equation. It leads to one of the game’s biggest twists: Higgs pretends to still be Deadman inside the mech. He uses holograms to show Deadman’s face, mimics his behavior, and manipulates Sam to let him think that the Red Samurai is still a trusted ally even as Higgs uses it to move pieces into place for his own endgame.
The reason to go through all the trouble is because Higgs needs Sam to bring down APAC, the organization using fear and tech to control the remaining human population. APAC uses Higgs and the Ghost Mechs as a threat to justify their grip on power, and Higgs plays along until it’s time to take over. By letting Sam “win” against APAC, Higgs clears the way for what he wants: the Last Stranding — a final, irreversible extinction event that completely ends the cycle of life and death. So, I would say that the Red Samurai becomes a tool in Higgs’ plan.
The Mech Suit Itself
Based on logs and in-lab visuals, it gives hints that Deadman built the mech himself, probably with Heartman’s input. It’s designed to be controlled from the Beach, using a similar link to what Heartman and Deadman established previously in the game, where Deadman temporarily took over Heartman’s body during his 21-minute heart stops.
It’s powered by chiralium and embedded with scanning and mobility tools, along with built-in BB-calming mechanisms. The Odradek functions both as a scanner and a mask. The important part here is that the suit is a vessel, not a character. It doesn’t have a personality of its own, but it only reflects who controls it. That’s why the Red Samurai is different once Higgs takes over, even if you don’t realize it at first.
In the end, what makes the Red Samurai reveal hit so hard is how Kojima manipulates your expectations. From the soothing BB sounds to the look of the mech, all signs point toward Lou. But that would have been too straightforward. Instead, Kojima gives a fan-favorite character, Deadman, one of the most powerful arcs in the game. He doesn’t only guide Sam. He saves him and fights for him, even in death. The Red Samurai is Deadman’s final form—a red-armored guardian angel, operating from the other side.
