Death Stranding 2 has some big shoes to fill. With those shoes it not only has to walk the same lengths as its beloved predecessor, but walk further too. It must make the same strides, but in new and exciting ways. It’s a hard thing to live up to! Thankfully Kojima Productions has pulled it off, though not without a few stumbles and missteps along the way.
For those who don’t know, Death Stranding 2 is a third-person action game in which you must travel vast distances, delivering packages to scattered survivors of the Death Stranding – an extinction event which plagued the world with perilous BTs. You, as Sam Porter Bridges, must connect this world on the brink via an experience that champions the saying “it’s about the journey, not the destination” better than any other series out there.
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In Death Stranding 2, that core established by the original remains the focus, refreshed through new gadgets, setting, and a riveting new chapter in Sam’s story. The vast majority of your time is spent traveling from shelter to shelter, gradually improving your equipment and building rapport with those around you. It’s a borderline relaxing endeavor! Evening after evening I slapped on the in-game music player and just spaced out while driving my custom buggy around.
However a drastic shift in messaging in Death Stranding 2 results in an overall more exciting experience than before. In Death Stranding 1, the game orbited the idea of the rope, connecting people together. In Death Stranding 2, the stick is king. Enemies come packing an increasingly deadly arsenal of weapons, and you in turn must figure out which weapons of your own are best suited to the task of taking them down.
A great highlight for me and a perfect example of this was the EX Capture grenades. Rather than the old EX grenades that made BTs flee when hit, these are essentially pokeballs that allow you to capture Chaser BTs when at low health. You can then whip them out in future BT fights. This is the sort of thing I wanted from Death Stranding 2, a fun expansion on previous ideas that push the experience further, with bold innovations on the prior game.
There’s a funny air of self reverence in Death Stranding 2. | Image credit: VG247
I really felt the DNA of Metal Gear Solid V in Death Stranding 2. The game is so generous when giving you new tools to play around with, and I found myself constantly surprised with the wacky things you can do with each of them. You can, if you want, use a basic assault rifle the entire way through. The game lets you do that, no questions asked. But experimenting with the bola gun, or the smoke grenades, or the tranq rifle offers unique and invigorating tools to your tool belt.
It was when I was sledding down a massive mountain with an unlockable gadget I was never forced to use that I concluded that there is a wrong way to play Death Stranding 2. You can just ride your bike everywhere, whip out the rifle when you have to and tune out to a podcast. But by doing that you’re not enveloping yourself in all the sticks the game gives you. These sticks when stacked together form the foundation onto which a wonderful game is perched upon.
There’s a wide world to travel across, and on occasion, do sick jumps over. | Image credit: VG247
Advancements have been applied to the world itself, one of my favourite twists to the formula. The environment can turn against Sam, adding another layer of challenge to each trip across the map. Before a river could be easily surmounted with the clever use of a ladder, and while you can still do that, rivers can flood now! The waters rise, wiping out constructs near the bed. Maybe a quake will send boulders rolling down a mountain, maybe fire will rain from the sky setting shrubbery alight and blocking your path.
This is brilliant as it forces you to take potential narrative disasters into account before you head off on a mission. Sure, going up the East side of a mountain may be the fastest route, but if an avalanche hits you’ve got to quickly get out of the way or risk dying, losing all your carried cargo in the process.
Freedom is the glue that keeps the whole thing exciting, a game made to consider any approach a player might conceive when completing a delivery. Regardless of how you play, a stealthy infiltrator that nicks loot from enemy camps without being seen, a gung ho combatant looking for a fight, or a postman glued to his car. It all works, and all feels fulfilling.
Some sticks are more dangerous than others… | Image credit: VG247
The joy of community effort remains strong in Death Stranding 2. There’s nothing quite like spending an hour gathering materials for a stretch of road, finally building it, and seeing a flood of likes from other players wash over your UI. Going back to prior areas and finding generators, ziplines, watch towers, postboxes, and more dot the surroundings make an often lonely game feel bustling. Other players make their own journeys out of sight, but not out of mind.
I do wish there were more new constructs available here though. Many big projects you unlock are returning from the original game, and while I understand that pushing too many of these could totally rid the deliveries of their sense of peril, why not make the most of the new setting with some variations? In terms of gameplay this game can feel like a bolt on to Death Stranding, rather than a sequel.
I was also torn on the foes you find during your time with Death Stranding 2. There is a new antagonistic faction, and with them come a handful of new enemies which force you to take a more combative approach to missions in which they’re present. I think visually these are some of the coolest looking designs we’ve seen in a Kojima game since the Cobra Unit in Metal Gear Solid 3. Crimson red futuristic hazards you can’t hope to beat unscathed.
But when it comes to the most climactic moments, there’s less variety than I had hoped. I can’t write about it at length due to spoilers, but Kojima seemed content to re-use a lot, pulling from earlier in the game or from his prior works.
Hello again, mysterious samurai. | Image credit: VG247
Now for the story. As you’d expect it’s a wild ride, but in many ways Kojima’s maturing shines through in Death Stranding 2. The story has you travel across Mexico and Australia, linking up the continent to the chiral network to expand the reach of APAS. This digital system has essentially automated porting work in the US, but Sam and porters like him are required to reach where its digital tendrils can’t reach.
Narratively Death Stranding 2 touches on a lot of heavy topics: unwanted expansion from foreign governments, environmental disasters, the role of technology and its impact on those who’d still rather handle tasks with a human touch. To name anything else would spoil a lot of surprise, and Death Stranding 2 has reinforced my belief that experiencing a Kojima story is arguably the best part of playing any of his games for the first time.
I can say that it’s a heavy story, bold in its direction and not afraid of throwing the odd gut punch here and there. The folks at Kojima Productions have managed to create a game that reflects its themes throughout the gameplay in a way that enhances both aspects of the game. I’d argue it’s probably a more compelling tale than what was present in Death Stranding, thanks in part to the extended cast of crewmates Sam travels with throughout.
Speaking of, while every actor does a great job in Death Stranding 2, a special shout out goes to George Miller! I didn’t expect it going in, but he’s fantastic in his role as Tarman. Not the most bombastic of people, but a real solid supporting character that adds a lot to every scene he’s in. Troy Baker too, deserves his flowers. Higgs is outstanding, entertaining, and a fantastic character of contrast. Like a guitar solo in the middle of a string quartet.
Shout out to George Miller! | Image credit: VG247
Ultimately, playing through Death Stranding 2 was an emotional and utterly enjoyable experience, full of thrills and impossible to put down during its bigger moments. My only negative feeling towards it is also unfortunately a big one, that I wish Kojima Productions went further in evolving this sequel from the original. When the story goes to such an extent to explore new grounds, it’s kind of a shame the gameplay feels the need to play it safe.