A Step Ahead
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is the latest release from Kojima Productions, the direct sequel to the original game, Death Stranding. It was released back in 2019 to a largely mixed reception, but I personally loved it. With its unique gameplay structure and bizarre world, I never thought I needed a sequel; it felt complete in all the right ways. Death Stranding stood alone as the most unique AAA experience I’ve played in a long time, but it felt like a unique experience that didn’t need continuation. Boy, was I wrong.
Death Stranding 2 takes place not too long after the events of the first game. You once again take control of Sam Porter Bridges, as he has left the UCA to live a quiet life with his BB, Lou. While I won’t be spoiling specific story details in this review, I think it’s important to mention, we are no longer in America. Instead, we find ourselves in Mexico before circumstances take Sam to Australia to continue expanding the chiral network.
The core loop of Death Stranding 2 is built on the foundation of its predecessor; you are effectively a postman in a post-apocalyptic world. You find lost cargo or pick up orders and deliver items to their destination all while expanding the chiral network, which is essentially a version of the internet that is even more creepy, weird, and confusing, but people use it to connect and collaborate. It is what brings everyone together instead of tearing each other down.
While your task remains largely the same, your means to go about this task have greatly expanded. Sure, you still stack those packages high on your back, all while carefully balancing, but you also don’t have to. In Death Stranding 2, the pacing of unlocks is much improved, with you receiving access to a vehicle within just the first hour or two of gameplay. Initially, you’ll unlock the tri-cruiser, a three-wheeled bike, allowing you to get around much quicker, pick up packages on the go, and even engage in combat. However, eventually you’ll unlock the off-roader, a truck-like vehicle allowing you to carry much more cargo, upgrade it with turrets, a cargo retriever, and more; it’s incredible.
Vehicles were in the first game, but they were far less useful and often made your job harder. This time around, using vehicles is my favourite way to play, being able to pick up ten orders with hundreds of kilos of cargo and completing all those orders in the time it would take me to walk one delivery to its destination will never get old.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy walking through this beautiful world; I really do. Reaching the crest of a hill just as the sun rises and a licensed music track plays feels like the heart and soul of everything the Death Stranding franchise is all about. However, the more deliveries you do, the higher your connection level becomes with the recipient. Increasing this connection level will give you access to more tools and weapons. Ranging from better boots, gloves, and exo-suits to tranquilizer rifles, blood boomerangs, and more. To get the best upgrades requires time and efficiency, which is why I loved using the pick-up off-roader, combined with an exo-suit that allows me to carry more cargo. Maxing the rate of deliveries and thus taking full advantage of the improved pacing for upgrades is the way to play this game.
So, why are these upgrades so important? Well, in Death Stranding 2, there is much more of a focus on combat and stealth, with both systems being massively improved. Of course, you still face the threat of BTs, but this time they have evolved. You’ll still come across your standard BTs that can’t see you but can hear you, but now they are accompanied by Watchers. These creatures are slightly bigger and can see you from quite a distance. If they catch you, it will cause a void out, which can happen any time a living person dies and decays. Void outs are massive explosions that will leave a physical crater in your world at the spot where you die to any BT variant. Thankfully, with all the new weapons and upgrades, you can get now deal with BTs in multiple ways.
Starting with the good’ ol blood grenade or perhaps the new blood boomerang, but even firearms, once you get access to the ones that use MP bullets, will do significant damage to all types of BTs. The shotgun is my favourite weapon, with its grenade launcher having an alternate firing mode. These MP bullet weapons also don’t kill but only knock out human enemies, but that’s a good thing since you don’t want to be going around causing void outs as you are trying to get various materials from an enemy encampment. One trick that I discovered by accident is that if you have a coffin and a dead body, you can use the coffin to pull the body into the ground and avoid the void out.
This change allows you to have the fun of gunplay without the fear of unwanted consequences, something which really turned players off from the first Death Stranding. Speaking of the gunplay, while it’s like the first game, it feels much snappier and responsive, even if it doesn’t get anywhere near the free-flowing Metal Gear Solid 5. Given that Sam isn’t a soldier in the same ways as Snake, shooting feels considerably better and makes you want to engage in combat instead of being dragged into it.
Metal Gear Solid 5’s influence isn’t just felt with the gunplay, either with the much-expanded stealth gameplay of Death Stranding 2. Sure, you aren’t hiding in a box or on the side of a horse, but Sam does have some tricks up his sleeve. Firstly, his newfound ability to remove his backpack not only protects cargo from enemy damage but also makes him easier to hide. Of course, you can hide in tall grass, a usual standard for most games these days, but if you don’t have anything nearby by there is another way to hide. Stealth Hologrenades are one of my personal favourite tools in Death Stranding 2. Throwing them will create a rock formation that you can use to hide behind or even inside of (assuming an enemy doesn’t see you enter these fake rocks). They aren’t the only useful tool for Stealth, either; as you also have Dollman, Sam’s trusty companion for this adventure across Australia. Dollman has many uses; not only does he warn you of incoming attacks or entertain you through comic relief, but he can also be launched into the air, using him as a mobile watchtower of sorts to survey surroundings and mark enemies.
I could continue speaking about all the new tools and weapons for days, but then we’d be here forever. Just know that Death Stranding 2 has a litany of options to suit a range of playstyles, enhancing combat, stealth, and even traversal from the foundations set in the original Death Stranding. All in all, nearly every facet of this game has seen significant improvements that make it a more action-oriented experience while still maintaining its well-established identity.
Now, I must mention boss fights because they really shine here in Death Stranding 2. Without spoilers, the encounters in Nirvana, an odd location you’ll be summoned to, are a massive highlight, each one having its own unique twist on the general combat gameplay. From putting out fires to the ability to jump higher and more, these encounters immediately grab the attention and offer a nice change of pace.
The same is also true of the BT Bosses and Ghost Mech fights, which can feel very Metal Gear at times, and not in a bad way. Admittedly, these boss fights are not the hardest by any means, but they can be a challenge if you go into them under-equipped. However, I don’t think these fights were supposed to be a challenge since combat isn’t what Death Stranding is largely about, even if it does have a bigger focus in this sequel. At its core, Death Stranding 2, just like its predecessor, is about human connection; the combat and more specifically the boss battles serve as a spectacle to help get the narrative across.
Speaking of the narrative, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach delivers what I would say is probably the best writing and story of Hideo Kojima’s career so far. Surpassing my previous favourite writing and story from Kojima, that being Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Perhaps the reason I love this story so much is the way that it connects to me personally and the challenges I have faced in life. For a wonderfully weird and deeply eccentric game, Death Stranding 2 is also the most relatable game I have ever played.
However, not all the praise can be on just Kojima for this; a story is only as good as those who bring it to life. The entire cast of Death Stranding 2 knocked their performances out of the park here. From Norman Reedus as the stoic Sam Porter Bridges, where he added an emotional depth to the character that I didn’t think was possible. To everyone’s favourite video game actor, Troy Baker, as the enigmatic Higgs, who is as evil and twisted as ever. I’d say that Troy Baker put in a career-best performance here, something I don’t say lightly after last year’s Indiana Jones and The Great Circle.
Of course, they weren’t the only ones. Lea Seydoux shines as Fragile once again and nearly had me in tears a few times. Then we have the inclusion of Elle Fanning as the mysterious badass, Tomorrow. The range Fanning shows with this performance is outstanding, and many of the scenes as you return to your base to rest are often hilarious and a joy to experience. One moment, Tomorrow has a childlike curiosity and playfulness, then she turns into a badass when it’s most required.
I haven’t even mentioned Shioli Kutsuna as Rainy, or Fatih Akin as Dollman, both of whom I fell in love with. They provide some of the most emotionally heavy moments of the game, while also providing moments of levity and fun. Rainy, for example, is absolutely charming, both as a positive force the game benefits from, but also in the moments where her abilities shine. Death Stranding 2 might have the best ensemble cast in terms of quality of performances that I’ve ever seen in a video game. That quality is obviously massively helped by the game’s outstanding presentation and motion capture.
From the moment I started playing, I was blown away by the visuals, from environments that look life like, down to the finer details of character faces. Death Stranding 2 is the best-looking game of 2025 thus far, and it will be extremely hard to beat. Given that even this level of quality is found on a base-level PS5, it is outstanding what the Decima Engine is capable of.
The quality of audio only enhances the experience even further. Footsteps, falling rocks, and even the game’s extreme weather events, such as floods and earthquakes, all contribute to what I would say is the most immersive audio experience I’ve had in gaming. This is helped even further by the soundtrack created with a combination of tracks from Ludvig Forssell and WoodKid. Not only is the music itself amazing, fitting the world of Death Stranding perfectly and tonally matching the emotions players should be feeling in pivotal moments. The music reacts to the player; if you walk one way and I walk another, the game’s original score will adapt, sounding different. Furthermore, we once again have a great selection of licensed tracks for particular moments in Death Stranding 2, including the return of Chvrches and Low Roar, who famously made music for the first game.
The final major component of Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is the multiplayer. For those that don’t know, as you explore and make your deliveries connecting to the chiral network, you’ll be helped by other players. Though if you’re new to Death Stranding, since you can play this game without playing the first, thanks to a handy recap available in the menu, it might not be in the way you expect. You’ll never actually see another player, but what you do see is the paths they’ve taken and structures they’ve left behind. If you find a structure that helps you on your journey, you can leave likes for the player, and while it doesn’t do much in terms of gameplay, seeing thousands of likes knowing you’ve helped fellow porters is great.
Ultimately, I was a fan of Death Stranding, but I was sceptical about Death Stranding 2: On The Beach. I just wasn’t sure the original needed a sequel after being such a unique AAA experience in a time where we don’t see much originality anymore. Thankfully, I was wrong, and Kojima Productions has delivered one of the best sequels of all time. While it may not have the complete originality of the first game, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is a better game in every way possible.
Developer - Kojima Productions
Publisher - Sony Interactive Entertainment
Released - June 26th, 2025.
Available On - PS5
Rated - (M) Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Strong Language, Violence
Platform Reviewed - PS5
Review Access - Game was purchased for the purpose of this review.
I’m Jordan I have a background in game design and am deeply passionate about accessibility in gaming. My favourite games/franchises include Shenmue, Red Dead Redemption 2, Plague Tale: Requiem, Metal Gear Solid 3, Yakuza, Splinter Cell, and Assassin’s Creed.