Death Stranding 2: On The Beach Review-in-Progress – THAT’S ENOUGH

So, Norman Reedus is kissing babies and I’m… 3-hit combo-ing dudes with guns to death. This should not be happening in a big, baloney AAA game like Death Stranding 2. I’m just gonna say it—if you didn’t like the first game, then don’t even bother going near this one.

What Should I Be?

It almost seems like Death Stranding 2 is at war with itself. It wants to be this epic walking sim with route planning, cargo balancing and physics-defying stumble mechanics as slippery as a 50s cartoon character. Yet, then it hands you trucks and bikes pretty early on, completely undercutting the slow-burn challenge it builds itself around. So what’s the deal here? Was this made for people who get bored with walking and planning routes? Isn’t that what the game is about? Make it make sense, Kojima.

Yes, it is a fair bit of fun to share resources with other players—even if it does break the balancing—and the cargo management side of things can be like a solid game of Jenga; arranging, maintaining, weighing and balancing your inventory, quite literally on Norman Reedus. I mean, Sam. As you try not to fall over and break any important packages. However, before I reached the 10-hour mark, I had well and truly gotten over it. The unique charm of the original game’s concept had long faded by then, leaving the rest of my experience feeling hollow and seeming pretty much like any other open-world game out there. Strip away the survival walking sim, and what are you left with? Hmmmm, not much. Just some nice-looking landscapes and the bread-est of butter combat and stealth gameplay.

Sure, you can mark enemies from afar, run them over or stealthily sneak up behind them, as well as rope-tie enemies or stun-gun them to the ground, but it doesn’t evolve much beyond this. In Normal mode, the enemy AI moves and fights like a scared koala. Plus, the game gives you way too many chances to preemptively strike and get back into the fray. So there isn’t much of an incentive to plan out your attack or make use of your companion’s power-ups to get by. The bosses also seem cool… in theory. Though they’re just big, floaty set pieces that look epic, but don’t deliver the kind of tension or depth you’d expect. One could say that summarises Death Stranding 2 to a T, and I’d be inclined to agree.

Beautiful Nonsense

The story itself is the same way. Just like the first game, characters will yap on and on about philosophical babble and exposition that isn’t particularly interesting. Yet, it expects you to think it’s fascinating because of the expert-level acting and directing.

I know people who would sell their left leg to meet Kojima, believe me. Albeit, I honestly don’t think he’s as great a writer as many people feel. Of course, there are some chuckle-worthy moments and Easter eggs slotted in like the quote-unquote “Auteur” always does. But the rest of us might be asking, “Wait… What was the point of all that?”

The licensed music and OST by Woodkid are a bit of a mixed bag too, with only a couple of memorable tracks that I was actively getting into. Fortunately, the graphics with their ever-changing landscapes and lifelike characters look phenomenal. Running at a solid 60FPS on 1440p Performance mode and 4K at 30FPS on Quality, with both looking like live-action movies at points, the visuals are that good.

Decision

Death Stranding 2 tries to juggle its artsy walking-sim roots, yet ends up tripping over its own shoelaces harder than Sam on a rocky slope. There’s a sliver of charm in the resource sharing and inventory management—stacking boxes on your back like post-apocalyptic removalists—but the novelty wears off fast. The combat’s shallow, the stealth feels undercooked and the bosses are more spectacle than fun. Meanwhile, the story is classic Kojima: overexplained, underwritten, though dressed up so well you’d swear it meant something. Ultimately, if the original didn’t float your boat, this sequel won’t patch the holes—it’ll probably just weigh it down with more cargo.

By Anthony Culinas – Reviewed on PlayStation 5

Unscored

Death Stranding 2 is a gorgeous, occasionally intriguing mess that can’t quite figure out what kind of game it wants to be. It’s got heart, but heart alone can’t carry 50+ hours of weighty, awkward design.

This game was reviewed using a download code provided by Sony. The Beta Network uses affiliate partnerships, however, this does not influence reviews or any other content published. The Beta Network may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links that are on the website.