When the original Death Stranding comes up in conversation, you can count on someone citing its tedious writing, pace-destroying exposition dumps, and reckless use of unexplained proper nouns as the biggest hurdle to enjoying it. Fair enough, but I submit that nothing sucked more in Death Stranding 1 than the menus.
Kojima’s first apocalyptic hiking sim had dozens of tiny annoyances that chipped away at my patience over two playthroughs totaling over 100 hours: Holding X to confirm every time Sam made the slightest cargo adjustment, navigating three layers of menus to recycle used-up grenades, plotting routes on an unhelpful map, the laborious process of emptying Sam’s backpack. I can feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about it.
Thankfully, I’m finding Death Stranding 2 to be a sequel in the best way possible—targeting my list of “this better be better” demands and satisfying almost every one of them. My first two hours have been full of little quality-of-life discoveries that have me saying “hell yeah” to myself in a hushed tone. If you played the first game a ton, maybe they’ll also excite you.
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Cargo shortcuts!
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
Yes, I’m telling you the best new feature in Death Stranding 2 is six buttons in a radial menu. Holding up on the d-pad brings a bunch of handy cargo shortcuts that cut out a lot of menu time, the most important being “Auto-Arrange Cargo.” Balancing Sam’s cargo load now takes three seconds, but you can still enter the full Cargo Management screen at any time to move items around manually (no X confirmation needed).
Also handy are buttons that will only offload cargo/materials (not tools), one that offloads everything, and another button that’s so good it’s getting its own section below.
Handgun holster
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
Death Stranding has always had pistols, but now Sam has a dedicated place to carry them. Similar to the boot clip and grenade pouch, the handgun holster means Sam can always carry a weapon without adding to his backpack Tetris stack. You also have the holster from the start, an early signal that Death Stranding 2 has a bigger focus on stealth action.
Route Simulator
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
Drawing lines on maps just got slightly more pleasant. Sam’s route planner got an upgrade that automatically highlights hazards along drawn routes—stuff like deep rivers, bandit patrols, and BTs. The route tool has also been folded into the prep screen before accepting an order, and routes now include summaries that show its distance, elevation changes, total hazards, and overall risk level. It’s kinda like a real-life pilot flight plan.
Stats!
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
Stats got an expansion, too. Sam used to automatically improve his cargo capacity and stamina over time, but DS2 seems to go a lot deeper with stealth and combat upgrades. I haven’t messed with this much yet, but you still improve Sam automatically by doing things, not by dumping points into a tree.
Backward hats
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
Death Stranding 2 casts Norman Reedus in the role he was born to play: A backwards hat-wearing single dad. The hat menu was my first stop after getting control of Sam. That’s where I found the “wear backwards” option, gasped, and never looked back.
Offload backpack
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
No backpack, no problem. You can (finally!) take Sam’s backpack off when you’re about to walk him into dangerous places. The button’s in that same cargo shortcut radial, and it’s already come in clutch at a bandit camp. It’s pretty cool that Sam can still carry a handgun, rifle, and grenades without his backpack, so you basically shed 100 kg of “Cargo mode” and enter “Solid Snake” mode.
Quicker order turn-in
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
Turning in a bunch of orders at once used to require spamming X to skip through each completion screen. Since that was stupid, now all of Sam’s turned-in orders are summarized on one screen.
Optional exposition
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
The citizens of Death Stranding sure like to prattle on about stuff I didn’t ask about, but in Death Stranding 2, a lot of that extra exposition is optional. In the screenshot above, I had the option to skip this guy’s life story and detailed Timefall Shelter explanation and move on with my life.
Offload all unusable items
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
Another big time saver for Repair Spray power users. Now you can hold a button to drop all of your empty grenades, sprays, and guns at once (though you should still recycle them for the materials).
Recycle shortcut
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
Speaking of, recycling doesn’t suck anymore either. When you’re at a place where recycling is possible, it’s now listed as one of the options when moving an item in Cargo Management. I know that sounds dull, but if you know how much that rules, you know.
Goodbye emails, hello posts
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
Death Stranding 1’s emails were charming and occasionally helpful, but I ain’t reading all that. In DS2, characters have upgraded from email to live-tweeting unsolicited advice on social media. The Social Strand Service is both a feed of tips from friends and a photo log of players’ photo mode pictures. It’s still mostly fluff, but it’s not as busy or wordy as Sam’s old inbox.