Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (PlayStation 5) review "Kept You Waiting, Huh?"

The United Cities of America is now connected and the man instrumental in making that a reality has vanished. This person, Sam Porter Bridges, is now living off the grid in Mexico and fostering a toddler named Lou. This seclusion, however, comes to an end when an old acquaintance, Fragile, finds his hideout and makes a proposal: connect all of Mexico to the network. After much reluctance, Sam accepts the job, dons his old title of porter, and leaves his child in the hands of this confidant as he sets foot into the desolate landscape once more.

What follows is a story of struggle, obsession, trauma, and camaraderie, and between all of that is a man carrying cargo from place to place while trying not to damage their contents. Easier said, because the world at large is still suffering from the Death Stranding, an ongoing apocalyptic phenomenon that has devastated the planet so badly that the population lives in bunkers, refusing to venture outside. For good reason, as any contact with "rain" rapidly damages cargo and ages a person's skin, not to mention invisible beings called Beached Things roam the Earth; if any unfortunate person becomes devoured by a BT, it will set off a nuke-like explosion, destroying everything in its vicinity. To keep a long, detailed explanation short: Sam has the ability to see BTs and the power to come back to life if he dies.

Additionally, Sam is tasked with traversing the hazardous terrain, from steep mountains and damaged cities, to thick forests with hostile creatures roaming about. Even something as simple as small bumps on the ground can cause your porter to trip, fall, and have cargo spill everywhere. The amount of cargo carried is also a huge factor, as your balance becomes more unstable the heavier things get, meaning you have to quickly adjust using different button prompts. However! As you make successful deliveries over time, each location will show gratitude by gifting useful items. A very small sampling size of such objects include sturdier boots, stabilizers, vehicles, and even an item that can create contraptions out in the wild.

This is Death Stranding.

No seriously, all of the gameplay elements explained are things that can be done in the first game. You're situated in a huge sandbox environment, take on missions, either story-related or side, and approach them however you see fit, either loudly or quietly; more times than not, you're really only graded based on how badly cargo received damage. In turn, this mission-based, "free form" design was heavily lifted from Hideo Kojima's prior game, Metal Gear Solid V, which it in turn was an evolutionary step up from Peace Walker. Dude has been recycling, tinkering, and improving on the same gameplay formula since 2010.



In the case of Death Stranding 2, that isn't a bad thing. With the exception of small modifications to the UI, the opening "segment" does a good job easing into the previous game's design, almost feeling as if you're playing DLC at first; why drastically change a system that's already solid to begin with? This then allows you to immediately focus on one of the series' biggest returning draws: exploration and connecting with other players.

As mentioned, you obtain an item early on, called a PCC, that can make contraptions within the environments. These range from charge stations that can revitalize your vehicle's battery power, postboxes where you can store unneeded items, shelters that shield you from rain and restore damaged cargo, and even structures that make it much easier to travel rough terrain. Though, three restrictions come with using PCCs: they can only be made in areas that are connected to the network, structures will degrade over time, and you can only make so many structures based on how much data you currently have.

Helping to lift some of this construction strain off your back is the game's kinda-sorta multiplayer component. While both Death Stranding games are "single-player" titles in terms of being the only real player existing in your journey, structures and items from other players show up in your game and vice versa. For instance, you might come across another person's postbox, which you can choose to ignore, repair, or even give away items inside for other players to pick up on their travels; as you connect more of the sandbox to the network, more structures from others pop in. Sure, you can easily turn this off and play it solo, but the point is that you're not alone: bringing the country together is a team effort. But that's not to say you'll sporadically see structures in the weirdest spots, like a bridge heading to... nowhere.



If you've been playing Kojima's titles from 2014 onward, then you may have noticed a shift with gameplay being more prominent and the story-flow feeling secondary at times. While this seems like an intentional decision, the execution has been hit or miss depending on the game. MGSV: The Phantom Pain has a very consistent first chapter which is then followed by a bizarrely-paced second chapter, often stagnating with both main missions and the story. Death Stranding 1 appeared to rectify that error by keeping the filler-bloat away from the main missions.

Death Stranding 2 feels like it's repeating The Phantom Pain's mistakes.

The game's flow can easily be separated into three segments. The first segment does a solid job setting up the plot, introducing characters, and presenting mysteries, and opening the rest of the game's world to the player. Many hours later, a literal Intermission screen shows up, setting the stage for the second segment that eventually segues into the climax. This second segment is somehow bizarrely-paced, often stagnating with both main missions and the story. Sounds familiar? Afterwards, the third segment goes full unhinged Kojima finale; if you know, you know.

How exactly does the second segment stumble? About 90% of it doesn't advance the story in any meaningful way. It does this frustrating thing of stating that important questions are going to be answered, only to derail the plot with a side mission masquerading as a main mission. It does this multiple times. The Phantom Pain tries to sneak in occasional development for characters, at least for those you care about, during its second chapter, but DS2 rarely gives you that benefit. What's especially irritating is that the plot sometimes repeats story beats from both DS games with diminishing effects; these beats were basically resolved, so bringing them up again feels like they're here to make the story bigger than it actually is. So what remains is a paper-thin disguised attempt at stretching out the plot.



It's crazy to say this but: if it wasn't for the engaging gameplay pulling double duty for the second segment's woeful presentation of the plot, it's hard to fathom just how bad the overall product could have turned out. In a Hideo Kojima title. It's such a shame, because everything else about the game knocks it out of the park. You have the visuals displaying the planet's landscapes in beautiful detail, whether in daytime or night, and then there's the strikingly realistic details of the motion captured characters. The soundtrack is a delight itself, whether it's from various licensed music playing during hikes to new destinations, or from the cinematic orchestrated pieces by Ludvig and Woodkid that help elevate the atmosphere.

Because of all those other elements, along with Kojima's occasional absurd sense of humor, that Death Stranding 2 still entertains. However, it's not on equal standing with its predecessor which, in spite of it being a more "compact" game in comparison, brings everything together in a more consistent, coherent manner. Did you like it? Death Stranding 1? Then by all means play this and have a good time with its gameplay, connecting with other players. As long as you mentally prepare yourself for the story to take questionable dips later on, you'll be... "fine."

Community review by dementedhut (September 26, 2025) DS2 fun fact: I nonchalantly took 600+ images across 3 months of play time. I cut that down to 184 images. Then down to 40 images. Then down to 12 images for submission to the website.